I think I am mildly allergic to Walnut. I try to reduce my exposure by wearing a mask and sometimes a tyvek suit, running DC and Ambient air cleaners. I am finishing up my Son and DIL's walnut bed and was looking forward to working some Cherry that does not demand the rigorous care. Now I am having some sort of flare up. Sneezing, runny nose, Etc. It's tree pollen season and the are advertising it on the news. I do not recall being much affected before. This is worse than the walnut reaction.
So, have I grown into a pollen allergy? Do these things change from year to year?
Barry, I don't know the answer to your pollen allergy question, but many (most?) allergies get worse with repeated or prolonged exposure to the sensitizer. Sometimes, the reaction is so strong that an allergic reaction is triggered with very minimal exposure - like just a few parts per million for an airborne sensitizer. I had an industrial client once that used a lot of a particular solvent in its operation (can't recall what solvent it was). One of the client's employees became so sensitive to the solvent that she broke out in hives and a rash when she drove into the parking lot.
You can go for years with no issues, and then develop an allergy. And it can get worse or (in my observation) get a little better. The body is a mysterious thing.
A doctor told me that it is possible to become sensitized to any foreign substance, usually a protein, at any time and the exposure doesn't necessarily need to be severe or prolonged. A friend in Alaska suddenly became severely allergic to aromatic cedar (juniper). I had the same reaction to a type of rosewood (which I can't name at the moment) after doing no more than turning a pen from it but I can work with many other rosewood species with no problems. About the best we can do is to recognize the possibility and think ahead to have protection and some benadryl handy just in case.
I'm already taking Zyrtec to relieve my sinus headache due to stuff in the air. Not sure if the pollen is in the air yet but it's very close if not.
I never had any problem with pollen and such until maybe 16 years ago. Now I suffer through pollen season without the help of Claritin or Zyrtec. I do notice a difference after a good rain but that doesn't last long.
Most of the trees in the part of New Mexico where I lived are junipers. When we moved here from Maryland, I was wonderfully allergy free for 8 years, then I developed a sensitivity to Juniper that gets worse every year. We now try to take a vacation somewhere far away from Junipers during pollen season (now).
My ENT confirmed that one can develop a sensitivity over time. He also said it doesn't help much to move away because you will probably develop a sensitivity to whatever grows where you go.
David, you can buy Allertec (Zyrtec) and AllerFlo (Flonase) at Costco for about 10% of the name brand. Pharmacist told me they are precisely Identical.
