This is the season of Sean O’Hara’s discontent and Mark O’Hara’s post-nasal drip.
Sean is the sales manager for Hall Hyundai & Isuzu on Jefferson Avenue. And for him, every April is the same – a fuzzy yellow blanket descends from the trees to hide the gleam on all those sexy new cars.
Sean and his crew fight the good fight, having at the intruder with hoses in a vain attempt to keep their inventory pollen-free. But Mother Nature simply outguns them.
“We spray, but 30 minutes later, it seems like it’s back,” O’Hara says. “So for that time we just have a yellow sale. We tell people, `You can have the yellow one or the yellow one.’ “
A few miles down Jefferson at Humble Hoolies Budget Auto Sales, Sean’s brother Mark is dealing with dusty cars and more. The same coat that dulls the shine on his cars, irritates his eyes and clogs his nostrils – only Mark can’t shove a hose up his nose and wash the pollen away.
“It’ll make you miserable,” he said. “Your eyes itch terribly, to the point where they actually hurt.”
So far, says Mark, this year hasn’t been bad. But like some 40 million Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies, he knows that can change overnight. For them, April brings a pox. It’s the month that tree pollen hits its peak, throwing a right cross at sensitive noses.
“It’s not the only time,” said Burton Moss, an allergist and an associate professor at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. “But it’s our busiest time.”
Moss said this year’s spring allergy season probably “won’t be particularly long, but it could be intense.” Things got a late start, he said, because of extended cold temperatures. Unfortunately for sufferers though, record March rainfall has Peninsula trees – mostly maple, oak, and pine – pollinating up a storm. Monday’s pollen index, for example, topped out at 789. Anything over 10 is considered significant.
The wet weather also encouraged the production of mold spores, another enemy in the allergy war.
Pollen, a dust-like grain produced by plants in bloom, enters the body through the nose or mouth and passes through mucus membranes. In allergy sufferers it induces the reaction that creates histamine – the sneeze-generating, tear-producing body chemical.
In patients with severe cases, the effects can be debilitating – wheezing, tearing and generalized misery.
Doctors still aren’t sure why some people suffer from allergies and others don’t. But they do think they can explain the root of many allergic reactions.
According to Thomas Platts-Mills, a University of Virginia professor of medicine, the body reacts to pollen the same way it does to some harmful microscopic organisms: it kicks the body’s immune system into gear. The process can be annoying – or much worse.
“I had a woman come in who couldn’t work,” said Moss. “She was literally incapacitated.”
Platts-Mills said, however, the response to the invasion – which includes the creation of some antibodies – may indicate that your immune system is working well.
Experts say the best medicine for mildly allergic people is avoidance. If possible, don’t exercise or cut lawns in the morning, when pollen is most prevalent. Also, keep windows closed and fire up the air conditioner.
For those with moderate symptoms, antihistamines and decongestants can provide some relief.
If none of those work and symptoms are severe, a series of allergy shots might do the trick. The shots, which must be prescribed by a doctor, immunize the patient to the offending allergen.
