According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, pollen seasons are longer and more intense, meaning your allergies could be getting worse.
Dr. Thomas Vendegna with French Hospital Medical Center says the weather is likely to blame.
"Every year is variable. It depends on how much rain we have and how much dry season we have," Dr. Vendegna said. "So that may be very well true that this year is worse than others because of the combination of getting enough water to make things bloom, and then having that dry, windy section that things start to blow up and get in our noses."
Some people in the community say that they have personally noticed worse allergies this season.
"But I've noticed that in Paso especially, and sometimes in Atascadero, it's been getting a lot more severe in the past couple of years if I don't take care of it beforehand," said Paso Robles resident Sarah Munoz.
"I actually normally don't have any allergies at all. I've never really experienced them, even when I was younger. But for some reason, this year, they've started up," shared Atascadero resident Gonzalo Arana.
Dr. Vendegna says it's not out of the ordinary to develop allergies, even if you’ve never had them before.
"It's a matter of where you grew up. So you develop allergies to overexposure to certain things that are in the air, like pollen or flowers, but you take a while to get exposed to them. If you move around, you may not develop allergies right away and then all of a sudden you get them," Dr. Vendegna explained.
Although a runny nose, itchy eyes, and sore throat are some common allergy symptoms, there are others you may not be aware of.
Dr. Vendegna says that headaches and fatigue can also be caused by allergies.
For relief of those symptoms, he recommends over-the-counter allergy medications and sometimes nasal steroids.
"Nasal steroids do not work right away. So they take about 3 to 5 days to start kicking in, and most people get frustrated with them before they start working," Dr. Vendegna warned.
For residents like Michael Zappas, allergies or not, he’s grateful to live on the Central Coast.
"We do have a lot of pollen in the air this time of year and there is an issue. I have people that I know that have moved from the area because of it, but it's so beautiful here, I don't care!" said Zappas.
