If you are already sneezing and have watery eyes, it's likely because allergy season is getting longer and more intense, health experts say.
Samantha Caban is feeling the impact of her allergies this spring.
“I start sneezing. My throat feels like a little tightened because of my asthma, too, gets triggered. And I start feeling like I have to cough,” said Caban.“I’ve had to, like, take showers twice a day just to get the pollen off of me. I have to take eye drops sometimes because my eyes are burning so bad. Sometimes, I can’t even function.”
Caban has been suffering from allergies to pollen, grass, dust and more since she was a young kid.
“I’m very sensitive to the environment,” Caban said.
She’s even allergic to certain plant-based foods due to their exposure to pollen. Caban feels like her allergies have become worse over the years, and they’re impacting her day-to-day life.
“I love spring, but spring doesn't love me,” said Caban. “I love being outside, like, I love this kind of weather. But sometimes it's just, I can't enjoy it the way everybody else does.”
Caban is one of more than 80 million people in the United States dealing with seasonal allergies, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The typical symptoms of runny nose, stuffy, congested head, watery eyes, itchy eyes are all been reported. But then, I even have a number of people that are just reporting, not feeling like themselves, lacking energy, fuzzy, foggy thinking,” said Dr. Neal Smoller, holistic pharmacist and owner of Village Apothecary.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said seasonably warm temperatures and shifts in precipitation patterns can lead to more pollen being in the air earlier in the season and for much longer.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) found total amounts of pollen increased by 21% between 1990 and 2018.
“It’s scary. I mean, it makes me nervous that our weather is changing so dramatically that we are experiencing things that we're not used to experiencing at different times,” Smoller said.
There are a variety of treatment options for allergies, including oral prescription medications and over-the-counter options, eyedrops and nasal sprays, depending upon symptoms and doctor recommendations.
“Allergy medicine has to be taken early and often. Consistency and persistence matter the most,” Smoller said.
Caban is continuing to treat her allergies with several different medications. But after seeing her doctor, she’s considering getting allergy shots.
“We'll see how this spring goes. I might have to do it because allergies have just gotten so much worse,” Caban said.
Spectrum News 1 meteorologists said allergy season is running about two to two-and-a-half weeks early in New York this year.