While there’s typically an enormous concentrate on spring allergy symptoms, fall allergy symptoms are a factor, too — and so they’re a difficulty for many individuals.
“Fall allergies can often be worse than springtime allergies, depending on what you’re allergic to,” Dr. Tania Elliott, allergist, immunologist and chief medical officer at Nectar Allergy, tells Yahoo Life.
The most typical perpetrator for fall allergy symptoms is ragweed, a wild plant that blooms and releases pollen from August to November, based on the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI). But different vegetation can set off fall allergy symptoms, too, the ACAAI says, together with burning bush, cocklebur, lamb’s quarters, pigweed, sagebrush, mugwort, tumbleweed and Russian thistle.
“It’s important to take fall allergies seriously,” Elliott says. “It’s not just an inconvenience. It could lead to serious health effects if not treated.”
So, how can fall allergy symptoms affect your life? Here’s a breakdown.
Fall allergy symptoms could cause fatigue and affect sleep
Fall allergy symptoms can intrude along with your sleep, and there are a couple of causes for that. “A lot of the medications that people take for allergies and asthma can make you feel drowsy or lethargic,” Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist with the Allergy and Asthma Network, tells Yahoo Life.
But, sadly, feeling sleepy when you’ve got allergy symptoms might be attributable to different components as nicely. “Even just being congested or coughing or not breathing as well as you should be can make you feel more tired and more rundown,” Parikh says.
Fall allergy symptoms can diminish your high quality of life
More than 3 million days of labor are missed within the United States every year on account of allergy symptoms. “Studies have shown that allergies can significantly impact quality of life,” Elliott says. “That means less productivity, difficulty concentrating even missed days of work.”
It could even increase your threat of melancholy. “Anytime you have a chronic illness like allergies impacting you day by day and affecting your mood, making you more fatigued, you can see an increased incidence in things like depression,” Elliott says. “You’re not feeling yourself, you’re not getting enough sleep to recover, and it ends up being a vicious cycle.”
You may even really feel the impact whenever you’re caring for a cherished one with fall allergy symptoms. “It can be draining from a mental health perspective,” Kenneth Mendez, president and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, tells Yahoo Life. “It’s important to … understand how you can better take care of your loved one, but also take care of yourself.”
Fall allergy symptoms can set off different immune responses
Unfortunately, fall allergy symptoms could cause flares of different situations. “Skin rashes, like eczema, atopic dermatitis or hives can actually be linked to your allergies,” Parikh says. “We always see an increase in eczema and hives during those peak pollen seasons. They can be quite debilitating.”
Asthma can be triggered by allergy symptoms. “Asthma is something that’s especially dangerous for allergy sufferers because allergies are the most common cause of asthma,” Parikh says.
While fall allergy symptoms must be in your radar all through the season, Mendez recommends being significantly conscious towards the top of September. “The third week in September is known as ‘peak week,’ and that’s where emergency room visits spike because of asthma,” he says. “It’s generally associated with fall allergies and back to school.”
If you observed that you’ve got fall allergy symptoms, discuss to your physician. “It’s important to treat allergies rather than suffering through them,” Parikh says. “You don’t have to be miserable.”
