Recent Rain Taking A Toll On Asthma And Allergy Sufferers

Saturday, July 7th 2007, 7:03 pm

By: News On 6

If your allergies have been acting up even more lately, the wet weather is likely to blame. Doctors tell us allergy sufferers and those with asthma have it especially rough when flooding occurs. News On 6 anchor Latoya Silmon reports it's a problem that's hard to avoid, but some tips may make dealing with it a whole lot easier.

Dr. Tim Nickel says Mother Nature can make you sick.

â€œMore in the sense of patients especially with asthma have been having slightly more problems with the heavy rains,â€ Dr. Nickel said.

And Oklahoma has had a lot of it lately. Torrential downpours have caused several parts of the state to flood, flooding allergy and asthma sufferers with symptom after symptom.

â€œA lot of people don't realize there's two types of molds. There's wet weather and dry weather molds. Certainly most of them require moisture and most of that is going to propagate. Most of the growth is going to occur with the wet weather with ground water saturation,â€ Nickel said.

But rain isn't the only culprit.

â€œIncrease of humidity of course can have a factor in two different areas. One is the dust mite concentration, dust mites thrive in humidity,â€ said Nickel.

And humidity makes the air thicker and harder to breathe. Dr. Nickel says there's very little you can do to avoid the problems wet weather brings, but he says changing a few habits might make the problem more manageable.

He recommends keeping doors and windows shut, turning on the AC, using a dehumidifier, and over the counter meds may help. If not, you might need to take a trip to the doctor's office.

Receding water won't help allergy sufferers either. Doctor Nickel says once the ground dries more spores will disperse.

Watch the video: Recent Weather Increases Allergy Symptoms

For more flooding information, check out our STORM ZONE web page.