Flowers are blooming and people are

breaking out their shorts and t-shirts.

But, if you’re like me, you’re miserable,

and stuck at home with a runny-nosed and puffy eyes.

But why do we have to suffer from the horrible allergies?

“An allergy is actually a mistake

that the immune system is making.

Normally we’d make antibodies to fight germs,

or recognize germs, but in this case

the immune system has made a mistake,

it’s making an antibody that recognizes

harmless things such as pollens or animal dander.”

Inside every allergy sufferer, there lies

an immune system that mistakenly produces

an antibody known as immunoglobin E.

When these unfortunate people breathe in the pollen,

the antibody triggers an allergic reaction. But we’re

not just talking about any kind of pollen, here.

It’s commonly thought that allergy-causing pollen

comes from big, pretty flowers like this, (Big Yellow sunflower image onscreen).

But actually, that pollen is too heavy to go airborne.

Allergies are cause by pollens from trees

and grasses that are small and light

enough to be carried by the wind.

“When the immune system, somebody who’s allergic,

recognizes these pollens, the immunoglobin E.

activates cells of the immune system, mast cells,

and these mast cells will release chemicals

that cause allergic reactions.

One of the most well-known chemicals that cause reactions is histamine.

Histamine is a small organic molecule and how

histamine works is as a small chemical messenger,

finds a receptor that’s on many, many cells

of the body called a histamine receptor

and sends that cell a message.

For example blood vessels when it binds to that

receptor it tells the blood vessel to become leaky,

which causes the runny nose that you get or for

example they can cause receptors on nerves which

the histamine will activate and that gives you

the sensation of itchy nose that you

might feel during pollen exposure.”

So if you’re wheezing and sneezing this spring,

try to stay indoors early in the morning

when there’s more pollen floating around.

But if you have to go out there, at least pack

some tissues! And maybe some anti-histamines.