Seasonal-allergy sufferers don’t need a Gregorian calendar to know when spring starts. Their noses know. So do theirs eyes. Itchy, stuffy, runny, sneezy and grumpy are the change-of-season adjectives.
So what’s in your allergy toolkit this year? Antihistamines, a decongestant, maybe a steroid nasal spray and a jumbo box of Kleenex? Don’t forget an allergy app on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll know exactly how miserable you’ll feel every day of the week.
Here are four free allergy apps, available for both iPhone/iOS and Android devices unless noted:
Allergy Alert: A favorite of this longtime allergy sufferer, with a five-day allergy (and weather) forecast for multiple locations and a diary to track how you feel each day. The app, from Pollen.com, forecasts a high pollen count tomorrow — 9.3 on a 12-point scale — which guarantees I’m facing a multi-symptom kind of day. A good allergy app should also indicate the predominant pollens, too. (Tomorrow, it’s a maple-birch-oak triple-tree-whammy.)
Bonus: Owners of Ford vehicles with Sync technology can get on-the-go pollen updates by pairing your smartphone (via Bluetooth) with the system.
WebMD Allergy: Daily allergy information and a local allergy map serve as toppers to what looks more like a blog about allergies (“Allergy Triggers”) and dealing with the resultant misery (“Which Allergies Do Shots Work For?”). The user is greeted with a stack of alerts — mold, dust, tree, grass and ragweed — marked with a generic rating (low or high). Tapping on the alert, however, reveals a numerical value and more allergy resources. A daily tracker and library, no surprise from WebMD, are also available.
Zyrtec AllergyCast: You’ll have to put aside the obvious advertising tie-ons to live with AllergyCast, produced by the makers of Zyrtec brand of Cetirizine, an antihistamine. The appmakers have devised something called Allergy Impact, which supplements the actual pollen count with a higher number designed to reflect an expected level of discomfort. The Allergy Impact today, for instance, is 10.1, which could mean a more runny nose or more itchy eyes than the usual 9.3 pollen-count day. Not sure I’m buying that. But it’s a good app, with hourly, four-day and six-day extended forecasts. The daily symptom tracker also creates a graph that tracks both your allergy impact and the pollen count.
AllergyManager (iPhone, iOS only): Here’s the forecast for AllergyManager: It won’t survive another iOS (the iPhone-iPad operating system) update unless its developers get to work on an update of its own. You’ll see the warning if you download this app. If AllergyManager disappears, it won’t be missed. It’s mostly an advertising tool for Omnaris, a steroid nasal spray. Much of the app’s home page is “important safety information” about the drug, with a Refill Reminder at the top of the screen next to the day’s allergy forecast and a four-day extended forecast.
Need a primary care provider? Contact Hartford HealthCare Medical Group.