Warmer-than-usual weather is causing allergy symptoms to flare up earlier than normal or even get worse for some allergy sufferers in Canada. In addition to a general warming that scientists have attributed to climate change – last year was the planet’s hottest on record – the impact of El Nino meant this winter was warmer than most in much of Canada.
Canadians say they’re noticing the change. Gale Rettie, 71, says she has suffered with environmental allergies since she was a teenager but it has gotten worse. ‘It seems the older I get the more I am affected,’ said Rettie of Dryden, Ont., in an email to CTVNews.ca. ‘For the past two months my symptoms have been almost constant — runny nose, itchy eyes, cough from post nasal drip, achy facial bones. I have found it gets worse with the milder winter temperatures we have been having and gets better with the drop in temperatures and snow storms.’
When a specialist tested her at age 19 and in her 60s, Rettie said, she learned both times that her allergies were related to trees, pollen and moulds. Although allergy injections in her early 20s didn’t help much, she said, she had surgery in 2018 to open blocked sinuses, which made breathing much easier. ‘Now I have a (prescription) for Reactine, which gives short term relief,’ she said. ‘It is something you just learn to live with.’
Scott Wagner, 51, from Yarmouth, N.S., says he, too, has seen his allergy symptoms get worse in the last 10 years. ‘I find for sure that the mild winters have changed my allergies a lot,’ Wagner said in an email to CTVNews.ca, noting that he experiences allergy symptoms year-round now. ‘The season is definitely not like it was 10 years ago.’ Wagner says he used to stop taking pills for his allergies from mid-November to mid-March. ‘But now I have to take them all year since mild days through the winter that never happened before triggers my allergies.’
It’s clear that seasonal allergies are becoming a growing concern for many Canadians, with symptoms worsening and lasting longer than before. As climate change continues to impact weather patterns, it’s essential for individuals to adapt and find effective ways to manage their allergies throughout the year.
