Pensacola Times

It's officially spring and sinus inflammation patients suffering from allergies know what the season brings.

Twice a year the days and nights are exactly the same in length which is an event called an equinox. According to The Farmer's Almanac, the spring equinox arrived on Sunday, March 20, but unfortunately for many who suffer from sinus inflammation or sinus headaches the allergy season is just ramping up. Below is a month by month breakdown of spring allergies.

According to Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, tree pollen is the first offender to bring on sinus inflammation and other symptoms during the month of February. Trees can begin producing pollen as early as January and produce into June in some cases. Tree pollen can cause the same allergy symptoms as “spring allergies,” such as sinus inflammation, sneezing, congestion and itchy, watery eyes.

March tree pollen becomes more of an issue but there are added triggers from grasses that may be coming in as reported by the American College of Allergy (ACCAI). Tree, grass and ragweed pollens do particularly well during cool nights and warmer days.

April grass pollen emerges and flowers are still in bloom causing worsening seasonal allergic rhinitis, according to ACCAI.

May might bring much of the same unfortunately. All these conditions are weather dependent of course. If the weather is favorable to any plants, any one type of pollen might see higher than normal levels.

If you have compounding problems of narrow sinuses and allergies, there are treatment options. A specialist might recommend balloon sinuplasty to treat allergies and narrow sinuses or structural problems. According to Healthline, balloon sinuplasty is a minimally invasive procedure done typically in office where tiny balloons are inserted into the sinuses to expand the narrow opening.

"Over the last 10 years, we've really improved something called balloon sinus dilation, or otherwise known as balloon sinuplasty," Dr. Matthew Blair of Gulf Coast Breathe Free Sinus and Allergy Center told Pensacola Times. "And what that is, we take a small catheter that are inserted into the natural opening of the sinus, of which we have six sinuses-we then insert the balloon into the opening of the sinuses and dilate that balloon, dilating the natural opening of the sinus and then we deflate the balloon. This takes less than a minute for each sinus. What that does is it permanently opens the sinuses so we can get treatment into the sinus."

To find out more spring allergy sufferers are encouraged to take this assessment.