Drought causes changes in pollen counts while many suffer from allergies

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — There’s been an increase in foot traffic at local drugstores buying allergy medication.

With weather changes, many folks have come down with a rough cough, and congestion, and the pollen counts have fluctuated with the weather changes.

As of September 27, the pollen count has lowered, because of the drought.

The changing temperatures during fall leave some people with seasonal allergies because as the weather changes, allergies might change as well.

Matt Bell is an allergist at Hedberg Allergy. “This is the time of year when I see allergies spike, but that’s not the only thing. From August to October, I’m seeing a lot of runny nose, itchy eyes, congestion, that type of thing. Also, seeing a lot of respiratory viruses where you know there could be a lot of overlap between the symptoms of viral respiratory illnesses. Whether that’s rhinovirus or enterovirus or even flu and COVID,” said Bell.

According to the data released by Hedberg Allergy at the end of September, pollen rates have been fluctuating up and down because of weather changes. “We are seeing a lot of allergic diseases, but those also happen to be times when our viral respiratory illnesses are also quite prevalent,” said Bell.

Bell isn’t the only one to see the changes in the weather as we head into the fall. Jo Johnson is a nurse practitioner at Mercy. Johnson usually sees an uptick this time of the year, and most of the time, allergies are treated pretty easily. “Most of the time we’re going to treat with things like an over-the-counter. There are a lot of really good over-the-counter remedies available,” said Jonson.

With those over-the-counter medications, some of them can only help allergies. Johnson also sees other illnesses as well, at this time of the year. “This time of the year especially. Were seeing an uptick in flu. Were seeing an uptick in covid. And, those are pretty simple tests that we can run in the office and determine if that’s something we’re dealing with because if we catch those things early enough, there are treatments, or we have antivirals, that we can use for flu or COVID if patients want them,” said Johnson.

Bell says that Hedberg’s allergy has seen the pollen levels fluctuate with the weather. Since the drought, ragweed levels could potentially decrease. “You know, hopefully, this is the beginning of the end and not just a little lull in what we’re seeing in terms of pollen counts right now,” said Bell.

For more information on the pollen levels from Hedberg Allergy, click here.

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