The What, Where and When of Allergies

Maybe you’ve had an allergy test and you have a list of allergens that cause your symptoms. (If not, click here and AllerVision can help you find a provider who will give you the answers you deserve!) But unless you’re a botanist, you probably don’t know what most of those allergens looks like. And even if you do, you may not know when you need to watch out for them. Don’t worry, we have you covered! …

Click on the caption under the image at right to visit the AllerVision allergy map. Once there, click on your region of the country to see the trees, weeds and grasses that cause the worst allergy problems in your area. (AllerVision-affiliated providers test you for sensitivity to those pollens when you visit them for an allergy evaluation.) If you hover over the names of the plants, you’ll see pictures and the season(s) in which each allergen does the most damage. Take the seasons listed with a grain of salt, though — global climate change is, well, changing the environment. Many doctors and allergy specialists blame those shifts for the huge increases in pollen — and, consequently, allergy symptoms — produced each year.

That said, if you’re experiencing allergy symptoms or generally not feeling well right about now, there’s a good chance you can blame pollen from grasses including Rye, Bermuda and Red Top, among many others. As summer fades to fall, weeds become the more primary villain, with Ragweed topping the list as public enemy number one. Pollen tends to take a rest in early winter, but come late winter and early spring, Ash, Alder Cypress and other trees begin spewing pollen like there’s no tomorrow — and allergy patients suffer mightily.

Unfortunately, indoor allergens never go away. Dust, pet dander, cockroaches and mold can cause allergy misery all year long. The allergy symptoms they trigger tend to stand out in the winter because people spend so much time indoors but even in mid-summer any one of them can be the cause of your discomfort.

Given that outdoor allergies are cyclical, you may be able to stuff yourself with medication until your worst season is over — but next year you’ll experience the same problem. Or, you can turn to immunotherapy, which teaches your body to ignore allergens so the disease goes into remission for years. Immunotherapy lets you enjoy many, many seasons without symptoms. To learn more, click here so you can stop worrying about allergies wherever you are, whatever the season.

Allervision logo color

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s