of illegal dumping, you’re
asked to call precinct one.
Well, tis the season to sneeze.
If you’re bothered by pollen,
you know exactly what I’m
talking about. If you’re like
me and not usually bothered
by pollen and this year, you
are. Well, you also know what
I’m talking about. I spent time
with Michael biologists at the
city of Houston’s lab in the
medical center who tell me the
season actually starts in
January when cold weather
plants and trees begin to bloom
when this season starts to die
down, we go right into the
spring when another round of
trees begin to pollinate, which
is what we’re experiencing
right now making for a really
long, tough season for many
so far, 2023 looks like it’s
going to be a fairly average
here. Last year we had a pretty
late start. And so we had
record numbers of pollens.
>> But I think that was just
because it was such a short
season this year. It looks like
it’s going to be pretty
typical. Yeah, we’re going have
the high numbers, but I it
doesn’t look like it’s going
to be the record highs that we
had last year.
>> OK, so you might be asking,
how did the scientists now?
Well, they collect air samples
from the roof of a building in
the medical center twice a day
once early in the morning and
then early in the evening when
trees are pollinating the most,
the scientists then pulled
these collections on film.
They put them on to the film.
They die. It Pink. Put it under
a microscope and then count by
hand. The pollens they can see
on that film. This, as you
might imagine, can take hours
the early morning count,
depending on how much pollen
is collected is usually put out
at around 9, 09:30AM, in the
morning. Our meteorologist then
use this information to put
out their pollen cast. So what
we see on the news is actually
from the morning before, if
we update that at midday, then
that is the new information
just coming out that same day,
this one collection site,
though, however, is one of
about 80 across the nation.
The next closest site is in
Austin. And so when you talk
with a lot of people, some
people question the accuracy of
this type of collection
because, you know, this is a
collection site that represents
all of Houston and the
surrounding areas in, you know,
you may be talking with a loved
one who might be very bothered
by Paul. And the scientists
might say that the pollen count
is high on a specific day.
So it’s all dependent on where
you live. But with this said, I
want to
bring in our health my spring
allergies szerlag seizing Hear
everything that’s pollinated is
making us.
>> Sneeze. And it’s and you’ve
got to it. She dies the issue
throat and those that will stop
a big problem for so many
people in you haven’t grown
up in Texas. So you definitely
don’t have the immunity that
some of us have been able to
build up. But I got to tell you
any tax and I’ll tell you, this
is kind of year-round for us.
My allergies are actually the
worst in the fall. But one and
t I spoke to said that that
that March is the worst time
for allergies. That because
the spring allergies are so
bad.
we are seeing a record early
start to allergy season
Allergy-triggering pollen is
actually hitting the whole U.S.
really hard. The southern and
eastern U.S. is being hit
earlier than ever. So we do
see it all across Houston.
There’s cars that are covered
in pollen. Mine is right now
because I haven’t gotten it
washed. People are sneezing and
sniffling. And as I mentioned,
this is the worst time of year.
According to Ian Tease. Now,
Mother Nature is just working
even harder against us. We know
that Oak is super super high
right now. We grass mold
spores. All of those things are
really high and obviously were
allergic to them. So it’s
bothering us. You might have
it. You’re running eyes.
You might even think that it’s
something else that it’s not.
Well, especially in 2023 when
we’re dealing with COVID, we’re
dealing with the flu. How do
you know it’s allergies?
It can be hard to tell. I mean,
actually, it’s even hard for me
to tell even want to have the
flu earlier this year. I was
like, well, I think it dollar
cheese and then it was the
fever. The fever is what they
always say is the real signal a
yeah. That coat the cough
fever. Body aches. Then, you
know, this isn’t just
allergies. It’s something else.
But all of those regular
symptoms, the sneezing and
everything else still go along
with the virus. It’s it’s
always the fever that tells
I’m really sick. I know a lot
of people are like we know
this. We know that this was
really yeah. We get relief.
doctor Gavin Lynn Noble says
that nasal sprays are highly
effective. those take some time
to kick in. You’re going want
to start using those at least a
day or 2 before you, you know,
you’ll need them. So if your
thinking about going out to the
rodeo, if you’re going out to
your kid’s baseball games, try
and take those ahead of time.
He says that the maximum
benefit kicks in more than a
week after consistent use.
And I’ve heard some people say
that it takes about 2 weeks
for that to kick in. If you’re
going to use those nasal
steroids, the nasal sprays are
wonderful. Is there some way
that people can get a
faster relief? So Orlando
Histamines are the fastest
relief. You know, if you take
a Benadryl, you know, like your
over-the-counter medicines,
like Benadryl are super safe,
but that’s what gives you those
side effects like sleeping us.
So you got to be careful when
you do specially know driving.
But can you combine these?
Yeah. The doctor Lynn Noble
said that you are totally safe
to combine and histamines and
nasal But if you are combining
those and you’re not feeling
relief, then it’s probably time
to see an EMT.
>> I would always want to start
with a nasal steroid spray and
give that a little bit of time.
Have to, you know, have to be a
little bit patient with them.
The other thing you can do is
you can use a combination of
medication so you can use a
nasal steroids plus a topical.
And he asked me to let us pray.
And he has to mean that can
provide some additional
benefits. If that doesn’t work,
then it’s reasonable. It’s
actually a pretty good idea
to be a sus probably by an EMT
to make sure that it’s not
something else you can have
say, for example, chronic
sinus. Itis that you, I think,
are just allergies. But in
fact, it’s a totally different
condition which were treated
differently as well. In
addition to if your symptoms
are not well controlled with a
nasal steroid spray, an anti us
to mean then if it is just
allergies, then getting allergy
testing for consideration of
immunotherapies. That is a good
idea. That stage.
>> Yeah. you know, you can get
and drops pills shots and that
can be tailored to your
specific allergies. So that can
help a lot of people finally
take charge of their allergies.
The good news is, is that you
don’t even actually need these
therapies year-round unless the
year round allergies affect
you? But you can plan to treat
just on the seasons that are
worse for you. So I know
ragweed in the fall for me.
That’s a real killer. Yeah.
And so he said he was like you
can you can tailor it to only
use your treatments in the fall
when you know, it’s going to be
really bad. Haley and I heard
estimates in the NEWSROOM and
we were talking before the show
started consuming honey and bee
pollen specifically. But when
you do that, you have to know
one thing. And that is to make
sure you get it from where it
is that you’re living locally.
Yeah.
>> I actually buy my honey at a
TV because they do have some
local, honey, like that gets
here specifically. You can find
a lot of honey that’s like, oh,
it’s in Texas. But then you’ll
find like there. It’s
pollinated from bees in Dallas.
And you really want to get as
locally as possible because
those bees, I’m like, I’m like
I said, they pollinate. And so
then you’re introducing a tiny,