We're facing one of the worst allergy, and flu seasons yet here in Texoma. And it can be hard to tell which one you've got when you're feeling under the weather. One local allergist says while both are bad, they are identified and treated very differently.
Tony Stephens is a long time allergy sufferer, and up until a few years ago he was confined by his chronic symptoms.
"I was miserable, for several years. I kept thinking it would go away, something that would come and go. But then I started realizing every year at the same time I was having the same problems,” said Stephens
And this fall could prove to be particularly bad for people like Stephens, who have allergies. Experts say this could be one of the worst seasons for allergies yet thanks to the high levels of ragweed in the air.
The North Texas area has now been bumped up from last year’s ranking as the 27th worst place to live for allergy sufferers to the 13th. Dr. Vern Laing says the warm weather mixed with a longer growing season has made ragweed the main culprit.
"The allergy season has been pretty intense compared to previous seasons,” said Laing, an allergist and immunologist in Sherman.
But with the regular flu and H1N1 circulating at the same time, it can sometimes be hard to tell if you have allergies or the flu.
"People say they feel like they have the flu when they have allergy, but most of the time they've forgotten what having the flu's about. You can't go, you can't get out of bed, you're virtually incapacitated,” said Laing.
Dr. Laing says there are similar symptoms, such as coughing, sneezing and runny nose, but the flu can also bring fever, muscle pain and intestinal problems.
And all of these symptoms tipped off Stephens that he wasn't suffering from pollen and ragweed.
"I knew I had the flu I could tell because I ached and I never had that with allergies it was mainly just the sinus problems,” said Stephens.
And Dr. Laing says if you do suffer from allergies, first try and avoid what you're allergic to. If that's not an option, try over the county anti-histamines and nasal spray. And go see a specialist if the chronic symptoms don't let up.
Study found more germs and a wider variety of bacterial types in houses with dogs
But it's unclear what the finding might mean for patients
Hopelessness, disability may play a role in feelings of despair, study finds
But questions remain about widespread screening
Patients thought to have lung condition were re-evaluated in small study
DENVER (AP) — In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.
NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report.
In a medical first, doctors used plastic particles and a 3-D laser printer to create an airway splint to save the life of a baby boy who used to stop breathing nearly every day.
By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kathrin Jansen is a microbiologist with at least two breakthrough vaccines to her name: she brought the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil to market for Merck and helped develop the $4 billion a year pneumonia and meningitis vaccine Prevnar 13 for Pfizer. Jansen's next vaccine success could come by taming the superbug MRSA, a drug-resistant bacterium that she has seen ravage a healthy man up close and personally. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infects an estimated 53 million people globally and costs more than $20 billion a year to treat. ...
