"It's getting worse year after year": BC dubbed worst province for allergies
Cherry blossoms brighten up BC during Spring and help erase memories of the cold, rainy days the province is used to. But it’s hard to enjoy the blooms when your eyes are puffy, and your nose is basically a waterfall.
Allergy season has officially kicked in across the country, but it’s especially bad for British Columbians, according to Chris Chiew, Vice President of Pharmacy and Healthcare Innovation at London Drugs.
“BC is definitely the worst,” said Chiew. “With the lack of moisture, and the warm days that we’ve had, that actually causes all those different things that release the pollen.”
Chiew shared that BC’s fluctuating weather between seasons is the main contributing factor to the especially bad allergies that people are facing this year.
“It’s getting worse year after year,” he said. “It’s just because of the longer warm season that we have between the delay of spring [and the] delay of fall coming, where the fall seems to be warmer for longer periods of time.”
“When you have a longer period of warmth that actually has the plants and trees releasing their pollen a little bit earlier, and for longer periods of time, that actually affects the air quality.”
The allergy season has been so bad that Chiew has seen people suffering from stuffy noses and red, watery eyes needing sick leave.
“I’ve seen cases where people will actually call in sick because they just feel horrible through the day and cannot concentrate properly and function properly,” he said.
Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce allergy symptoms, such as prescriptions and sinus rinses.
“They can actually preemptively take an antihistamine that they can get over the counter to help prevent those symptoms from being too bad when they’re out and about,” said Chiew.
“The other thing as soon as they come back in is to take a shower and wash the clothes they were wearing outside because usually, those are what has the pollen in it, and by taking a shower, you wash off the pollen.”
If the more common methods to cope with allergies aren’t working, Chiew recommends seeking out your pharmacist. The government classifies allergies under “minor ailments,” meaning pharmacists have a wider variety of things to offer.
“Seek out your pharmacist,” Chiew said. “Pharmacists can definitely prescribe those corticosteroids and stronger antihistamines to help with those allergies, to help make that better than what we have in terms of just the over-the-counter products.”
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