Allergy Season Hits Hard

I get hay fever (seasonal allergies).  Actually, I get really bad hay fever.  For as long as I can remember, every year I get perscriptions for half a dozen medications to treat my seasonal allergies, and it’s usually just enough to make life tolerable.  My head becomes a block of cement.  My nose becomes an open faucet.  My eyes get so itchy that I have to lay down with a cool cloth over my face.  My airways constrict to the point where I’m usually taking a couple of inhalers every day.  There are times that I simply can’t function.  But, since this happens every year, I can usually feel the onset of allergy season a few weeks ahead of time.  This generally gives me enough time to go to the doctor, get some perscriptions filled, and start building up a barrier to the upcoming allergens.  This year was different.  We’re only a few days into March, and I’m miserable.  Up until Saturday the 7th, I was just fine.  I didn’t have so much as a sniffle.  I woke up Saturday morning though, and it felt like someone sprayed a can of that expanding foam into my sinuses and my eyes burned like I just got maced.  But why?  Why did I get no warning this year?  I have an answer.

Below is a grid, Monday through Friday of last week.  We have day of week, how I felt, temperature, and a few pollen levels:

So, I think it’s painfully obvious what happened.  We had a string of cold days, as would be expected this time of year in St. Louis.  Then when we finally get a beautiful spring day… POW!  All of the trees start getting frisky, and decide to spread their pollen.  According to the St. Louis Department of Health, the pollen levels of Elm, Juniper, and Maple were considered “High” on Friday, but were either absent or low in the days prior.  Guess I’ll be watching out for the Elm, Maple, and Juniper trees.