by A. C. O'Brien

Created on: May 21, 2010   Last Updated: May 28, 2010

Ah spring; "In spring a young mans fancy turns to love."

At least that is how the old saying goes. But it is not just the young men who are affected, When the temperature rises and days grow longer, trees; mostly the male trees, bloom and shed pollen. large clouds of the stuff, into the air in an attempt to pollinate the female of their species. Later in the year grass plants take their turn at pollinating offering up yet another assault of pollen for our delicate sinus passages. These two pollen sources are the primary causes of spring and summer allergies.

Some blame their allergies on flowers in the garden and in the wild but they are not the problem. For the greater majority, flowers are pollinated by insects not with wind born pollen. Your runny nose and sneezes, known as allergic rhinitis, and your itchy eyes, even your sinus symptoms are an immune response to air born pollen. Often these symptoms are inherited so if your parents sneeze and sniffle their way through spring, chances are good that at some point, you will be doing the same thing..

When the body encounters pollen for the first time the body's immune system produces a response, that immune response is then remembered by the body. Every time a re-exposure to the pollen happens, the immune system reacts defensively . Your nose itches and runs, your eyes itch and water, and your sinuses may swell up and block your nasal breathing, In the worst of cases you may even suffer asthma symptoms. Some call it allergies, some say it's hay fever or rose fever, what ever you call it, it is miserable.

Scientists have been studying this immune response for decades trying to resolve the symptoms of allergy sufferers. They have isolated the cells that respond and the substances that they secrete, they have found imbalances in the T-cells in the nasal tissue. Many blocking avenues have been tried to prevent the symptoms of hay fever.

The best way to avoid these symptoms is to avoid the triggers, the pollens. On perfectly pretty spring days when the sun rises to a brilliant blue ski, gentle warm breezes stir the freshly released pollen about. It comes in contact with the surface of your eye as well as the lining of your nose. It gets in your hair, on your cloths and on your face and eyelashes. To avoid pollen all together one must stay indoors in filtered air all the time, but this would be a boring life indeed.

Avoidance strategies are your best defencive moves. When

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