Facts, Prevention, and Relief for Hornbeam Tree Allergies for 2024
Beat your allergies forever.
Get Started With WyndlyHornbeam trees are a member of the birch family and are capable of producing abundant pollen throughout allergy season. The American and European hornbeam are considered moderately allergenic, so allergy season can certainly be problematic for those with hornbeam allergies. Additionally, this tree is cross-reactive with its birch and alder tree cousins, meaning you could potentially be allergic to multiple types of tree pollen if you’re allergic to one of these.
Since hornbeam pollen is airborne and wind-pollinated, it’s no easy feat to avoid this allergen once the pollinating season starts. Fortunately, there are ways to manage and find relief.
Wyndly can help. Schedule an allergy consultation today to find out how you can find treatment for your symptoms and read on to learn more about hornbeam tree allergies.
What Is a Hornbeam Tree Allergy?
A hornbeam tree allergy occurs when you breathe in hornbeam pollen and your immune system mistakenly views this harmless substance as an intruder. Your immune system will release antibodies and other chemicals to fight the pollen, which causes your allergy symptoms.
Common Symptoms
If you have hornbeam tree allergies, there are several symptoms you may experience, including:
- Runny nose
- Coughing
- Congestion
- Sneezing
- Scratchy throat
- Itchy eyes
- Watery eyes
- Allergic rash
- Aggravated symptoms for people who have asthma
You may notice your allergy symptoms become more severe or common when the pollen count is high.
Where Are Hornbeam Trees Found?
Hornbeam trees can be found throughout the eastern and central United States. They tend to grow in woods and along streams, but they can also be found in towns, cities, and landscaping.
When Is Hornbeam Pollen Allergy Season?
Hornbeam pollen allergy season is typical for a tree allergy season, as you can expect this pollen to be a problem throughout spring. The trees will usually start producing pollen in late March before peaking in April and May.
Foods to Avoid
Several foods contain similar proteins to the proteins found in hornbeam trees. If you have hornbeam allergies, you may find that you have an allergic reaction called oral allergy syndrome when consuming these cross-reactive foods. Here are some of the foods to watch out for:
- Almonds
- Apples
- Carrots
- Celery
- Cherries
- Hazelnuts
- Kiwis
- Peaches
- Peanuts
- Pears
- Soybeans
Oral allergy syndrome or OAS is usually mild, causing your mouth and throat to itch or tingle. These symptoms should subside in a short amount of time. However, if you have a more severe allergic reaction to food, like having trouble breathing, you need to seek emergency medical attention right away.
Testing and Diagnosis
Hornbeam tree allergy season crosses over with various other tree allergy seasons. It’s also cross-reactive with several types of tree pollen. This can make it difficult to know for certain if hornbeam pollen is the source of your allergy symptoms. The best way to find out for sure is through an allergy test. However, allergy tests can be inconvenient and uncomfortable. But with Wyndly, they can be simple and painless. Our allergy tests can be taken from home and just require a quick finger prick. Buy your at-home allergy test from Wyndly today!
Here’s how different allergy testing options work.
Old-Fashioned Method: Skin Prick Test at Your Doctor’s Office
Skin prick testing requires you to go to the doctor to find out your allergen triggers. It’s often uncomfortable, and it takes time out of your day. You’ll go to the doctor’s office, and they’ll administer a test where they prick or scrape your skin with a needle tipped with different allergens, and then they’ll observe the areas they pricked for itchiness, redness, or swelling. All in all, it’s not a pleasant experience. Instead, you can save yourself time and pain by getting an at-home test.
Modern and Efficient At-Home Method
- Order Wyndly’s at-home allergy test. We ship our CLIA-certified test straight to your door.
- Take the allergy test and send it back to us. Just do a quick finger prick test to provide us with a blood sample and mail it back when you’re done.
- Receive your personal allergy profile. Our doctor will interpret your results, create an allergy profile, and walk you through a treatment plan.
Unlike self-diagnosis, an allergy test can reveal the full breadth of your allergies. This way you know exactly what you’re allergic to and how you can treat your symptoms.
