TEXAS, USA — There is some not-so-great news for allergy sufferers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report and study that shows pollen season is getting longer and more intense.
Dr. Craig Newman D.O., the medical director at Hillcrest Marketplace Urgent Care, said in the last month, they've seen an increase in people suffering from allergies.
"We got through cedar season for January and part of February, and that led right into our spring allergy season," Newman explained.
Newman explained to 6 News that spring allergy season usually entails tree allergies like oak, hackberry and mulberry. It's typically trees that put out a lot of pollen. He said it usually peaks at the beginning of April.
Newman said at this point it's too early to tell if this year will be a "bad allergy season".
"By mid-April, we'll kind of have a good indication," Newman added. "If we get another couple good rains, then we can even have a lot of mold that pops up. Mold is around all year long for Texas, and so we never really get out of the mold season completely."
6 News asked Newman if he had any insight or perspective about the reality of allergies getting worse like some studies show. He said it just depends on the environment each year.
"We're in Central Texas and so we're never the leading allergy capital for anyone, but we get a lot of different allergens from around the state because of the way the wind flows in our Central Texas location," Newman explained. "A lot of it just depends on how the environment does over the next decade or two decades and so we could become a drier climate and a lot of the trees don't put out as much pollen, we don't see as many weeds. Or we could become a wetter climate and things germinate a lot more, so only time will tell on that."
The Waco-based doctor said the best thing a person can do about allergies possibly worsening is to be prepared for them. He provided some tips to best protect those who suffer from allergens.
"Wash your hair and take a shower before you go to bed and don't get into bed with clothes that you've been outside with because you bring pollen in," Newman said. "There's medications, along with some nasal sprays that can be helpful to kind of control your allergies and you don't necessarily have to go to the doctor to start to use those."
However, if the over-the-counter products aren't helping, you're having frequent sinus infections or your quality of life is miserable because of allergies -- then it's probably time to go see your doctor.
Newman also recommended watching allergy outlooks/calendars to be prepared when allergens could be high, that way you can avoid being outside.
Some typical allergy symptoms include runny nose, itchy eyes, itching skin, a cough and sometimes even a rash on the skin. Rarely will you get any kind of fever with allergies, so if you're having a fever -- chances are you're becoming ill in another way.
"Sometimes there's some things you can do to actually help curtail the allergies," Newman added. "If you know that there's a season coming up where you're going to have a lot of allergy problems, you can start some medication prior -- even up to two weeks prior to that allergy season starting, and that might help those allergies from getting overwhelmed in your system."
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