Daily Allergen Count
Reduce Your Allergy Symptoms
Allergy Count English | Allergy Count Spanish
How can you reduce your suffering from allergies by knowing the daily allergen counts for trees, grass, mold, weeds and ragweed? Keep a diary that lists the daily counts next to your symptoms for that day. Pretty soon you will be able to tell how your body reacts to the presence in the air of one allergen or another, and especially to the intensity of that irritant (low, moderate or high).
By knowing that even a moderate “mold” count will bring on bouts of sneezing and postnasal drip, for example, you can check with your personal doctor or allergist about the best medication for those symptoms and take it before you go out of the house. Pre-medicating will greatly reduce your allergy symptoms.
A 40-year-old computer project manager, who has been suffering with allergies for years, explained in an e-mail message that he clicks on Gottlieb’s home page every day during the season to get the allergen counts. (He used to call the allergy hotline, but mouse clicking is easier for him.) By keeping track of allergen counts alongside his bodily reactions, he can trace the probable triggers of those symptoms. For example, one day last summer his nose started running and wouldn’t stop. He noticed it was also the first day of the season that ragweed showed up. And because the count was low, he realized that ragweed was a major problem.
"If I know what affects me, and I know what allergens are out there that day,” he wrote, “I can consult with my doctor and take the appropriate medication before I go outside—and that prevents most of the itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, and other miseries.
"I'm really grateful to Gottlieb for this information every day, and so are my father and seven-year-old daughter. They have different allergies from mine, and I’m able to track what’s causing their symptoms, too. We all had a more comfortable summer, thanks to Gottlieb.” Thanks, Dr. Leija, for the daily counts
The allergen counts are supplied by allergist Dr. Joseph Leija who goes to the roof of the Gottlieb Professional Building every weekday morning, (during allergy season, April to October.) He extracts samples from his two pollen catching machines, examines them under a microscope in his office, and records the results on the phone hotlines by 10 a.m. each day. Call the Allergy Hotline at: 866-476-5536.
Dr. Leija supplies the same data to media outlets such as the Chicago Tribune, but most subscribers won’t see it in print on the Tribune Weather Page until a day later. Gottlieb’s home page, however, will show Monday’s allergen counts, for example, by late morning on Monday.