Readers Say

Seasonal allergies are getting worse. Experts share how to manage your symptoms.

Spring allergy season is getting worse, readers and experts say. Here’s how to manage your symptoms.

By Annie Jonas

May 20, 2024

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Spring is here in New England. And if you’re among the more than one in four adults in the United States who suffers from seasonal allergies, you may find yourself itchy, sneezy, and downright miserable.

When we asked our readers if their seasonal allergies have been getting worse, the majority (79%) of the 52 respondents to our poll said yes, their allergies are worse than in years past.

“My spring tree pollen allergies have been getting much worse in recent years,” Jennifer from Peabody said. “It lasts longer now, too – from the end of March to the middle of June,” she added.

Susan S. from Scituate expressed similar frustration with her allergies, describing them as “the worst they’re ever been.” 

“My eyes are constantly running, all I do is blow my nose and cough. Never been this severe!,” she said.

Reader Ryan from Westfield said his allergy symptoms have been lasting longer than they used to.

“Never in my life have I had allergy symptoms for so long – I’m going on over two weeks of everyday feeling like I can’t breathe and my nose is stuffed up. I have never really had allergies except in recent years (I’m in my mid-30’s) but this is by far the worst I’ve ever felt out of nowhere,” he said.

If it feels like your allergies are getting worse and lasting longer, it’s not just your imagination. Seasonal allergies are indeed getting worse as climate change warms the globe and affects plant growth, experts say. Spring allergy season can last longer as warmer temperatures produce longer growing seasons, allowing bigger ragweed plants to produce more pollen that lingers into the fall. 

“Climate change impacts seasonal allergies because the pollen season is starting earlier and lasting longer,” Mary Margaret Johnson, a principal scientist in Harvard’s Department of Environmental Health at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health told Boston.com. Not only that, but “the pollen is more allergenic,” she added.

Seasonal allergies will get worse with global warming, Johnson said. So, how can you manage your symptoms?

Boston.com spoke to Tanya Laidlaw, an allergist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. Below, she shares advice on deciphering whether you have allergies or a cold, how to know when to start preparing for allergy season, and four tips and tricks that allergy sufferers can use to reduce and manage their seasonal allergy symptoms.

Is it allergies or a cold?

If you have nasal congestion or a runny nose, you might be unsure if you have a cold or are suffering from seasonal allergies. Though allergy and cold symptoms can be similar, allergies often make the eyes, nose, throat, mouth or ears itchy. 

“Nothing is a perfect science but in general, severe eye itching and nasal itching is much more common with allergies than it is with a viral upper respiratory infection,” Laidlaw said.

Another tell-tale sign to differentiate between a cold and allergies is the presence or absence of a fever. Fevers can be associated with a viral upper respiratory infection, but are almost never associated with allergies, Laidlaw said.

“If you’re super itchy, but don’t have a fever, you’re much more likely to be having allergy symptoms. If you have a fever, but aren’t really that itchy, you’re much more likely to be having viral symptoms,” she said.

How to know what you’re allergic to, and when to start preparing

In New England, tree pollen is the main allergen in the spring. Come mid-summer, it transitions into grass pollen season. From late summer into fall, it transitions into weed pollen season. There are many websites, apps, and software available online that show the levels of certain pollen, but it can be hard to decipher which specific allergen you are allergic to. That’s where more formal allergy testing can become helpful.

“Within those groups – trees, grasses and weeds – you can have severe allergies to one but no allergy at all to some other. So that’s why it can be helpful to get more formal allergy testing done either with skin testing or with blood tests,” Laidlaw said.

Once you know which allergen(s) you are allergic to, you can work with your allergist to start preparing and taking the proper steps to manage your allergy symptoms.

How to manage seasonal allergies

1. Reduce exposure to allergens

The first – and most difficult – thing to do is to avoid the allergens you’re allergic to. 

