Is there pollen in the air already?

[dreamshark]

My nose has been running non-stop with explosive sneezing for the last few days, but I'm pretty sure that I don't have a cold because

• I haven't had a sore throat, which is ALWAYS my first cold symptom
• My eyes are a little itchy, which is one of my reactions to pollen
• Nose is cleared up immediately (for 4 hours, anyway) by those little red decongestant pills

I should have started taking them sooner before my nose got sore and all the wastebaskets filled up with used Kleenex, but they raise the blood pressure and I'd rather not do that. I also should apply some allergy eye drops, but I'm too freaked out by the recent news reports of people losing their eyes to antibiotic-resistant infections from contaminated eye drops.

But I can't figure out what's going on. Usually Pollen.com starts sending me pollen notices in late March, but this year they insist that the local pollen count is Low. Is anybody else in Minnesota having hay fever type symptoms? 

Comments

[pameladean]

Yep, I am. The Pollen.com app says that there are both juniper and poplar pollen around, and the current reading right now is LOW-MED. It was up to MED on some of the warmer days recently.

I never used to have hay fever at all and am pretty put out about this. I don't know what all I'm allergic to, but I've been sniffling and occasionally sneezing for about three weeks.

I've done copious numbers of rapid antigen tests in that time period, because I don't see either my mom and brother or Eric unless we've all done two tests beforehand.

P.

[dreamshark]

Juniper and poplar are always the first, so I assume that's what sets me off in March. The weird thing is - there isn't any juniper or poplar in my neighborhood, at least that I'm aware of. The trees are primarily maple, fir and spruce. We have shrubbery in front of the house that I think is arbor vitae, which might be related to juniper. But I don't see any sign of flowers or even buds on that. There's a giant white pine across the alley, but it's fairly obvious when the pollen comes out on that one because it spreads a layer of golden dust all over the backyard furniture.

[pameladean]

Well, Pollen.com's page about juniper observes unemotionally: "When weather conditions are supportive, pollen can travel many miles."

A friend of mine is allergic to birch pollen, and was worried that they would have to get rid of the birches in their yard, but the allergist opined that it wouldn't make any difference because there was so very much birch in Minnesota generally.

P.

[dreamshark]

Interesting. I am quite certain that I am allergic to juniper because of an experience a few years ago in one of those botanic mono-cultures that one sometimes encounters in the western third of the US, but there really isn't a lot of true juniper in Minneapolis. There is a lot of cottonwood (which is a poplar), but way over by Lake Harriet. That's only a mile, so maybe it does blow that far.

[sraun]

I'm suddenly stuffed up this morning, and it's not wanting to go away. I don't have any other cold symptoms. I don't typically have dry/red eye problems until the pollen count gets really high.

I'll be starting on my nasal spray shortly.

[guppiecat]

It could also be mold spores, released by the melting snow.

[dreamshark]

I keep hearing that, but I am dubious. I get spring allergies every year in March and the state of the snow cover doesn't seem to make any difference one way or the other. This year the ground IS covered with melting/thawing snow cover, but in years where the ground is completely and snow-free and dry by late March it's pretty much the same.