Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409130074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fred Eichelman wears dark glasses and carries several handkerchiefs whenever he leaves the house.
The retired Northside High School social studies teacher said he has been forced to wear a mask when he mows the lawn. He stays awake late at night reading because he can hardly breathe when he lays down.
He has talked to others suffering from the same runny eyes, stuffy noses and sore throats, and he's convinced this is the worst allergy season ever in the history of human beings.
"I've been a hay fever sufferer all my life, lived in the Roanoke Valley since 1957," he said. "And it has never been this bad."
Actually, said Dr. George Abraham, it has always been this bad.
"Every year we hear this," Abraham said. "People get hit during the peak of the allergy season, then they forget how bad it is until the next year."
Abraham, an allergist with Allergy and Asthma Associates in Roanoke, said his office has been swamped with sufferers - as it is every year when fall pollens swarm through the air.
The peak of the season is now - the first weeks of September - and the culprit of those cold-like symptoms is ragweed.
This villainous plant grows like a weed should - everywhere.
"It flourishes in every part of this region, and it especially likes to grow in areas previously disturbed, like grown-over vacant lots," said John Arbogast, an extension agent for the Roanoke City Virginia Cooperative.
This nondescript weed can reach 3 feet high and has green, feathery leaves. The flowers, which grow in seemingly innocuous clusters of subtle green, bloom in early fall. The pollen those flowers spew, along with pollen from another fall weed called rye grass, causes 10 percent of all allergies.
Those pollens attach themselves to certain cells in the body, which react harshly to the invasion and release histamines. Histamines are what produce the congestion, runny eyes and various other miseries.
Southwest Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of ragweed pollen in the country - and being at the bottom of a valley doesn't help.
"With all the trees and weeds around it, the valley is a dumping area for pollens," Abraham said.
Then there's ragweed's unique way of attaching itself to the water vapor in air. The more humid the weather, the harder it is to escape the wrath of ragweed.
"Even using an air conditioner with air filters, it's almost impossible to get rid of all of the pollen," Abraham said.
So what's a sufferer to do?
Avoidance is the most effective, and the most difficult, method of alleviating allergic reactions.
"I stay indoors with the air conditioner on, but I've got things I've got to do," Eichelman said.
Using a high-efficiency air cleaner with a filter, Abraham said, can take out a lot of the allergens.
Exercise - the last thing many sufferers want to think about - helps by constricting blood vessels and decreasing nasal congestion, Abraham said.
Antihistamines are probably the most effective drug treatment for seasonal allergy sufferers, because they block cells from producing congestive histamines.
The "classic" form of antihistamine does cause drowsiness for most people. A new "second generation" form has fewer side effects but costs twice as much as classic antihistamines.
For the multiple, year-round, never-ending allergy sufferer, Abraham suggests immunotherapy, beginning with skin tests to determine which specific allergens cause a reaction. After that, treatment involves many, many shots: once a week for the first year.
"But over the years, as the frequency of shots are reduced, it becomes the cheapest, most effective choice," Abraham said.
Or, you can fill those sleepless nights with good books and handkerchiefs. And, suggests Eichelman, "pray for the first frost, so this stuff will go away."
by CNB