Allergy Season Is Here

KETK - When spring rolled around on the calendar, we were all jumping for joy. Warmer weather, sunny afternoons, beautiful flowers and all the pollen that comes along with them. Allergy season is upon us once again and we're told by experts it came about two weeks earlier this year. Pharmacists and doctors tell us if you are one of the many who suffer from spring allergies, start taking your preventative measures now. Coughing, sneezing and runny nose. These are some of the signs that about 45 million people suffer from during allergy season. "East Texas in general is well-known for allergy issues," said Trinity Mother Frances family practice doctor Janet Hurley. Experts said one of the biggest allergy triggers is pollen. Here in East Texas, we have a lot of it. There are a lot of people that can be allergic to many different things, but the tree pollens and the weed pollens that are present in the air right now is a very significant reason for allergies," Dr. Hurley. Reports said we can blame the icy winter for the early season. The melted ice following the warm weather triggered the trees to produce pollen a little earlier than expected. "It's been crazy. One spring day. one winter day and that really messes with people the cold and the warm, there have been a lot of allergies going on," said Kinsey pharmacist Brad Martin. Martin said it's a good idea to take it a week or two before allergy season hits. *It's a lot harder to treat allergies after they've really hit you hard, so it's a good idea to start taking your preventative allergy medicine," said Martin. Also, when you think you might have a cold, it could be allergies you can confuse the two because the symptoms are the same. "In fact your body thinks pollen is an invading virus or bacteria so you're going to have the same response to an allergy as you would to a cold," said Martin. "If people are having an itchy, running nose and a lot of sneezing going on for more than just a few days, it's almost always due to allergies," said Dr. Hurley.