Wet weather conditions are responsible, says allergist

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By Charles Perry
Times & Transcript Staff

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For people allergic to pollen, ragweed, mould and other air-borne maladies, it has been a terrible summer in southeastern New Brunswick.

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And the villain has been all the rain and damp weather that have prevailed, almost on a daily pace, across the province.

All the moisture not only intensifies the symptoms for those with hay fever and other allergies, but it has also extended the growing season, said Dr. Roger Leger of Moncton, a general practitioner and a specialist in allergies.

"The grass is still very green because of all the rain in the soil," he said. "Normally, grass pollen will run through June and July, But we still have grass pollen and here we are in September."

Leger said hay fever is a general term covering allergies to any of the pollens, including weed pollens. He said tree pollens are bad from the end of April to the end of June and grass pollens generally thrive from early June to the end of July.

However, this year, because of all the rainfall, grass pollens are still going strong, said the allergy specialist. He said the weeds, to which people are allergic, typically flourish in August and September, with ragweed being the major one in terms of causing problems.

As well as boosting the volume of these pollens this summer and extending the growing period for them, Leger said the wet weather greatly adds to the severity of the symptoms suffered by the many people with these allergies.

For someone with an allergy affecting the respiratory system, he said pollen and ragweed will cause such problems as wheezing, congestion , blocking of the sinuses, blocking of your ears, trouble breathing, itchy nose, watery eyes, problems sleeping or just concentrating on your work -- in other words, your whole quality of life.

Considering respiratory problems are a major ingredient of pollen allergies, Leger said it is not hard to see how the rainfall is going to worsen problems for people in this situation. "Just think about how high humidity affects your breathing even if you don't have allergies and then, imagine what it does to people with respiratory difficulties," he said.

One person, who certainly can imagine it, is a Sackville woman who is allergic to ragweed as well as having an environmental condition. The woman, who does not want her name used, said the damp weather has kept her indoors a good part of this summer.

The humidity greatly increases her allergic reaction to ragweed to where the "air feels so heavy and thick that I have trouble breathing it," she said. And the moisture also further aggravates her environmental problem with certain chemicals and pollutants in the air.

"I am outside only for a short time and I am exhausted," she said. "Most summers, there is enough dry weather where I can get out and go camping and enjoy other activities. But not this year," she added.

The rain keeps everything close to the ground making it hard to escape the ragweed pollen which is blowing in the air, said the Sackville woman. "It has been one of my worst summers, yet."

Leger said you cannot really avoid pollen as "pollen pretty much goes everywhere." But there are medications you can take to tackle the symptoms, he said.

Antihistamines are very effective, said the doctor, pointing to such examples as Claritin, Reactin, Allegra and Aerius. They are all tablets, he said, adding they are only taken once a day and they do not make you drowsy.

Some people with hay fever and ragweed allergies may require a nose spray or eye drops, he said.

There are some people who cannot control the symptoms with any of those methods, said Leger. He said they become candidates for what is known as "desensitization."

This involves the person receiving injections of the very thing to which they are allergic, said the allergy specialist. He said they start off with very small amounts and the dosage is gradually increased.

There are different types of desensitization programs for different air-borne allergies, said Leger. If a person had a tree pollen or grass pollen allergy, for instance, he said they can do a "pre-season therapy" starting in February and taking 11 weeks, finishing when the pollen season begins.

For other pollen allergies, Leger said the standard would be an injection once a week for 24 weeks as a build-up, with injections once a month during the summer season.

One piece of advice, apart from medication, for people with hay fever is to leave their doors and windows shut during the day, said the doctor. He said this will cut down their exposure to pollen.

Leger said the pollen levels in the air drops dramatically at night, however. So, if you are allergic to pollen, he said that is the time to air out your house.

Although the ragweed pollen problem is intensified this summer in New Brunswick, like all the other pollen allergies, due to the wet weather, Leger said ragweed constitutes a much bigger problem in southern Ontario and Quebec.

Ragweed grows in much greater abundance in those two provinces over the summer months than in the Maritimes, said the allergy expert. And like New Brunswick, he said both of those provinces had rainy summers, meaning an especially severe year for Quebec and Ontario residents with ragweed allergies.