Living in San Antonio comes with its mix of pros and cons, some of which impact our quality of life. While different things may come to mind, there is one major con that plenty of local residents can agree is probably the worst part about living in the Alamo City.
Yes, we’re talking about seasonal allergies.
Lifelong residents may come to accept seasonal allergies as the norm, which it is in San Antonio, but transplants have aired out their surprise and frustration with allergies on social media in the past. Dr. Kirk Waibel, a board-certified allergist at Aspire Allergy & Sinus with more than 20 years of experience, says the city’s location is a hotspot for various types of allergies.
“Unfortunately, as most allergy sufferers know, San Antonio is not a pleasant place for those individuals because we kind of have year-round problems,” Waibel tells MySA. “A lot of that has to do with the kind of allergens we have out here.”
From December to perhaps early March, Waibel says winter cedar is present in San Antonio. Through the end of Fiesta in April, he says oak trees green up and release pollen. There’s no break throughout the year since summertime comes with allergies related to grass and followed by ragweed in the fall.
“Then it’s a little bit of a rinse and repeat because then comes the cedar again,” says Waibel, who grew up in San Antonio as a self-described military brat. “It’s a great place to live, but when you’re suffering with allergies it may not be as great as you would like.”
Some transplants, especially those moving from places with actual winters, may already have existing allergies that are worsened in San Antonio given the mild climate. For folks moving from the East and West coasts, Waibel says the relocation may be intense given the lack of cedar trees in these areas.
“You move here and it is just a higher burden of pollens, but it’s also some unique allergies that are kind of only home to Texas and specifically the San Antonio-Hill Country area,” he says.
Though there are different allergy seasons in San Antonio throughout the year, Waibel says every individual has different things they are allergic to. Some people have year-round allergies to things like pets, dust mites, and mold, whereas the environment can produce seasonal allergies. Some people, unfortunately, have both.
“Everyone’s a little different,” he says. “Everyone has their own little flavor of how their allergies affect them.”
There’s one common allergy that plagues a large number of San Antonio-area residents: mountain cedar.
While most San Antonians likely default to using over-the-counter antihistamines like Claritin, Zyrtec, and Allegra as a solution, Waibel says medicines only treat the symptoms of allergies, not the problem itself. Sometimes, medications can even be harmful for older patients, those who may be pregnant, or individuals with heart disease.
“Medicines only treat the symptoms of allergies. They do nothing to attack the root cause of allergies,” he says. “There’s a lot better treatment potentially out there than just buying Sudafed, Mucinex, and the common type of allergy medicines.”
At Aspire Allergy & Sinus, Waibel and his associates offer long-term solutions that begin with identifying an individual’s allergies through testing.
“Studies have shown once you’re past adolescence and puberty, if you still suffer from allergies as an adult, it’s likely to go on for years to decades. The key thing is if you live in this region and year after year, you keep having allergy issues, it’s important to figure out what those are,” he says. “The beauty of skin testing is that the patient walks out of that appointment with the answers of what they are or aren’t allergic to.”
While some residents may turn to a steroid shot to cure their allergies, Waibel says even occasional use can have harmful long-term effects. Instead, he recommends immunotherapy, which aims to cure an individual of their allergies rather than just the symptoms that can restrict someone’s everyday life.
“If you’re always carrying around a handkerchief or a Kleenex, it’s just not fun,” Waibel says. “In the long run it’s actually a better strategy because you’re trying to resolve the issue completely, not just throwing medicine at it.”