Medications for Allergy

What are pollen and mold counts?

Pollen and mold counts measure the amount of these allergens in the air. Using a variety of methods, medical centers and clinics report the counts as grains of pollen per cubic meter of air.

These counts have limited value. First, not all measurement methods produce the same results. Second, the counts in the location where air is measured may differ from where you live. And third, counts reported to the public are generally taken during the preceding one to three days, and may vary widely from day to day during a season. So, generally speaking, the usefulness of pollen and mold counts in predicting your symptoms is limited. On the other hand, you can follow them to see, in your case, whether they track up and down with your symptoms.

Ragweed Season: The season usually lasts 4-6 weeks. Arrival dates are different throughout the USA.

1. July through mid October
2. July through mid August
3. Late July through mid October
4. Mid March through mid October
5. Early August through mid October
6. Mid July through October
7. Early August through mid October

How can I reduce my exposure to pollen and mold spores?

Let’s start with your bedroom. You spend about a third of your time there sleeping.

* Open windows allow more pollen to blow in. So close them. If you need to cool the bedroom for comfort, use an air conditioner. Not only do air conditioners cool the air, they filter pollen and mold spores out.

* Limit the amount of indoor plants you keep. Wet dirt causes mold to grow.

* Reduce the time you spend mowing lawns, which stirs up both pollen and molds, and raking leaves, which stirs up molds.

* Dry your sheets and clothing in a dryer, rather than hanging them outdoors where they can pick up pollen and spores from the air. The dryer filters the allergens out.

Should I avoid dust, feathers, and animal dander?

People who suffer from allergies caused by pollen and molds are likely to be sensitive to dust, feathers, or animal dander, too. Dust, itself, isn’t an allergen. Rather, and forgive me for the directness, it’s the dung left behind by dust mites that live in dust that cause allergies.

These microscopic creatures survive by eating the scales of skin each of us sloughs off daily.

Allergies to animals most often stem from dander, the name for flakes of the animal’s skin.

But animal saliva also causes trouble, especially with cats, who use saliva to groom themselves. When it dries, the saliva is swept into the air.