POLLEN, ALLERGIES IN FULL BLOOM.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

Nada Skoblar has a love-hate relationship with spring. She loves its glorious weather and flowers - when she's not sneezing, itching and running a fever.

``This month is the worst for me,'' said Skoblar, 44, a Van Nuys cafeteria worker and mother.

So once a week, Skoblar takes part in her own rite of spring - the trek to Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City, where she rolls up her sleeves so a nurse can inject her with allergy shots in each arm.

With the spring pollen season unleashing its fury on Southland allergy sufferers this month, Skoblar isn't suffering alone.

``We're having more patients come in with severe nasal symptoms and wheezing,'' said Dr. Lawrence Strick, a Tarzana allergy specialist.

``Many patients have said they're having more trouble now than they've had in the last five years, and I'm seeing patients I haven't seen in years who are coming back with severe symptoms,'' Strick said.

Allergy watchers said plant-nurturing rain showers in December and January, followed by summerlike temperatures may have caused pollen counts to shoot up.

Los Angeles has recorded nearly 12-1/2 inches of rain this season, 1-1/2 inches short of normal, but still plentiful compared to some years.

Tree pollen - the worst culprit at this time of the year - surged 143 percent March 19 and 20, only to fall 82 percent four days later, said Dr. Sheldon Spector, clinical professor of medicine at UCLA.

That explains why an allergy sufferer might feel crummy one day, but perky and congestion-free the next, Spector said.

Spector and other physicians are reporting good results with nonsedating antihistamines, and a nonsteroid nasal spray, Nasalcrom, newly available without a prescription.

Short of visiting the doctor, physicians recommend a few simple preventive measures to make this spring a happy one.

Wear masks when working in the garden, keep bedroom and car windows closed, and don't let cats and dogs sleep in the bedroom.

``Pets, especially dogs, act as carriers. They've actually brought in the pollen from outside,'' said Dr. Lee Freund, chief of Kaiser Panorama City's allergy department.

As bad as this year's pollen season may seem, not everyone agrees it's any worse than any other.

But for somebody who gets sucker-punched by pollen, every season seems to be the worst ever.

Freund explained that symptoms increase around February of each year, when trees begin to pollinate, and don't get much better until June, when the last of the trees - the olive - pollinates.

About April, grasses release pollens, and don't ease up until June.

In July and August, weed pollens predominate, followed by September's pollen party of trees, grasses and weeds, Freund said.

Not that allergy season ever ends in Southern California, home of the year-round green lawn. It pollinates in November and December.

Susan Smith of Lake View Terrace, who rolled up her own sleeve for an allergy shot Monday afternoon at Kaiser Permanente, said the season makes little difference to her.

``I'm allergic to almost everything - even my dog,'' she said.