Spring Pollens Leave Allergy, Asthma Sufferers Gasping : Health: What some doctors are calling the worst allergy season in five years is blamed on the heavy March rains.

Gasping for breath, allergy and asthma sufferers are flocking to Orange County doctors and emergency rooms as springtime pollens hit their seasonal high.

“These last couple of weeks have been disastrous,” said Tustin allergist Dr. Arthur Turk.

“Because of the pollen--and air pollution--some people are sniffling. But some are unable to breathe. The increase in emergency care has been enormous,” he said.

Turk, the Southern California representative for the American College of Allergy and Immunology, added: “These last couple of days, with the grass pollens way up and the tree pollens way up, we’ve had four to five people a day coming in (to the office) with acute episodes.”

Some allergists call this the worst allergy season in Southern California in five years.

It is worse because heavy rains came late this year--in March rather than January or February, said Dr. Harold Novey, chief of adult allergy services and a professor of medicine at UCI Medical Center in Orange. Not only did that rain delay the start of the allergy season, but “it’s heavier pollen than usual coming out,” he said. “And we’re just starting to see the effects.”

Turk, however, described this as “a normal bad year in Southern California.” Orange allergist Dr. Leo Cummins also disputed the assertion that this is the worst allergy season in years. Air samples taken by his office showed fewer pollens now than at this time last year, he said.

Still, doctors and hospitals report a slew of problems stemming from allergies to grasses, olive trees, eucalyptus, privet and orange trees, to name a few of the culprits.

Emergency doctors at UCI Medical Center in Orange saw the number of asthma cases jump to 18 this week from five last week. “Actually, that is a little epidemic,” said Novey, who checked the emergency-room log Friday afternoon.

Emergency visits for severe asthma “more than doubled” in a week, Novey noted, and recently some of his patients have had to be hospitalized.

In Mission Viejo, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center also experienced an increase in emergency asthma cases, with 16 in the first 10 days of May. That compares to eight in the same period last month and eight in that period last year, a hospital spokeswoman said.

In Anaheim, emergency doctors at Martin Luther Hospital have already seen eight asthma cases this month, compared to 14 cases in all of April. And La Palma Intercommunity Hospital also saw a sharp increase recently. Emergency doctors there are now seeing two emergency asthma cases a day, compared to two or three a week in the winter months, spokeswoman Ingrid Palmer said.

Among the victims of springtime pollens: a motorcyclist who found his way to Cummins’ office in Orange on Friday with itchy, badly swollen eyes; a teen-ager in Mission Viejo who had an allergic asthma attack; and Santa Ana resident Shirley Primrose, 56, who said she has been hospitalized at UCI Medical Center since Sunday with a double whammy--a viral infection and severe asthma (she’s allergic to trees, grass, molds and dust).

Also suffering: 5-year-old Kimberly Slayton of Orange, who gets shots twice a week for allergies to pollens and grass.

Even so, every morning for the past few weeks, “Kim sneezes about 15 times before she can get to her cereal,” her mother, Cathy Slayton, said. “I have tissues everywhere in the house. I ought to buy stock in the company.”

For all the misery, at least one hospital, Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, reported no increase in asthma cases at its emergency room. But several Newport Beach allergists said they had plenty of patients.

Cummins said his staff counts show that pollens this year are not nearly as heavy as last year at this time.

His office has performed its own pollen counts for 15 years. Samples show a peak of 205 pollens per cubic meter of air the week of April 7, right after the rains. That was considerably higher than the average for the past three years--158--but still well below last year’s peak of 310 pollens.

Cummins acknowledged that his patients say “this is a particularly bad season.” But since his pollen counts are lower this year than last, he has a theory about the complaints. The heavy rains in March cleared the air, he said, so patients who enjoyed that “good time” may now perceive the current pollen season as being especially troublesome in contrast.

Another explanation, Cummins said, is that “pockets” of Orange County may indeed have a particularly bad pollen problem.

Whatever the situation, he said, it’s clear that right now, for allergy sufferers, “their symptoms are worse.”

And he warned: “We may just now be coming into the bad time. Olive and grass (pollens) have not really made their presence known. So we may see a worsening before we see improvement.”

Cummins and other allergists said they did not expect to see such improvement until July, when the hills turn brown and the new growth from spring dries out. Then, they said, allergy sufferers will have a breathing spell--until late August, when weeds cause their own set of problems.

All About Allergies

Some tips for surviving the allergy season offered by Dr. William B. Berger, a Mission Viejo allergist who is on the faculty of the UC Irvine College of Medicine:

Identify what you’re allergic to and try to avoid it. If you’re allergic to cats, keep your cat out of the house. Remove sources of dust--clean up clutter, put casings over pillows and mattresses.

* When indoors, use air conditioning--with a good filter.

* Avoid being outside during the early morning and afternoon hours, when pollen levels are at their highest. But if you’re outside during peak times, change clothes as soon as you get home. And wash your hair to remove pollen.

* See a doctor for non-sedating antihistamines, topical nasal steroids or nasal sprays.

* If these steps don’t help, consider starting desensitization therapy--allergy shots.