“That’s very hard to do,” Laidlaw said. Apart from moving to an area that doesn’t have the same pollen you’re allergic to, removing the trees or grasses around your home is not an effective way to reduce your exposure to allergens. 

“All of these problems that come from trees and grasses and weeds can actually travel in the air for long distances – many, many miles. So it isn’t a case where if you happen to be allergic to a certain kind of tree, you cut down those trees in your backyard. It will not make any difference to your allergy symptoms because the neighborhood, the environment, and the state around you still has plenty of those trees,” she said.

Instead, Laidlaw suggests trying to create a pollen-free environment indoors. You can do this by keeping your bedroom windows closed all season long to prevent pollen from entering into your home.

She also suggests changing into a clean shirt that hasn’t been exposed to the outdoors upon coming home. Additionally, if you have longer hair, Laidlaw suggests taking a quick shower to wash the pollen out of your hair.

2. Wash out your nose with a saline rinse

Washing your nose with a saline wash is a more aggressive method to remove and reduce your exposure to pollen. There are a few ways to do it: by using a neti pot (a nasal irrigation device) or a squeeze bottle in which you pour water into one nostril to rinse out the nasal passage.

Laidlaw recommends using distilled water so no bacteria is introduced into the sinuses. She also recommends the water have a bit of saline in it to reduce stinging.

“This is the kind of thing you can do when you get home, if you’ve had a long walk home from school or from work and had a fair amount of pollen that’s gotten stuck in your sinuses. This can help to wash it up,” Laidlaw said.

3. Take over-the-counter antihistamines

Over-the-counter medications fall into two main categories: antihistamines and steroids. Antihistamines can be oral, intranasal, or in the form of eye drops.

Laidlaw recommends taking non-sedating OTC medication for allergy symptoms such as a runny or itchy nose, congestion, and sinus pressure. There are three generic oral antihistamines (known colloquially as allergy pills): loratadine, cetirizine, fexofenadine. While these medications won’t work instantly to reduce allergy symptoms, Laildaw recommends taking them every day you have symptoms in order to see improvements. 

For itchy eyes, she recommends antihistamine eye drops, which are also available over the counter. Antihistamine eye drops can be used as needed. “When you have a particularly bad eye day, you can just take drops when they need them, so that if you’re having a good day and you’re not itchy, you don’t need to take them,” she said.

However, Laidlaw does not recommend using eye drops that are redness-reducing.

“They’re actually not very good for your eyes and don’t have anti-allergy properties,” she said.

There are also intranasal antihistamines that can be used to treat nasal itchiness, sneezing, and runny nose. Like antihistamine eye drops, intranasal antihistamine sprays can be used as needed, when you’re feeling particularly itchy or sneezy. Azelastine is the name of the OTC intranasal antihistamine spray available in the U.S.

Nasal corticosteroid sprays can be used to reduce swelling and mucus in the nasal passageway. The sprays work well for treating symptoms such as congestion, runny nose, sneezing, itching, or swelling, but unlike intranasal antihistamines, they don’t work the minute you take them. Laidlaw recommends intranasal steroids to be taken for the entire season that you have symptoms.

“We recommend you start taking the intranasal steroid the first time any tree pollen starts in your area, and that you use the intranasal steroid every day until your symptoms are totally gone, because the intranasal steroids won’t work if you only use them and as needed basis,” she said. “So if you wake up this morning, and you’re particularly itchy and sneezy, and you use your intranasal steroid just that morning, it will not make you feel better. So it feels like a waste.”

4. Consider allergen immunotherapy (allergy shots)

Allergen immunotherapy, otherwise known as allergy shots, involve exposing the body to larger and larger amounts of allergens in an attempt to change the immune system’s response. Injections of pollen protein are usually given in the upper arm, with higher concentrations included in each dose. The goal is that little by little, your body is able to recognize and eventually tolerate the allergens you were once allergic to. 

“Come April, May, or June when tree pollen season comes around, your body is so used to them and tolerant of them that you don’t get the reaction when you now inhale them from the air,” Laidlaw said.