If your council is planting Birch near your home, it’s a good idea to ask them to choose an alternative low allergy tree instead. Personal experience with our child has taught us that Birch is the worst tree for allergy sufferers. Many councils are planting them to improve air quality without realising the risk they pose to allergy sufferers. Birch can trigger pollen food allergy and cause asthmatic wheeze. Hayfever asthmatic wheeze in summer is miserable when it’s hot and you can’t open the windows because the worst offending pollen is growing outside your front door.
Birch pollen sensitivity can also cause pollen food syndrome or oral allergy syndrome. This is a hypersensitivity reaction to fruits, vegetables and nuts usually causing mild irritant symptoms such as itching of the mouth, lips and throat when eaten in their raw form. Also encouraging fussiness and food refusal in children.
symptoms:
Itching mouth
Sneezing
Itchy nose/itchy palate/itchy throat
Blocked nose/stuffy nose/ nasal congestion
Runny nose (usually with clear fluid)/ nasal discharge
Red/itchy/watery eyes (that can become very sore or infected with frequent rubbing)
Post nasal drip (the sensation of mucus running down the back of the throat)
Cough
Wheezing/asthma symptoms/tight chest/breathlessness
Sinus inflammation/pain
Feeling of itch in ear/ear blockage
Nose bleeds – This may be due to the lining of the nose being itchy and is often rubbed or scratched.
but we don’t need to be exposed to large amounts of Birch pollen. We can opt for alternative low allergy species to improve our air quality.