Pollen Hell

~ susie

As long as I can remember, they tell us the pollen is hitting “record highs” this year. All I know is, I’ve been sneezing all week:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pollen: It’s on your car, in the air and especially in your sinuses.

From Florida to Texas to Colorado, 2010 is shaping up to be a monster of an allergy season. The words “pollen” and “allergy” are among the top 10 trending topics on Twitter in several U.S. cities. Everywhere, it seems, is covered in a fine yellow dust that irritates our lives. Experts say it’s the worst they’ve seen in years in many areas.

“It’s wicked bad this year,” said Dr. Mona Mangat, an allergy specialist in St. Petersburg, Fla., who can’t recall a worse year in the six she’s worked there. “We’re just overwhelmed with patients right now. We’re double- and triple-booked with new patients, trying to work people in because we know how much people are suffering.”

This year is especially bad in the Southeast, weather experts say, likely due to winter’s unseasonably cold weather.

“That may have helped delay some of the plants from blooming as early as they may have wanted to,” said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “It’s the fact that everything is coming out all at once.”

High winds in some areas also spread the misery.

“We had a perfect storm this year,” said Dr. William Storms, professor at University of Colorado and a clinician. “It’s the worst I’ve seen in 10 years.”

Published by susie

4 thoughts on “Pollen Hell”

  1. It’s really bad this year, bad enough that it’s pissing off my asthma too. My family, most of whom suffer from allergies, often laugh that we should have bought shares in Kimberly-Clark years ago, since we keep them in business.

  3. The sad thing is (according to the teevee) the stuff you see all over cars and stuff is (at least here) pine pollen which is not what will give your allergies fits. It’s the smaller stuff that can get into your nose, eyes, throat, that will set it all off.

    I’m puffing the flonase each morning and taking the allegra too.

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