Ah, spring. Temperatures are rising, flowers are blooming, and all you want to do is get outside, but you can’t stop sneezing and itching your eyes. Your friend tells you to eat some local honey, your mom says you had allergies as a kid so you can’t possibly have them as an adult, and your coworker says to stay away from flowers. When it comes to allergies, there are all kinds of myths out there. Conviva is here to help you sort fact from fiction.

Fact: Allergies to flowers are rare—most people are allergic to the pollen from trees and grasses. This is because flower pollen is carried by insects, so not much of it gets into the air, whereas the main transportation for pollen from trees and grasses is the air itself, making it much easier for you to breathe it in. In the spring, some of the most common trees that cause allergies are oak, birch, and pecan. Allergy-triggering grasses include Timothy and Bermuda.

Fact: You can develop allergic rhinitis at any age—even as an older adult! The opposite is also true: if you had allergies as a child, you probably won’t outgrow them. It isn’t yet known why allergies can spring up (haha) at a certain time in your life, but it could have to do with the intensity of a particular pollen season or exposure to a new allergen, especially if you move to a new geographic region.

Fact: People say that eating local honey will “desensitize” you to your symptoms by exposing you to a small amount of the pollen grains that trigger your allergies, kind of like a vaccine. It makes sense in theory, but as we already covered in myth #1, most people aren’t allergic to flowers, so the pollen that triggers allergies wouldn’t transported by bees. Therefore, local honey might be a tasty treat, but it won’t do anything for your allergies.

Fact: You should take antihistamines before you have symptoms. Histamines are a chemical that are released as part of the body’s immune response to allergies. If you take antihistamines before your symptoms start, and thus before histamines are released, you can block them before they have an effect on you. Doctors recommend taking antihistamines starting in February if you’re allergic to trees, and June if you’re allergic to grasses.

Fact: Allergies and asthma often occur together. So how do you know if you have just one, or both? Allergy symptoms tend to include nasal congestion, runny nose, itchy eyes, or skin reactions. Asthma more so affects the lungs and airways, causing difficulty breathing, chest tightness or pain, cough, or wheezing. It’s important to treat both conditions if you have them.

If you’re suffering from spring allergies, you can contact our Telemedicine team for a quick online consultation and they can help you find a treatment that works for you.