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The Season to Sneeze
Fall Allergy Tips
By Keath Castelloe Low
The kids are back at school. Temperatures will soon cool off and leaves will begin turning glorious colors. It's fall! This is the time of year we begin to think of Halloween pumpkins and Thanksgiving turkeys. Unfortunately, fall is also a time when seasonal allergies may begin to act up. Weed pollen, particularly ragweed pollen, is a major culprit during these months. Mold spores are also often at their highest levels. If you have a child with seasonal allergies, get ready for itchy eyes, noses, ears and mouths.
"My 4-year-old experiences allergies, mainly in the fall," says Jenna Krumlauf of Pontiac, Mich. "I had them horribly as a child and ended up getting allergy shots for eight years, so I'm afraid it's my fault." Heredity is indeed a key factor in the development of allergies. If you or your spouse have seasonal allergies, chances are good that your children will, too.
Amy Knox, mother of two from Tennessee, can attest to this. Both she and her husband, as well as their two children, suffer from allergies. "My oldest daughter has problems with her eyes," she says. "They get red, inflamed and itchy. My 18-month-old gets congested." Knox has found that there is a definite pattern in when these symptoms occur, typically around October and April or May.
When Krumlauf's 4-year-old's allergies are acting up, he sneezes, has a runny nose and gets dark circles around his eyes. "He also snorts obnoxiously," she says. "He tells me he snorts because it feels like he has something in his nose, but I know it is because his nostrils are swollen. I get the same feeling sometimes." Krumlauf also has a niece whose "drainage gets her stomach so upset, she often throws up" during this time of year.
