Weather making allergy season worse in central Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — If you’re suffering from excessive sneezing, coughing, and itchy eyes, it could be a sign of seasonal allergies.

Several days of rain is also fueling the growth of pollinating plants.

“The pollen is really impacted by how the plants around us are growing and the things that the plants are responding to are really that: The temperature, the water, and the days of sunlight,” said IU Health allergist Dr. Jay Jin.

Jin is seeing an abnormal amount of patients suffering from seasonal allergies.

“The first plants in our environment that pollinate are the trees, so that’s when tree pollens are the highest in the spring, followed by the grass pollens in the summertime.”

A lot of medications used to treat allergies were once prescription only are now available over the counter. Nasal rinses may also help alleviate allergies, but be sure to only use filtered water. Jin recommends washing your sheets, and keeping doors and windows closed during the spring.

“Keeping your air filters cleaned out and replaced. All of these things can help create an allergen-free environment in your own home.”

There are studies showing that climate change could be making allergies worse depending on where you live and how your body deals with allergens. Another theory is our immune system can’t adapt to the clean environments we live in.

“Our environments are so clean that we don’t deal with some of the infectious processes that we used to deal with 100 or 200 years ago,” Jin said.

Kids can generally take the same allergy medication as adults, but the doses may need to be adjusted. Allergies can trigger asthma-like symptoms in adults and kids. Allergy shots could also be an option to help build immunity to allergies.