“The nose is clogged, the eyes are swollen”: Russians began to suffer from hay fever

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, in Russia, hay fever (also known as seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis) today affects every third adult and every fourth child, and their number is growing. It is noted in the world that every year the number of allergy sufferers grows by 10%, and every decade it doubles. If this continues, soon there will not be a single earthling who could greet spring without tears and with a clean nose… The main symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis are a stuffy nose, a swollen throat, cough, watery eyes. “Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when such symptoms appear is a respiratory viral infection. However, the main difference between hay fever and ARVI is that the symptoms disappear or are significantly weakened when contact with the allergen is stopped. For example, when a person enters a room from the street. According to our observations, every fourth person who develops such symptoms at the beginning of the flowering season is a patient with hay fever. This year, the first patients with hay fever began to come to us in mid-March, and now their number has increased. It’s not surprising: after all, tree pollen spreads in the air long before the first leaves appear,” says allergist-immunologist Sergei Prokofiev.

A reaction to pollen is one of the most common types of allergies. According to the Gismeteo interactive map, birch, alder, hazel, willow, mother-and-mahechi, and meadow grasses have now begun to bloom in the Moscow region. So far, experts assess the level of dust as moderate. And yet many people have already experienced painful symptoms for a week or two. “I have to close the windows at home, and in the morning I wake up with a stuffy nose. His eyes were swollen, like an alcoholic’s. The doctor prescribed antihistamines, hormonal nose drops, eye drops – I went to the pharmacy for 4 thousand rubles,” 21-year-old Muscovite Andrei told MK.

Up to 60% of all growing plants in the world are allergenic plants. The most aggressive April allergen is birch (more precisely, its pollen). With hay fever, an allergy to its pollen, according to Dr. Prokofiev, occurs in 90% of patients. Meadow grasses are also strong allergens. People should also consider the risks of cross-allergy to different foods. For example, if they react to birch pollen, they are very likely to have allergic reactions to birch sap, plums, peaches, apricots, cherries, olives, apples, pears, kiwi, nuts, celery, parsley, honey, carrots, potatoes , tomatoes, cognac in confectionery products.

The duration and intensity of the dusting season depends on a number of natural factors: weather, wind (the stronger it is and the drier it is, the farther the pollen is carried), etc. As a rule, after rains, allergy sufferers feel relief of symptoms. Today on the Internet there are various pollen monitoring sites where you can find out which flowering plants are dangerous at the moment, assess the degree of threat (on a 10-point scale) and even look at forecasts for the coming days (taking into account wind direction and weather conditions ). For example, one of the hayfly clubs gives an 8-point threat from alder these days. In addition, club experts warn about the beginning of local dusting of the hazel tree.

The main remedies that allergy sufferers resort to during the flowering season are antihistamines, which today are in short supply in pharmacies due to the seasonal increase in demand. And although, according to Victoria Presnyakova, director of the SRO Association of Independent Pharmacies and head of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations, pharmacy chains have not yet seen rush demand, in some regions, mainly in the south, over the past week people began to buy allergy medications more actively than usual: “Probably, allergy sufferers are preparing for the flowering season and stocking up on necessary medications. Instead of expensive and modern drugs, as was the case before, they now prefer domestic analogues, for example, loratadine. The traditionally popular drug is Zodak. Last year, a surge in demand was visible at the end of March – beginning of April, this year it will happen a little later. At the moment, the pharmaceutical market is ready for the onset of allergy season, providing a wide selection of drugs. However, some pharmacies are experiencing shortages of certain products, such as cromoglycic acid (eye and nasal drops), necessary for the treatment of polynosis, and Lecromin eye drops, which may make it difficult for allergy sufferers to access the necessary medications.”

In recent years, allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) has become increasingly popular among hay fever sufferers: it is based on the introduction of an allergen to the patient that causes a reaction, which makes it possible to control the disease during the season. It should be started in late autumn or winter, and to achieve results, it takes up to 5 years of treatment. During ASIT (that is, about three months), patients must follow a very strict diet. But the problem is that since last year there has been a shortage of the main drug for ASIT, Staloral, in the country – both the original French and domestic analogues. And it remains extremely difficult to find a cure.

If hay fever occurs in a severe scenario and is poorly controlled by symptomatic remedies, doctors recommend that allergy sufferers change the climate for the flowering period. And they remind you that the lowest allergenic regions of Russia are Yakutia and the White Sea.

FLOWERING CALENDAR

End of March – April

Deciduous shrubs: alder, willow, hazel (hazel)

End of April – end of May

Deciduous trees: birch, oak, ash, poplar, willow, maple, elm, aspen

Mid-May – mid-June

Coniferous trees: pine, spruce

End of May – end of July

Cereal grasses: fescue, cocksfoot, timothy, bluegrass, ryegrass, foxtail, bromegrass, rye, wheatgrass, etc.

End of May – June

Dandelion

End of June – beginning of July

Linden, cereals

June – mid-July

Plantain, cereals, sorrel

July – mid August

Nettle

End of July – October

Weeds: wormwood, pigweed, quinoa, ragweed, cyclochene

April – September

Polyvalent pollen allergy (allergy to different groups of plants) Molds Alternaria, Cladosporium