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ROCHESTER — Seasonal allergies are no fun. Every year, symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, itchy eyes and coughing plague more than one-third of the people in the U.S.
Dr. David Lowe , an asthma and allergy specialist with Olmsted Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, says tree pollen is often the culprit. But a high pollen count doesn't always mean you'll have bad symptoms
"Tree pollens can be very tough on allergies," says Lowe. "They can be very irritating pollens in terms of the way our bodies react to them."
Since your immune system is what drives the allergies, sometimes your immune system is more reactive to pollen and sometimes its less reactive," says Lowe. "I'll see people one year and they'll say, 'oh, this must be a horrible pollen year. The pollen counts must be very high.' And you look and the polled counts aren't really that bad. It's just that you're having symptoms really badly."
Lowe says treatments are safe and work well, so there's no need for people with allergies to suffer. Treatments may not eliminate your symptoms, but they can help a lot.
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