If your car is coated in green \u2014 and your sinuses feel the same way \u2014 you\u2019re not imagining it. Allergy season is back, and experts say this year could hit harder than usual.<\/p>\n
At Soundview Park, it\u2019s easy to see why. Pollen is dangling from trees, dusting cars in a green film and floating through the air as people walk by \u2014 triggering sneezing, congestion and itchy eyes across the borough.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllergies are my worst nightmare,\u201d Byrant said, as he walked his dog through the park. \u201cI sneeze, I get a runny nose, I get hives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allergists warn the worst may still be ahead. Dr. Charles Shapiro, of Magnet Health, says rising carbon dioxide levels are fueling stronger pollen production.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur carbon dioxide is going up, so the trees are making a lot more pollen than they used to,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n
He says pollen levels are expected to spike within the next two weeks \u2014 potentially sending many people into what feels like a full-blown cold.<\/p>\n
The Bronx, already one of the more polluted boroughs, can make symptoms even worse for residents sensitive to airborne irritants.<\/p>\n
But there are ways to get ahead of it.<\/p>\n
Doctors recommend wearing a mask outdoors on high-pollen days, starting allergy medications early instead of waiting for symptoms and exploring longer-term options like oral treatments or allergy shots to build tolerance.<\/p>\n
Shapiro says he\u2019s already seeing patients come in early this season \u2014 hoping to stay ahead of the surge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If your car is coated in green \u2014 and your sinuses feel the same way \u2014 you\u2019re not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-200139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-the-bronx","13":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","14":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}