Episode 1 - Pollen Count High? Top Tips to Manage Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis (Hay Fever)

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Meagan: Welcome to allergy Actually! Today we're gonna talk about Grass Pollen.

Kara: itchy 

Amber: Oh. It's 

Meagan: personally? So.

Kara: You've, You've, been personally victimized by the

Meagan: victimized by pollen. Absolutely. And I don't even have true allergies. I have non-allergic rhinitis, which, um, will talk about another day. Exactly. I know you have that too. And it has been driving me mad. 

Kara: It drives my eyes. Really. I have dry eye and sensitive eyes. And so on those days where it is sunny and beautiful and just that perfect late spring summer day, um, I, I really find myself like having so much empathy for my patients that do have grass allergy 'cause I know that I'm just getting like this tiny little sprinkle of what they're experiencing. Um, but why don't we dive into some top tips that we are giving our patients in the office to help, because the pollen counts aren't, they aren't going down.

Meagan: Right? They're going up.

Avoiding Your Allergen (Shower, Change Clothes, Pet Care)

Amber: Yeah. And we always tell our patients, there are three things we can do to help treat your allergies. The number one being try to avoid your allergen. And when you say that to someone who is allergic to pollen, they're like, " Okay, doc, uh, shall I just order a bubble off of whatever bulk website?" Um.

Kara: We'll have it up on our storefront later once we.

Amber: You can live in your bubble. But that's not really practical. So, um, one of the tips that I give is if you've spent a lot of time outdoors a certain day, when you get in for the day, shower, change clothes before you settle in for the evening. It just helps get everything off of you. And if you're thinking, "Well, I don't need to wash my hair. I don't need to change these clothes." Think about the days when you go outside and you look at the pollen caked on your car or your windows. The same thing happens to your hair and skin, so that's why we recommend that.

Kara: And I would say, you know, we anticipate most of the folks listening to this are going to be moms like us. But it's also important for your partners, your spouses, because especially if they're rocking the lumberjack look, I'm always reminding my, uh, my patients that have facial hair and, and love that style that it's a sponge. Um, same for our animals, right? If your dog's going outside, rolling in the grass.

Amber: Make sure to wipe them down or bathe them weekly. I mean, that's also another episode, but bathe those dogs.

Nasal Rinses & Car Recirculation Button

Meagan: Yeah, and it, and not just for dog allergy, you do it for pollen as well. So that's a big help. Yeah, and I also think one of the things, and, and I consider this almost an environmental control measure, 

but doing nasal sinus rinses to actually rinse that pollen out at the end of the day is very helpful. And I counsel on that. And again, for those of you who are moms, there are some quick methods that you can do this with children. You don't necessarily have to use one of the squeeze bottle or the bottles that look sort of like a, a genie in a bottle. Um, but there are some faster, um, motorized versions that you can use that's quick or they're quick for kids and um, I find that.

And then the other tip I give people, and I just started doing this, you'd think that at 42 years old, I would have already realized this, but doing the recirculate button in the car.

Amber: Oh my gosh. I always forget what that means. The which way is which.

Meagan: And so, so if you hit the recirculate button, at least on my car, which is, uh, a mom swag wagon, I have a, a Toyota Sienna minivan. They used to sell it, it was like a, a swag wagon, I think. Um, but I hit the recirculate button and that means that the air that is then blown into that I like goes through the blower things, the vents. Thank you. The vents. Yeah. So whenever you do that, it's coming from inside your car so you're not getting more pollen in and it also helps with temperature regulation depending on what season it is.

Sinus Rinse Safety

Kara: I wanna go back to the sinus rinses because I think that is, you know, a topic that we could talk about an entire episode. But do you have a couple of like quick tips on, um, safety and like what type, you know, what are you telling people kind of to avoid? 'Cause we've all seen those headlines of the brain eating amoeba infections right?

Meagan: And I did residency in Louisiana where a lot of that happened. And you know, there are amoeba that live in the water. So I always tell my patients, um, number one, make sure that you follow the directions on the package, and I want you to clean it according to those package directions and let it dry completely after every time you use it. And then the other standard is to either use distilled water or if you use tap water, make sure you boil it and then let it cool off.

Kara: Yeah.

Meagan: as that, as a qualifier. You'd think that that would be obvious, but you never know.

Amber: Yeah. 

Air Conditioning, Car Filters & should you avoid clothelines? 

