KNOXVILLE — Early fall allergy season has arrived in East Tennessee with a familiar foe causing a lot of irritation for allergy sufferers: ragweed.
If you have any gameday plans, keep in mind that we are now officially in peak ragweed season.
If you're planning to be out and about this weekend, Doctor Bob Overholt answers his most frequently asked ragweed questions.
What is ragweed?
"Ragweed is a weed that releases large amount of pollen to the environment. A single plant will put out more than one million pollen grains a day. If you bend it, you can see the little flowers that have the pollen and they're made to float in the air. They can float up to 400 miles in the wind."
What does it do to us?
"Absolutely miserable symptoms that people have. It releases histamine which causes runny noses, sneezing and itching. There's also a recruitment of cells that cause nasal congestion. It also attacks the lungs and can cause asthma and emergency room visits. It's not a simple problem."
How bad will it be this gameday?
"Ragweed has been out about two weeks now in Knoxville and the plant is now at its fullest blossom. It is a huge problem."
What can we do about it?
"If you start taking medicine before you expose yourself to ragweed plant you'll do much better. You can use an antihistamine spray along with over-the-counter allergy medications. It would be two sprays each nostril...when you spray it spray toward the outside, toward the top of the ear and just two sprays with a little sniff to keep it up in the nose."