Ahh choo! Pollen, pollen, everywhere…
By Jana E. Pye, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Is your car covered in yellow pollen?
Chances are you are sneezing, or your eyes are itchy, too.
Bradford Pears are a lovely beginning to spring, although they have a decidedly not-so-lovely scent.
Photo by Jana E. Pye
It’s spring, and that means high pollen counts; currently, we are seeing tree pollen, with Juniper, Elm, and Oak being the top three allergens for our area.
A pollen count is the measurement of the number of grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air. As the pollen number increases, people with allergies will have an increase in their allergic reaction.
Pollen counts are measured from low, meaning they affect few individuals, to high, meaning symptoms affect most allergy sufferers.
How can you check the allergy levels for Darlington County?
Two great websites can help:
The Weather Channel at weather.com and Pollen.com both provide an accurate current allergy pollen levels for our local area and the entire nation.
You can view your four-day forecast online or sign up for allergy alerts.
Alerts are emailed when pollen conditions reach moderate levels, which is the point where most people experience symptoms, such as hay fever.
Homeopathic remedies for allergy suffers have helped many allergy sufferers in a tasty way, taking a few spoonfuls of local honey.
Other people have found that using a neti pot with a saline solution helps to cleanse the pollen from their nose, curbing allergy reactions. Take care to properly cleanse the neti pot, and to use prepared, sterile saline solutions rather than trying to create your own.
