Pediatrician Charles Shubin, of Mercy Medical Center, knows what many of his patients are going through this time of year.
“I have hay fever. I go out to get my newspaper ? maybe 15 or 20 feet ? then come back in and maybe sneeze 20 to 30 minutes,” he said.
The good news is pollen counts provided by Drs. Golden and Matz in Owings Mills have been steadily dropping over the last week, to just two grains of ragweed out of three grains collected overnight.
The bad news, according to Johns Hopkins University, is that pollen counts under 10 grains can cause excruciating pain to hay feversufferers.
It gets better.
“None of the remedies work,” Shubin said. “It starts around mid-August, and it will go until the first frost, maybe the second week of November.”
What matters for the patient is not the allergen, he said, but the reaction. It may be worth trying all the different antihistamines out there, though even the “second-generation” non-drowsy forms may make some people lethargic.
“What works for me is the topical ? nasal sprays,” Shubin said. “But I hate to use them. You?re sticking something in your nose.”
