Brutal allergies (Phoenix: live, air quality, car)

[BestintheWest]

lived here off and on since 1987, this is by far the worst for me in 29 years, tried every remedy known to man, however about 4 days ago on a whim, tried a Mentholatum nose inhaler, and wow, 80% better, who would have thought it.

[magnum0417]

Sometimes the truth hurts. Phoenix is the hub for employment and medical needs for those of working age but one only sees the warts if they have extensively spent time in other parts of the state and neighboring states. I do not see things improving as more people move here. Adding greenery exasperates allergies and adding sprawl worsens air quality and that further exasperates allergies as well. It is sad. Many longtime residents going back to the 70s and 80s acknowledge my takes and keep saying that is why they moved "up the hill."

[stevek64]

Looks like it's ash/ceder/juniper that are high:

https://www.wunderground.com/US/az/p...1.99999/health

Doesn't bother me at all. Mold is one of the things that can get to me but little worry of that in our parts. All depends on what one is allergic to in the end/highly variable from person to person.

[magnum0417]

Very familiar with juniper near Valle and Payson. Never had a problem there and have spent ample time during all 4 seasons. The elephant in the room is the air quality in the immediate PHX area. Even the biggest PHX homers will acknowledge the air quality is much better. In fact I find what mild allergies I get in Valle which has a growing season from may to september only to be comparable to what I had in NY prior to moving here. I spent time here long before moving here beginning in the 80s during the summer so the heat is not an issue. What I did not sign up for was how bad the allergies are. To say one is less impacted by the umpteen native and nonnative vegetation in The Valley than the sagebrush and light juniper in Valle and Holbrook is ridiculous.

[stevek64]

One thing I've read about allergies is one can not be allergic to something and years later, boom, they will all of a sudden be sensitive to it.

Air quality is pretty good lately. Moderate PM2.5 today. Over the next few days, predicting green/good quality in all categories(see url above I posted).

Hard to pinpoint with so many variables.

[magnum0417]

Valley Fever....my wife had it a few years back and most of us likely have at some point but chose to ride it out without medical attention dismissing it as "allergies".Thank the agriculture south of Chandler for that. Here and the San Joaquin Valley are the 2 hotbeds for that too. My PCP said last year PHX one of the worst cities for air quality YET Tucson is one of the best.Knew Tucson had better air quality but not to that extreme.

[magnum0417]

Rhinocort available OTC now. Never used to be the case. That may be the ticket for some of us. Claritin nondrowsy has not worked.

[ScottsdaleMark]

I'll concur with everyone else about the allergies. I can't say that mine are any worse than last year, though. Winter is always the worst time for pollution in the valley and of course the late winter/early spring pollen season is difficult for everyone.

I was on Nasonex for a while and have a couple other nose sprays currently but I can't say for sure how much they work. Nasonex seems to be the best I've tried, it works "somewhat" I would say. Sudafed helps a little bit too.

It will get better in a month or two once all the flowering/pollen is over with and all the spring weeds get chopped down.

[magnum0417]

I welcome the heat for that reason. Once it cracks 100 for a few days in May...this stretch will subside but until then...it will remain a struggle and we are running out of time in our season of Pacific Lows providing some relief with cleaning the air.

[BestintheWest]

some things that have helped diminish the problems with allergies,

got an Austin Aire whole house air filter

have an Essick whole house humidifirer

allergies not gone but manageable