An estimated one in five people suffer from spring allergies, said Dr. Lawrence Hennessey, a board certified allergist in allergy and immunology.

“Allergies tend to be a young person’s disease, so we see many college-aged students with allergies,” Lawrence said. “Sometimes it’s mild. Sometimes it’s very severe.”

Spring allergy season starts by early April and continues through July. Hennessey said trees start pollinating in April and grasses in May, with each plant producing allergens for about two months.

“The pollens get into air and people breathe them in. (The pollens) get into mucous membranes. For people who have allergies to these pollens, they can cause irritation,” Hennessey said. “Allergies occur when the immune system reacts to something it should normally ignore, and it causes a reaction.”

Watery and itchy eyes, sneezing, wheezing and coughing are common allergy symptoms. These symptoms are caused when the body releases a chemical called histamine in response to allergens, Hennessey said.

“That’s why the main ingredient of (allergy) medicine is antihistamines that block histamine,” he said.

Patients typically follow the same formula, he said.

“We use a three-step process: avoidance, medicines and allergy shots, also called immunotherapy,” Hennessey said. “We pretty much do things in that order. We try avoidance for pollen, which is hard because it’s in the air all the time. Over-the-counter treatments, like Claritin and Zyrtec can be helpful. … Immunotherapy is a series of injections where we desensitize people to allergens to help with their allergies. It’s a long-term treatment, but it’s the only way to help people with severe symptoms.”

In the battle against blooms, trees, grasses and everything else that makes spring, well, spring, students can take either the traditional or an alternative approach to treatment.

“I have prescription medication, and for a while, I was getting allergy shots,” Post said. “But I was so allergic that they had to dilute the shots, so it’s taking me longer to finish the shot schedule.”

There is a more natural way than medications and injections to deal with mild allergies.

Zachary Huang, an associate professor of entomology at MSU, said eating honey produced locally from Michigan honey bees could help reduce the severity of allergies. It works much the same way as immunotherapy, he said.

“The reason allergy shots work is because a small amount of pollen extract is injected into the muscle to let the body get used to the foreign antigen, pollen, a process called desensitization,” Huang said. “There are two types of flowers, wind pollinated or insect pollinated. Most people are allergic to pollen from wind pollinated flowers because they are light, dry and travel in the wind. Locally produced honey contains small amounts of wind pollen, either due to contamination — pine pollen is everywhere and bees might pick them up visiting insect pollinated flowers — or bees will also collect them.”

Post said she thinks “honey therapy” could work for someone with seasonal allergies, although students who suffer year-round allergies might still need allergy shots.

“It seems like it might be hard to regulate honey ‘dosage.’ Like how much of an intake you would need. At least with shots they can dilute or increase the dosage,” she said.

No matter the treatment, there are still a few tips they can follow to reduce the allergenic effects of the outdoors. Hennessey said he tells his patients to avoid outdoor activity during the peak pollen hours of mid to late morning, especially on breezy mornings.

“Other than (avoidance), there’s not much to do to avoid allergens,” Hennessey said. “Pollen can travel 100 miles on the wind, so dealing with trees in your area and avoiding them won’t do very much. For people also allergic to other things like pets or dust mites, allergies are additive, so reducing them as much as possible in their environment is the best thing to do.”