Hay fever sufferers in New South Wales have been warned to keep on top of their treatment as the pollen threat lingers well into the new year.
Experts say this year’s spring pollen season started extremely early due to the warmer winter months.
“Overall it has been a heavier pollen season than we’ve seen for a while,” Professor Connie Katelaris, Immunology and Allergy at Western Sydney University, said.
While tree pollen is a significant trigger for spring allergies, certain grasses in the Sydney region will likely generate a second peak in pollen counts in February and March next year.
“There are the temperate grasses like perennial ryegrass and orchard grass and then there’s the subtropical grasses like paspalum and Bermuda and they are the ones that generally flower after the New Year and into February and March,” Katelaris said.
Evidence overseas points to an increasing rate of late-onset hay fever and experts partly attribute this trend to changes in the climate.
“Anecdotally we’re seeing more older people with pollen allergy and with house dust mite allergy as well,” Professor Sheryl van Nunen from the National Asthma Council said.
“This may reflect changes. It’s urbanisation, it’s climate change and it’s exposure.”
Megan Carrabott, 49, has had allergies all her life but in recent weeks she sought extra treatment to keep on top of her worsening symptoms.
Read Related Also: Jordyn Woods denies throwing shade at Khloé Kardashian with jacket referencing Tristan Thompson scandal
“It feels like I just want to scratch my face constantly, my eyes, my skin and around my mouth,” she said.
“I have two young boys, I need to be active. I can’t be feeling unwell and it would be great to be allergy-free.”
She has been on antihistamines and preventers but has sought advice from the Sydney Allergic Clinic for desensitising treatment, better known as immunotherapy.
That treatment can be taken as an injection, tablet, spray or liquid.
Incredible image captures lightning strike as wild storm sweeps town
Research has shown that only 15 per cent of sufferers appropriately manage their symptoms and experts warn antihistamines are a temporary fix.
“If you have regular hay fever though you should have a nasal spray, which has a combination of cortisone and an antihistamine and that’s the best treatment,” van Nunen said.
More information on hay fever and Sydney pollen counts can be found here.
