Allergy Season Hits Desert

You’re sneezing, weezing, coughing, and if you don’t have a cold or the flu, chances are your allergies are flaring up. But, you’re not alone.

Allergy season is here and it’s taking a toll on the desert. The Winter rain accelerated the Spring bloom and dressed the desert in a color wheel of flowers.

It’s a florist’s dream.But, for those with allergies, it’s a nightmare.

“It’s crazy,” said Patrick Sheehan, who battles allergies every Spring. “I have a 14-year-old daughter who suffers. Our whole family suffers.”

Zelda Searcy suffers from “headache pain,” she said. “My sinuses get swollen. . . it’s awful.”

But, treatable. doctor michael gatto, is an allergy specialist.

“I probably see at least 10 to 15 patients a day that have specific allergy complaints,” said Dr. Michael Gatto, an allergy specialist, who expects the pollen count to rise.

“Usually in the desert, we have a increase in the Spring and when they start scalping the laws in September,” he said. “So, we have a double whammy twice a year.”

“I have high blood pressure,” said Searcy. “So, I can’t take any of the anti-histamines because it’ll raise my blood pressure.”

Doctors say you don’t have to suffer. Over the counter medications are a temporary solution. But, there are ways to get rid of your allergies all together. The natural products you’re allergic to can be made into a serum.

“That [serum] is introduced to the immune system over a course of time,” said Gatto. “What happens is as you take the shots, the symptoms will decrease and eventually they will disappear.”

Doctors can also shrink the memranes that swell in the nose.

“I put a probe and it introduces a radio frequency and it shrinks them down a good 50 [to] 60 percent and it’s a permanent solution, and it gives you a better airway,” said Gatto.

Patrick Sheehan agreed that it’s a pretty time of the year, but also a painful time of the year.