Spring Wafts Misery to Hay Fever Victims : 15-Year-Old: ‘I’m Tired of Being Sick’

Every spring, for as long as Sean Shively can remember, he’s had problems with hay fever.

“But this year it got a lot worse--and it started in January,” said the 15-year-old sophomore at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley.

He found that over-the-counter antihistamines and decongestants no longer did the trick.

‘Sneezing All Day Long’

“I kept sneezing all day long, and my nose was always running,” the Santa Ana youth said. “And then I had trouble breathing and started developing fevers.

“I’m tired of being sick.” Since January, he has missed two weeks of school.

This week, under the watchful eye of his father, Sean finally came to the allergy clinic at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

He had his arms and back pricked more than 70 times and had solutions made from plants, animals and foods applied to the openings to find out what he is allergic to.

Sean was only one of an unprecedented number of allergy sufferers who have flocked to the clinic in search of relief. So great has been the demand that the wait for appointments has grown from two weeks to two months, clinic doctors say.

Many, like Sean, are seeking medical care for allergies for the first time in their lives.

But those who have been under a doctor’s care for years are finding that allergies can mean a lot more than just runny noses and itchy eyes in what experts say is the worst allergy season to hit the Southland in five years. For many, allergic reactions often can be incapacitating.

Nearly two years ago, 4-year-old Stephanie Chambers of San Clemente was found to be allergic “to just about everything in sight, whether it was indoors or outside,” said her mother, Diane Chambers.

Since Stephanie began seeing Dr. William E. Berger, a Mission Viejo allergist, Chambers said her daughter has had numerous infections requiring repeated doses of antibiotics and has been taking antihistamines three times a day.

Immunizations Resisted

So far, Chambers said she has resisted Berger’s suggestion that her daughter begin allergy immunizations. “She’s so young,” Chambers sighed. “And she’s really frightened of needles.”

A month ago, Stephanie took a turn for the worse when the pollen count zoomed higher in Orange County. “She would wake up in the middle of the night coughing and choking because she couldn’t breath,” her mother said.

“She got so little sleep, that she now has dark bags under her eyes.”

Thursday, Stephanie and her mother paid a visit to Berger’s office, where they were relieved to learn that Stephanie did not have a sinus infection. But the subject of allergy shots came up again, and Chambers said that if this spring’s hay fever season gets much worse, shots may be the only alternative.

“Stephanie’s so restless and she’s beginning to complain more about headaches,” her mother said.

Marty Wartenberg of Brea was 45 before he began going to Dr. Mark Ellis for allergy treatments four years ago.

“I think I got them from being around my kids,” Wartenberg quipped.

But the sleepless nights and breathing difficulties that his allergies have caused him have been no joking matter, the electronics company executive said.

“It’s been terrible this year,” Wartenberg said, adding that his symptoms began in January, rather than in March as they usually do.

“I run a lot, and I began wheezing so much that I had to start taking inhalators with me so that I would be able to breathe,” he said.

Recent skin tests have shown that his allergies are getting worse, and he now tests as being allergic to dog hairs.

“We have two dogs that live in our house,” Wartenberg said. “But I can’t get rid of them. I love them so much.”

Instead, Wartenberg said he’s having his rugs vacuumed more often and having his dogs bathed every other week. He’s also using special electrostatic filters in his home cooling and heating systems that are supposed to block out dust, pollen and animal dandruff.

“It adds about about $30 more a month to my utility bill,” he said. “But it seems to be working.”