Fungal spore allergy

[nancyminder]

Does anyone else find their asthma is much worse during the harvesting season? I live in a rural area surrounded by crop fields and I think my asthma is triggered by fungal spores released at harvest time. I haven't been able to go for a walk for a month now and am really fed up. I had always thought my allergy was to grass pollen but my symptoms correlate better with the release of Alternaria spores which peak in August. We normally go away for most of August to a caravan in the South of France where I am fine but of course that wasn't possible this year. We are thinking of moving as I can't face another summer like this. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks

[mariyn]

Yes I am allergic to alternaria and I know as the pin prick allergy tests clearly show this . Have you had this done ? Not sure what medication you are on but if it is steroid based , about 3 weeks before harvesting increase your dosage to build up resistance Good luck , take care Marilyn

[nancyminder in reply to mariyn]

Thank you Mariyn. I am on Fostair 200/6 2 puffs twice a day but it's obviously not enough. I will ask my doctor if I can have an allergy test for Alternaria so thanks for letting me know that one is available. Best wishes, Lorna

[Jjude1003 in reply to mariyn]

Hi Mariyn. I’m also allergic to alternaria. Are there other times of year that are a problem or other triggers from it (specific foods)? I’ve struggled making sense of when I flare.

[mariyn in reply to Jjude1003]

Sometimes I look at the University of Worcester pollen web site and it shows when alternaria is prevalent . I don’t see any connection with food allergies Best Marilyn

[nancyminder in reply to mariyn]

Yes I look at that website and that's why I suspected Alternaria as I got so much worse on 7 August and it reported that Alternaria was very high in my area starting 6 August. The site is now saying high spore level but no longer singling out Alternaria as particularly high. They are still harvesting/hay making round here so maybe levels here are still a bit high. Hoping that by next week it will all be finished and breathing problems will subside .

[mariyn in reply to nancyminder]

Let’s hope so

[Nutzs47]

My asthma tends to be worse feb-mar and sept/Oct my dr told me it was grass,mould and fungi that were triggers so you could be allergic to both .Unfortunately they wouldn’t do the skin test to prove either way 😟

[nancyminder in reply to Nutzs47]

Thanks for the info. No doubt there won't be any allergy testing where I am during the coronavirus crisis so will pursue if and when things return to normal.

[BrookeMyers]

Have you also checked for ragweed allergies? People with pollen allergies can also be susceptible to ragweed allergies. You can check with your doctor about the same. If you have ragweed allergy, I would suggest watching for its spread on apps. I check pollen spread on my climacell app, but I am not sure if it has an option to check for ragweed.

[nancyminder in reply to BrookeMyers]

Thank you for this BrookeMyers. I hadn't considered ragweed as i don't think there's much in the UK. But I'll certainly mention it if and when I get a referral to an allergy clinic. We certainly have ragweed round here which I don't think I'm allergic to. Global warming is our biggest enemy as spores which would normally be killed off by late autumn but we haven't had a single frost here yet!