Amber: Um, I guess one of the like basic things we, I should have said first was using air conditioning, right? Mm-hmm. So in the pollen season, you wanna keep where your windows and doors closed, and whether that be your house or your car. But that car recirculate thing, I think a lot of cars have filters that are hidden. Have you guys seen that in your cars? I found this in my car once in the glove compartment in the back. There was a filter that just like with a air purifier in your house that you can actually switch out. So, I'm guessing most people don't do that, but if you have pollen allergy and you're keeping your windows and doors closed, recirculating your air, you should also replace the filter, the air filter.

Kara: Just like the dishwasher filter that 

Meagan: Oh, yeah. It's a, it's elusive. Unfortunately, uhhuh, i've never changed it, but it's been in my to-do list for like five years.

Kara: So this is the human of this.

Amber: Pretty safe to say I've never changed mine either.

Meagan: I'm gonna add something and I'm gonna go ahead and say it because amber and I had an experience when we, when I was a fellow and she was faculty. Um, but we want to also suggest that if you dry your clothes on the line, you should stop and use your dryer. And we had a faculty member who really didn't want us to tell people that because it was, he said, "no one does that anymore." And I moved back home to West Virginia from Columbus, Ohio, and I had a patient. And I still see her and she's like, and I don't put my clothes out on the line. Yeah,

Kara: I think that's so interesting because, so I grew up in the not Chicago part of Northern Illinois, and that was how my mom dried the clothes. From anytime it was, you know, even just above freezing, it was a way she, she was a stay-at-home mom, my dad worked for the state health department like, we were, it was a way to save money, like on the, the gas and electric bill. And, um, she now blames her arthritis on, you know, doing that. But I, I, I shudder to think because my younger sister, um, had terrible allergies and asthma. We lived in this neighborhood that was a former, uh, cornfield. So it was, you know, who knows what all, you know, certainly pollen, but other stuff was ending up on the clothes, um, the sheets, everything. And, and it's so funny because when I moved away to college and then to medical school, I hadn't really ever used a dryer to speak of like, and, and so I had to learn how to do it. But then I also realized how much softer your clothes are and your sheets are.

Amber: Yeah. Well, and aside from it being more cost effective to dry your clothes outside, I think, nowadays, people just want to have more natural ways to do things, and so 

Meagan: It may be coming back. 

Amber: It's just, it may be coming back. So just if you're one of those people with pollen allergies or you do the laundry for your household and you know other people have pollen allergies, please don't hang their things outside on the clothes line because you're just bringing in all that pollen to their bed or clothing or what have you.

Kara: And especially, during those particular times of year. 

Checking Pollen Counts & Timing Outdoor Activities

Kara: So, I mean, one of the other tips I love and, and we've talked about is knowledge is power. So, you know, if you are following, you know, AccuWeather or you know, Pollen.com or the local news, um, pollen counts, you know, that is more data to factor into how you're altering your behaviors, right?

If it's a low pollen day and you do wanna hang stuff out and by all means, like, um, that, that would be our, or to air out the house, you know, get that fresh air, right? Those are the times when it really can, not be as much of a problem.

Amber: And to your point about when is pollen highest or most relevant, um, what do you guys tell your patients about times where maybe they would have lower pollen exposure if they're gonna try to time when they go do a run or open the windows briefly, something like that?

Meagan: So I always tell people, um, pollen is high in the morning. If you can to do later things in the day, it's hard though, right? Because everyone's busy and it's, it's just, uh, difficult.

Kara: And it gets hotter too, especially in the middle of June or July, you're like, oh yeah. So, but that's where maybe rinsing off afterwards 

Amber: yeah. 

Kara: you're gonna go out for a walk or a 

Meagan: Or just think about saturday soccer, it's always at the crack of dawn and the younger you are where I live, the earlier your game is. So you're there at like 8:00 AM and everyone's sneezing and running and then they have an asthma attack, and I'm like, I should just put in a tip like, "let's do this afternoon. We might get sunburns, but you know, we'll be protected from pollens."

Amber: Oh boy. Yeah. And then, so after a rain, there should be less pollen in the air. Now that gets into other issues, If there's a thunderstorm, and you have asthma, but yeah, if you don't have asthma and you do have pollen allergy after a rain, might be a good time. 

Meagan: Well, I think that this has been a wonderful conversation and keep listening because we are going to also talk about medications that we can use and our go-to for things especially that are over the counter that as a mom you're out, you know, at the grocery store. Or you having to stop by the pharmacy, you can just grab or order from Amazon, things that we all use and we are gonna have an episode discussing that. So, yeah. Yeah, and thank you for joining us today.

Kara: Remember to drop your questions, your comments in the chat below, and we look forward to incorporating those into future episodes. Thanks for joining us for Allergy, Actually.

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