As summer ends some people are starting to think about pumpkins, vivid fall foliage and cooler nights. However, there is another group of people dreading the season.
The big reason is not their hatred of pumpkin spice, but hay fever.
Allergy sufferers have already started to cough, sneeze, blow their nose and wipe their watery eyes in the Natural State and experts say it is only going to get worse.
The fall allergy season is caused by ragweed and stinging nettle pollen floating around. September is the peak season for the weeds to produce the potent pollen.
During some years a dry spell over the state will cut down on the pollen production, but this year with all the wet weather the plants are strong and healthy. Experts said it could be a bad season for allergy sufferers.
Dr. Blake Scheer with the Little Rock Allergy and Asthma Clinic said if someone is allergic to ragweed, they may want to avoid certain foods that could cause something known as “oral allergy syndrome.”
“This is not an allergy to the food but cross-reacts with the pollen their allergic to. For example, a ragweed patient eats a melon like watermelon or cantaloupe," Scheer said. "They’ll tell their mouth itches or their lips tingle or they’ll have a minor irritation to their throat. It rarely goes into anything more than that, but it is pretty uncomfortable for people that have it on a severe level.”
The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology highlights other foods such as banana, cucumbers and zucchini could also be irritating to allergy sufferers of ragweed.
The fall allergy season will cause misery for many people until the first killing frost arrives, which is not the first week of November for central Arkansas.
Doctors recommend an over-the-counter antihistamine for symptoms as long as it does not produce strong side effects.
Anyone suffering from severe symptoms especially breathing issues should see an allergy specialist.
With the allergy season overlapping cold and other infections experts suggested if you have a family history or the symptoms are lasting for a long period of time the best advice is to go to an allergy specialist.
Specialists can use a prick test or blood test to figure out if it is an allergy causing the problems and what allergy is the culprit.
THV11 receives a daily weekday update from the Little Rock Allergy and Asthma Clinic which can be found here.