Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991 TAG: 9104130370
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JANE E. BRODY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Their runny noses, itching eyes and throats and spasms of sneezes tell all. For they are allergic to the pollens of springtime carried by those gentle breezes onto hypersensitive mucous membranes.
"The pollen that brings misery to sufferers appeared early due to a mild winter," said Dr. David P. Huston, an allergist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
And it is just those warm and sunny days when you are dying to go out to enjoy the budding flowers and chirping birds that cause the most grief.
But there are ways to make life far more comfortable for allergy sufferers and perhaps even allow them to savor the spring, at least at certain times of the day.
According to the American College of Allergy and Immunology, more than 41 million Americans have allergic rhinitis, the syndrome once incorrectly called hayfever because it was attributed to hay.
For these people, a seemingly innocent airborne substance like pollen is treated as a dreadful insult, causing an inflammatory reaction in the nose and other upper respiratory tissues.
Of those with allergic rhinitis, about 9 percent are sensitive to tree pollen, especially maples and oaks, the early-spring harbingers of seasonal allergens; 40 percent are allergic to the grass pollens released in late spring and early summer, and 75 percent are allergic to ragweed and other weed pol- 6 1 HEALTH Health lens of late summer and early fall.
An unfortunate 25 percent suffer from both grass and ragweed pollen, which gives them July as the only reasonably comfortable warm-weather month, and about 3 percent are allergic to all three pollen types, which may prompt some to consider moving to the North or South Pole.
When environmental controls are not enough to suppress the symptoms of pollen allergies, medication can usually bring relief.
Antihistamines have long been the hallmark of allergy therapy. But to be fully effective, they must be taken in advance of symptoms and used around the clock during the pollen season. They work by blocking the action of histamine and thus must be in place before histamine acts.
Traditional antihistamines cause drowsiness, which can be a problem for people who have to remain alert at work and disastrous for people who have to drive a vehicle or operate hazardous equipment.
Furthermore, after a while, individual antihistamines lose effectiveness; however, switching to a drug from another one of the six classes of antihistamines can get around this limitation.
There are now available by prescription two antihistamines, Seldane and Hismanal, that are non-sedating and do not lose effectiveness with regular use.
Decongestants, which are stimulants, are also sometimes used to reduce swelling of nasal passages, but these can be unduly drying and can cause rebound congestion if used for more than several days at a time.
Another remedy that many doctors prefer to decongestants is cromolyn, an ingredient in some prescription nasal sprays that prevents the release of histamine.
If all else fails, steroids may be administered orally, by injection or by nasal spray.
Allergy shots, which must be begun many months before the start of the pollen season, are most effective in countering ragweed allergy and are usually reserved for people whose symptoms cannot be controlled by other means.
The one remedy that rarely works for long, if at all, is moving to another part of the country. There is really no place within the continental United States that is free of allergenic pollen.
by CNB