Misery is in the air.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

This week's warm, windy weather has brought on a rite of spring in the Willamette Valley: the great grass pollen explosion.

A heavy load of grass pollen in the air is sending vulnerable immune systems into high alert.

The result: itchy eyes, runny noses and general misery.

"When this wind kicked up and everything dried out, pretty much every allergy sufferer in the city of Eugene went into the red zone," said Ruth Wilday, a Eugene woman who gets hammered by the seasonal allergies.

Grass pollen season in this region usually runs from Memorial Day to the Fourth of July, local allergists say. This year, the season came on suddenly, like a sneaker wave.

"Usually, we see a gradual buildup," said Jean Jensen, a research nurse at Allergy & Asthma Research Group in Eugene.

The wet spring kept pollens from becoming airborne, she said, so when the weather got dry, there was plenty of pollen ready to circulate.

Jensen counts pollens each weekday on a greased slide that's been sitting in a machine outside the building for 24 hours.

She stains the dirty slide with four drops of red dye, puts it under a microscope, then counts and identifies the pollens she finds, looking for telltale pores and furrows.

On Monday, Jensen detected six grass pollens per cubic meter of air. On Tuesday, after a warm, windy day, the count was up to 176 pollens per cubic meter.

The number nearly doubled to 323 pollens per cubic meter on Wednesday. On Thursday, the number was up to 375 pollens per cubic meter.

Any count over 200 is rated "very high" by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

If the hot, dry weather continues, those counts will continue to rise, Jensen said. She said that she expects another 25 days of high grass pollen this season.

It's not unusual for the southern Willamette Valley to experience counts of 400 and 500 pollens per cubic meter, and sometimes they surpass 1,000 pollens per cubic meter.

The valley's geography and agriculture conspire to create perfect conditions to make life miserable for people allergic to grass pollen.

About 80 percent of the world's supply of rye grass seed is grown on 200,000 acres in Lane and Linn counties. Mountains on either side create an enclosed air shed, and prevailing winds trap pollens in the valley.

When those pollens build up, allergy sufferers feel it. Their immune systems react to the pollens as invaders and release histamines in response. The result is inflammation and the classic allergy symptoms.

"We get about a million phone calls," said Ruth Levitt, nurse manager at the Allergy and Asthma Center in Eugene. "Our schedule doubles."

And Ruth Wilday suffers.

Wilday, who works in a Eugene cabinet-maker's shop, said that she is especially frustrated because her favorite antihistamine is no longer sold in eight- or 12-hour release formula.

That means she has to remember to take the four-hour version up to six times a day. If she forgets a dose, she said, she pays the price.

"The thing that bothers me most is itchy eyes," she said. "They itch so much I just twitch from it."

BATTLING ALLERGIES

There are several strategies to reduce the severity of seasonal allergies:

Avoidance: Stay indoors as much as possible with doors and windows closed and the air conditioner on. Don't drive with your windows down. Runners and bikers should consider working out at a gym. Get out of town: Take a trip to the coast or the mountains.

Medicate: Various nondrowsy antihistamines are sold over the counter. Prescription drugs include Allegra and Zyrtec. Steroid nasal sprays, sold by prescription, also can provide temporary relief.

Immunotherapy: People with symptoms severe enough to disrupt their work or social lives, or people who develop asthma, may want to take a series of allergy shots that condition the body's immune system to tone down its attacks on allergens.

- Allergy & Asthma Research Group