Southern Colorado allergy season stronger and longer this year according to specialists
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - If you think your spring-time allergies are worse than normal, you’re not crazy. Local experts tell us the allergy season here in Colorado appears to have gotten stronger and longer.
According to Climate Central, a non-profit climate change research group, allergy season is becoming more severe and starting earlier due to changing climates.
Dr. Chris Webber with CommonSpirit Health here in Colorado Springs confirmed he has noticed an increase in patients coming in with seasonal allergies before and after the regular season, as the colder months seem to shorten.
“It’s been pretty rough for everybody who has allergies,” Dr. Webber told KRDO. “Every little bit of winter helps reduce that and every bit of warmer [weather] makes it worse. So we’re seeing people suffer from that point of view.”
Dr. Webber said, since this spring has been such a rollercoaster, he’s also noticed consistent peaks and valleys in terms of allergy symptoms – compared to the normal bell curve they see with grass allergies in the summer, and weeds in the fall.
“So I have patients where it peaks really high and they’re miserable, then it drops down and they’re happy for a few days, and then it peaks again,” he went on.
So, what do we do about it? Dr. Webber says it’s best to start medication early.
“Knowing that it’ll probably stay like this until the fall and just getting ahead of all of it,” he explained.
Dr. Webber recommends starting with a nasal spray.
“It gives you all the power right where you need it to stop the inflammation, without being absorbed into the bloodstream and causing the whole body side effects,” Dr. Webber argued. “Point your nose to your toes, and you can see, if you do that, the line goes straight up and down and now, if you spray like that, more spray goes to the sinus area.”
If you really want to limit your pharmaceuticals, Dr. Webber says you can also keep track of the amount of pollen in the air and increase your medication accordingly.
