The snow is melting, temperatures are rising and flowers will soon be blossoming — all signs that point to another allergy season creeping up in Toronto.
Dr. Charlotte Miller, a long-time allergist with St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Toronto Allergy Group, is gearing up for the annual influx of appointments and bookings as March lingers on.
Residents can develop allergies to pollen all the way through life, but older folks tend to have fewer symptoms as their weaker immune systems don’t respond to allergens as profoundly, she said.
Therefore, many of her patients are children and younger adults.
“You tend to inherit the genetic tendency towards them,” she explained. “If you have one parent with allergies, you have a one in three chance of having some allergic disease yourself. If both parents, it’s 60 per cent. But it’s not a guarantee.”
Dr. Miller noted that people with mold allergies may already be starting to experience reactions like sneezing and itchy or watery eyes as grass and green spaces begin getting exposed to warmer conditions across the city.
“There’s a lot of wet earth, and when you can smell the earth, that’s when the mold is blooming — so people will have symptoms,” she explained.
By early April, Dr. Miller suspects tree pollen counts will begin to rise considerably — even before plants and leaves begin to appear.
While it’s hard to predict whether this spring could be harsher on allergy patients than previous years, Dr. Miller said it’s worth noting that climate change, pollution and fossil fuels all contribute to higher counts of pollen — especially in Toronto.
“I’m not like one of the groundhogs that can pop up and tell you what’s going to happen,” she laughed. “But generally, we can expect every year to get worse.”
Tough news for Toronto’s allergy sufferers
Although downtown Toronto doesn’t have nearly as many parks and green spaces compared to other major hubs, the city isn’t immune to allergy woes.
Downtown spaces like High Park and Toronto Island Park, and areas further away from the core like Don River and Humber River, provide the city with plenty of pollens and allergens, according to Dr. Miller.
But it’s the pollution in particular that aggravates and exasperates people’s allergies, she said. In fact, Dr. Miller wagers that residents living in the city could be suffering worse compared to people who live on the countryside.
“When pollution stresses the plants, they actually make more pollen,” she explained. “It makes plants bloom longer because it’s longer warmer seasons, and the pollens are also becoming more potent and more allergic driving for patients.”
“So, when people say it’s getting worse every year — they’re right.”
According to the city, air pollutants found in Toronto are the product of burning gasoline, diesel fuel and natural gas. Traffic-related air pollution is the largest local source of air pollution, followed by emissions from industrial and residential buildings.
Warmer winters also means that Dr. Miller is seeing more mold allergy patients experiencing year-round symptoms, derived from things inside a patient’s house, as well as the influx in mold spores from mild climates.
A “good” year versus a “bad” year for allergies can also largely depend on the individual, she said.
“If you had a respiratory virus and it irritated your nose during pollen season, your nose is going to be more susceptible,” she said. “So, you might have had a harder time that year whereas if you’re healthy and had no respiratory viruses, you might have an easier time during a pollen year.”
Tips to combat those sniffles
Dr. Miller told TorontoToday there’s no shortage of medicines, remedies and best practices to consider when you’re hoping to avoid those nasty seasonal symptoms.
She said air purifiers are important to have around the house, particularly for those who suffer with pet allergies, indoor mold and other home-based irritants. Keeping windows closed — at the house and while driving — as well as replacing air filters, are also good habits to keep in mind.
“If you’re spending a lot of time outside and you’re having symptoms, showering and getting pollen off your skin, face and hair so it’s not on you through the night is good, so you’re not having that added exposure,” she said.
Dr. Miller urges allergy sufferers to make an appointment with their family doctor and start with antihistamines or nasal steroids as there are “excellent over the counter options” for both.
She noted there are plenty of non-sedating, 24-hour antihistamines that are typically effective — including Claritin, Aerius, Reactine and Allegra.
“Antihistamines are very safe and well-tolerated — with no side effects,” she said. “Nasal steroids, meanwhile, didn’t used to be over the counter but they are now. Pharmacists can now give people advice with excellent medications.”
If those methods of relief aren’t working, that’s when patients will often go see allergists like Dr. Miller — which usually happens more often a couple months into spring.
When it comes to medication, she said most experts are not fans of Benadryl.
“It only lasts six hours and it’s sedating,” Dr. Miller warned. “So, we don’t recommend it to people — especially those who have seasonal allergies. It’s not ideal to take something every six hours for a condition you’re exposed to for 24 hours a day.”
