Pollen allergies have definitely skyrocketed in Sweden. We used to be able to sit in an office and work all year without hearing people sniffle and sneeze.
Now it's like an epidemic, at least half the office is affected.
Probably we can blame higher hygiene standards, or some other environmental factor for it. Forests haven't changed much in past decades.
Here in Finland I've never been affected by any kind of tree pollen at all, but somehow timothy grass pollen gives me horrible symptoms, forcing me to take antihistamine most of the summer. I lived my childhood near farmland and forests, so definitely got exposed to both forms of pollen at early age.
And I got it as an adult, in 2009. So 26 years without any allergies, then suddenly, one summer in Helsingborg, the air was thick with pollen. I remember the smell was like cheese doodles in the air, musty.
Once I got back from an errand in the city my face was leaking, I walked to the pharmacy with blurry vision to get my first antihistamines. Ever since then every year june is a nightmare. It affects your sleep, so it affects every part of life.
And since then I've observed more and more pollen allergies around me, friends, co-workers, strangers on the bus. It's very prevalent.
I would not be surprised if humans caused this somehow with our modern city planning.
Once you get sensitized, it gets worse every year, right?
Since my teenage years I was mildly allergic to pollen, and now in my adulthood it seems to be getting progressively worse. Each spring is worse than the previous one, and the antihistamines do less effect (or so I subjectively feel).
That is the general pattern but not always. I never used to have allergies and then developed them a few years ago. Was very miserable for a couple months every year for about 5 years but they disappeared again a couple years ago. I tried a few things like taking a spoonful of local honey every day etc. Ultimately I don't know what made the difference sadly but I haven't been bothered by seasonal allergies for several years now.
I've had seasonal allergies for decades and haven't seen them trend more intense, though some years have more allergens than others.
Personally I only take allergy medication maybe 50-100 days a year, and usually just a half dose. I have definitely heard from people with worse symptoms that they get a tolerance to medications so it may help to switch between them if you take them year round.
Not _necessarily_. I had big problems with pollen when I was a kid, but very rarely, these days (there seems to be _something_ that causes me difficulty for a few weeks a year, but that's more or less it now).
One theory has to do with sanitation and how well we've done at eliminating parasites. Some people have reported successfully curing allergies by giving themselves a hookworm infection.
> The fact that some local African languages contain no words to describe allergic symptoms could support this hypothesis, indicating that allergic diseases have never been a problem among these populations
Covid fucked with people in various, not easy to measure ways. Some effects went away (like losing smell and taste, but it took months for me), some... not so much.
When I get cold/sneezing (the usual non-flu winter sickness) I cough much more since covid, more thick sputum created in the lower part of the throat. Talked with few people around and they confirmed they feel similar effects.
Allergies could easily be another area where effects can be subtle but permanent in some individuals. My father's hair got almost completely white after he almost ended up on ventilation for example. We as family with 2 kids (back then babies) had covid at least 11-12 times so far (confirmed by tests, wife is a doctor), plus few other probably-but-not-tested. Most recent one last autumn was like immunity went to 0 again, was coughing away nasty stuff for another month. I am glad I just survived all that, some of that was mild and some was pretty harsh on body and mind.
I had exactly the same experience. After I contracted Covid, until last year, it usually took me 2 weeks to stop coughing after the other symptoms went away. I think what improved the situation is exercise. I started to sprint walk a lot since last year and so far I haven’t had any long cough since then.
My son also got asthma after Covid. But he also improved when he grew a bit older (now close to six). We still give him the pumps whenever he had a bad cold, though.
Hope you and your family get better. It is very nasty. It is not life threatening but threatens pretty much everything else.
Here in Finland I've never been affected by any kind of tree pollen at all, but somehow timothy grass pollen gives me horrible symptoms, forcing me to take antihistamine most of the summer. I lived my childhood near farmland and forests, so definitely got exposed to both forms of pollen at early age.