Duration of a pollen allergy
The duration of the allergy is unlimited. Many affected persons suffer from the pollen allergy for life. However, since different pollen are only present in the air at certain months of the year, the duration of the symptoms varies greatly.
The pollen flight generally lasts from January to September. However, the pollen of individual plants is only present in the air for about two months of the year. A pollen flight calendar can be helpful here, which shows the exact periods of pollen flight of the specific plants.
Cross allergies
A cross-allergy is a reaction in which antibodies (immunoglobulin-E) of the body recognize other substances in addition to the actual allergenic substances. To explain this better, an example should be given. In a pollen allergy, the body of the person affected is allergic to the proteins of the pollen of a certain plant (e.g. birch).
The antibodies against these proteins recognize the pollen as foreign bodies. If a substance (e.g. food) appears which is similar to the pollen protein to which the allergic reaction is triggered, a new allergy to this food (e.g. nuts) may occur.
Thus, one develops further allergies to other substances through the pollen allergy. In this case, an allergy to birch pollen would become an allergy to nuts. Besides food, other plant pollen may also be involved. For this reason, early therapy by means of desensitization or hyposensitization is necessary.
