{"id":497174,"date":"2026-06-17T10:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/497174\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:41:11","slug":"thick-yellow-pollen-coats-cars-and-clogs-noses-across-new-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/497174\/","title":{"rendered":"Thick yellow pollen coats cars and clogs noses across New Hampshire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctors in New Hampshire say they\u2019re hearing from more patients that their allergies are worse this year, but the data show<\/a> that pollen counts this summer are roughly the same as last year.<\/p>\n

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center is one of roughly 60 stations across the country<\/a> that measure pollen counts and reports data to the National Allergy Bureau; a machine that sits on their roof with sticky film that catches pollen that can be counted under a microscope.<\/p>\n

Tree pollen is the biggest culprit of allergies currently. Grass pollen counts are low at the moment, but are starting to pick up, according to An Huynh, an allergist and clinical immunologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Read more about tips on managing allergies <\/a><\/p>\n

Huynh said some people may be experiencing both tree and grass pollen simultaneously which could compound the feeling of allergies feeling worse this year than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having that overlap right now as we look into our pollen count and counting pollen is that that’s why we’re seeing tree and grass pollen,\u201d Huynh said. \u201cRight now some people are just getting it much worse than other times of the year or their previous years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Huynh says, pollen counts have been increasing over the last two decades by about 20 to 25%.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it is worse. It’s not all in your head but just in your sinuses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The allergy season is getting longer as climate change contributes to an extended growing season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s important to potentially see an allergy doctor to talk about allergy testing to find \u2013 are you specifically allergic to maple tree pollen or birch tree pollen or cottonwood or whatever that may be to help localize your symptoms,\u201d Huynh said.<\/p>\n

Huyhn said steroidal and antihistamine nasal sprays can be some of the first lines of defense against allergies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should angle the nose spray nozzle away from the middle of your nose towards the inside corner of your eye,\u201d Huynh said.<\/p>\n

Huyhn said he often holds the nasal spray with the opposite hand of the side of the nostril targeted. Tilting forward can also help.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you taste it, you waste it,\u201d Huynh said.<\/p>\n

Afrin, or oxymetazoline nasal sprays, are not recommended by Dartmouth allergists as Huynh said that the nasal decongestant can cause swelling but doesn\u2019t treat the causes of allergies.<\/p>\n

Non-drowsy medications like Zyrtec, Allegra, and Xyzal are recommended.<\/p>\n

Neti pots and saline rinse are non-medicated therapies that Huynh said can help.<\/p>\n

But for long term relief, people can seek allergen immunotherapy as a method of reducing allergies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doctors in New Hampshire say they\u2019re hearing from more patients that their allergies are worse this year, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-497174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}