Treatment and Remedies
If you have hornbeam allergies, you have options to treat or manage your allergy symptoms. Here are a few options you may want to try.
Limiting Exposure
The first measure you’ll want to consider is limiting your exposure to your primary allergen. For pollen, this isn’t always easy. Here are some methods for keeping your exposure to a minimum:
- Checking the pollen count: Using an app or website, you can check the daily pollen count in your area. If the pollen count is high, you can help reduce your exposure by staying indoors. When you do need to go outside on days with a high pollen count, you can protect yourself by wearing a mask and sunglasses.
- Trim the branches of hornbeam trees: If you have hornbeam trees in your yard, you reduce the pollen they produce by trimming their branches. This won’t get rid of pollen in your area completely, but it can help reduce the amount that gets in your home.
- Clean your house: Make sure to clean your house often to get rid of any pollen that gets in. The best tactics are to use a HEPA filter vacuum and to dust with a wet rag.
- Take showers: To get pollen off your hair and skin, make sure to rinse off in the shower after being outside. A quick substitute for a shower would be washing your face and hands.
- Go outside in the evening: Avoid the morning hours when pollen levels will be at their highest.
- Close the windows: Don’t let pollen get in through open windows. Make sure to keep them closed and run your A/C instead.
- Install a HEPA filter: Put a HEPA filter on your A/C if possible. This will help reduce the amount of pollen that gets in your house.
- Do laundry: Make sure to wash pollen off your clothes and do laundry frequently. Doing laundry at least once per week should help.
- Take off your shoes: When you get home, make sure to take off your shoes so you don’t bring in any excess pollen.
- Wipe off pets: Use a towel to wipe off your pets before they come inside. Take care to wipe off their paws and fur to get off as much pollen as possible.
- Avoid the aforementioned foods: Try to avoid the hornbeam-related foods we listed.
Medications
If you’re not finding enough relief from limiting your exposure, you can add allergy medications as additional support during allergy season. There are several allergy medication options to try. Here are some of the choices you have:
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Over-the-counter: Over-the-counter allergy medications can be very effective at providing temporary relief from most allergy symptoms. Here are some of the different OTC medications you might try:
- Antihistamines: Antihistamines work by blocking the production of histamine, providing you with short-term relief of many different allergy symptoms.
- Nasal sprays: If you have a runny or stuffy nose, nasal sprays can help by reducing swelling and inflammation.
- Eye drops: You can flush pollen out of your eyes using eye drops, providing relief from itchy and watery eyes.
- Prescription: If OTC allergy medications aren’t helping, you may want to consider prescription options. If you want to try prescription allergy medications, you’ll need to consult your doctor first.
Sublingual Immunotherapy
If you want to beat your allergy symptoms, rather than just manage them, you may want to consider sublingual immunotherapy. Sublingual immunotherapy can retrain your immune system to ignore or tolerate your allergy triggers. It works by introducing small, gradually increasing doses of your allergen to your system using drops or tablets.
Sublingual immunotherapy is a safe and effective alternative to allergy shots. Allergy shots require painful needles to administer and you have to go to the doctor for each dose. With sublingual immunotherapy, you can safely take your doses at home and you don’t have to use any needles.
Get Long-Term Relief With Wyndly
If you want long-term relief from your allergies, Wyndly can help. Our doctors will be able to create a personalized treatment plan designed to treat your hornbeam tree allergies.
Schedule your allergy consultation with Wyndly today to get started with lifelong allergy relief!
Hornbeam Tree Allergy FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions we hear about hornbeam allergies.
Is there a place in the U.S. where hornbeams are less common?
Hornbeams are rarely observed on the west coast and in the southwestern United States.
What trees are hornbeams cross-reactive with?
There is high cross-reactivity with birch and alder trees.
Will wearing a mask help with my hornbeam allergies?
Wearing an N95 mask should help prevent you from breathing in hornbeam pollen when outside. It’s also helpful to wear a hat and sunglasses.
Can I remove hornbeam trees from my yard?
While removing hornbeam trees from your yard is possible, it may be more trouble than it’s worth. Instead of removing the trees, trimming the branches might be helpful.
