Pine pollen. It’s freaking everywhere. And apparently I’m allergic to it. When I go out to my car in the morning, it’s so completely covered with the crap that I have to turn my windshield wipers on, raising evil, deadly, yellow billows of it. And I don’t even have any freaking pine trees. I’ve gone through two boxes of tissues in the last day and my ears and the roof of my mouth itch like a mofo. And now my eyes are getting all itchy and crusty in the morning. How long will this hell continue?
Are you in NC? I got hit with that driving through NC the wrong time of year.
You might try getting Spirulina from a GNC and taking 5 pills at a time. (I don’t think there is a toxic level of this since it has been used as a food source) Spirulina dampens the body’s alergic response. I use it for animals with alergies and they get pretty good relief from it.
I’m in Maine. It just started “blooming” on Wednesday so I figure I’ve got a good two weeks of this misery to look forward to. I’ll have to try the Spirulina - I’ll do anything at this point.
When I saw this was a tirade against pollen, my first thought was “They’re not anywhere near here” as our tree orgy was about a month ago. The weird mild winter made it stretch out a bit longer. Not sure if that’s any better or worse than when all the species erupt simultaneously.
My weapons of choice are Claritin D and Filtrete filters in the air conditioner.
As a general rule, it’s usually the hardwood pollen that is more of an allergen. It’s much smaller than pine pollen and not really visible. As a result, pine usually gets the blame.
This was certainly the case for me. Grew up in a neighborhood filled with pine trees, had seasonal rhinitis to beat the band every year, but nothing Dimetapp couldn’t handle.
Then I went to college. A college where you couldn’t swing a freshman without hitting an oak tree. Oh, holy hell, did I discover how much more allergic I was to oak than to pine.
Of course, when I finally went and got tested for allergies, it turned out that I’m basically allergic to the outdoors.
I grew up with hardwoods without problem. It’s only been the past two years that I’ve lived in Maine that my allergies when nutso. And it usually corresponds with the appearance of the evil yellow bastards.