Grass Pollen Season

Grass pollen is the topmost common cause of seasonal allergies {1}. During late spring and early summer, grass pollen is the most common culprit causing allergic rhinitis. However, if you live in warmer areas that don’t necessarily have cold seasons, then it is possible to get affected by grass pollen all year round. There are times when grass pollen season overlaps with weed pollen and tree pollen, making it hard to distinguish your main culprit. The body’s overreaction causes grass pollen allergy to harmless substances present in pollen. This can also happen when you consume certain foods and drinks. Grass pollen allergy can be very triggering for those with this specific allergy.

When you’re suffering from an allergy, the best way to deal with this is by avoiding the trigger food, pet, or drink. However, when it comes to grass pollen, avoidance requires a lot of work. Pollens are light; hence they get easily carried away by the wind, which makes them reach you wherever you are.

When is grass pollen season?

Grass pollen season varies if you live in the UK. for example, in Wales and England, grass pollen season peaks in the first two weeks of June. However, this is just the first peak season. The second peak, a lower peak season, begins in the first two weeks of July and then slowly declines. These peak seasons for grass pollen depend on other variables like how wet, dry, cold, or warm it is. Low temperatures in winter are also expected to affect the plants and grass dormancy, which delays the grass pollen season. The lower the temperatures, the less pollen is produced. However, this changes if winter soil and air temperatures are higher than usual. If it rains in spring, you should expect more pollen production because dry weather hinders pollen production.

Besides how the weather may affect grass pollen season, pollen also depends on how different hardy grass species are and how they cope with the other species in the same region. Generally, across the UK, you should expect grass pollen levels to rise at the beginning of late spring in May. The grass pollen season will last into the summer months. Even though grass pollen can peak in the summer, it also lasts well into august.

Types of grasses that trigger the most allergies

There are hundreds of grass species, but not all of them can trigger allergies. Your location determines the types of grass you’re most likely to come in contact with. The most common types of grasses causing allergies include:

• Bahia
• Bermuda
• Fescue
• Johnson
• Kentucky blue
• Orchard
• Rye
• Sweet vernal
• Timothy

Even though grass pollen season wasn’t always so intense in the past, it has changed over the years due to climate change. Grass pollen season now can be intense and last longer than before.

Grass pollen allergy treatment

Even though you can cure grass pollen allergy, you can easily manage it. Various allergy treatments will help you manage grass pollen allergy symptoms during its peak season when you can’t avoid this pollen. These include:

• Nasal rinse: Using a saline nose can help you cut down mucus and help you rinse pollen from your nose.
• Nasal spray: Corticosteroid nasal sprays effectively treat swelling and inflammation of the nose without side effects.
• Eye drops: When suffering from allergy symptoms that affect your eyes, eye drops will help you relieve sensations like itchiness, redness, watery eyes, swelling, and burning sensations.
• Antihistamines: These come in pills, nasal sprays, and liquids. They help relieve sneezing, itchy eyes, and nose.
• Decongestants: These come in the form of sprays, drops, liquids, and pills. They help shrink the nasal passage lining to relieve stuffiness and are generally used for a short time (three days).

Tips when dealing with grass pollen season

Even though avoiding grass pollen can be tricky, these tips will help you find different ways to deal with this season that could otherwise be a nuisance.

1. Monitor pollen counts: Monitoring pollen count will help you know what to wear when going outside and how to deal with it on such days. Some websites allow you to check pollen count as long as you insert your region.
2. Take precautions when mowing grass: Even though allergies shouldn’t be a reason for you to turn down your chores, during grass pollen season, you might need to leave this chore up to someone else. However, if you have no alternatives, ensure you wear something that covers your whole body, not leaving the mouth and nose to pollen exposure. Wear masks that will filter out air particles, reducing the pollen you encounter when doing yard work.
3. Wear clothes that cover your whole body: Wearing cloth items like long pants and long-sleeved shirts when doing yard work or going outside will prevent your skin from coming in contact with grass pollen.
4. Change clothes when entering the house: When coming home from outside, a change of clothes will ensure that you won’t carry pollen into your home. You can also shower to ensure you get pollen off your hair.
5. Keep your doors and windows shut: During the warm months when there is pollen, we also tend to want our windows open to get fresh air. However, this isn’t recommended if you have a grass pollen allergy because opening your doors and windows will ley to pollen. You can, however, turn on your HVAC system, which will filter out pollen in the air reducing pollen at home.

Grass pollen allergy testing

Our Allergy Test Box Kit

It is best to get an Allergy Test if you experience pollen allergies during grass pollen season, especially if you’ve never had one. An allergy test will help you determine the cause of your symptoms so that you can start fixing them. Allergy symptoms often vary from one individual to the next, and since there is always lots of pollination around the block when it’s grass pollen season, it is best to narrow down the culprits, so you’re sure what to avoid and how to avoid it. An allergy test specifies your p[ollen allergies and checks for other allergies in your food, drink, and environment.

References

1. Andersson, K., & Lidholm, J. (2003). Characteristics and immunobiology of grass pollen allergens. International archives of allergy and immunology, 130(2), 87-107. (https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/69013)