TULSA, Okla. — A report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked Tulsa among the ten most difficult cities to live in for those with seasonal allergies. Tulsa came in sixth, and Oklahoma City was fifth.
Both cities were found to have worse-than-average pollen counts. With Wednesday marking the first day of spring, many around the Tulsa metro are already feeling flare-ups and symptoms.
“You always have to stay ready,” said Tamara Steen. “It’s been causing me to have congestion. Itchy eyes, drainage, pressure to the head. The pressure to the head was the worst, but it was because of allergies.”
Dr. Stephen Pilkington is an internal medicine physician at Utica Park Clinic. He told 2 News his patients were hit hard this year, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why.
“I think the unfortunate trend in Oklahoma is it’s always bad. This year’s been particularly bad,” said Pilkington. “There’s a lot of allergens in terms of the grass and weeds that we just have overexposure to here in Oklahoma, but I think more so were also impacted by the fact that we're such a windy state right, quite flat, and so the wind if there’s an allergen maybe it's all the way in Oklahoma City and its brought this direction by the wind, so I think our patients are just exposed to a lot.”
The good news, Pilkington said, is there is a host of over-the-counter treatments that can be used to treat the varying symptoms that individuals may deal with.
“Unfortunately, our bodies can develop tolerance to the medications that we use, and when that happens, I tell them to kind of switch to the next one,” said Pilkington. “If they’ve been on Zyrtec for 90 days and they feel like their allergies are getting worse, try to switch it to the Claritin. Oftentimes that switch kind of jumps our body back into behaving like it should be.”
Deborah Truitt and her family follow a similar routine. Truitt said she and her children deal with allergies, but they stay prepared so the effects don’t derail their daily lives.
“Anytime that we go and play outside, we at the end of the day we come back in and take a shower and do a sinus rinse and try to get any of those allergens off our body, so it doesn’t bother us too much,” said Truitt. “ I have trained them to do sinus rinses, that's probably the biggest help in their lives, and during the seasons that they suffer the most, we try to do Claritin, any of the over-the-counter allergy preparations, and then we change them monthly.”
Truitt went through immune therapy and received injections, which she said improved her reaction to different allergens. She said she plans to do the same treatment with her children in the future to try to help them.
The more preparation taken ahead of time spent in irritating areas, like the outdoors, the less of an issue people will feel.
“If you know that you're going to be out mowing the grass or exposed to a lot of wind and outdoor allergens, it's always good to consider the fact that you probably need to go ahead and wash the clothes when you come back in. That can kind of still stick to the clothing,” said Pilkington.
For those who are unsure if they're experiencing allergies, Pilkington recommends trying an over-the-counter medication and seeing a primary care provider. From there, they can help decide if the next steps and more extensive treatment options should be considered.
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