Capital Development Authority (CDA) almost two decades back had brought the paper mulberry trees to beautify Islamabad that turned thousands of residents into patients of Asthma apart from many other kinds of allergies ‘from head to toe’. “Being the producer of tons of pollens in the air during its flowering season, the tree in Islamabad has already made it almost impossible for pollen allergy patients to live a normal life due to Asthmatic indications and most of them have to migrate from the capital,” said Dr Hayat adding that a patient feels at ease as soon as he crosses Rawat.
Mulberry pollens damage the IGE class of antibodies — defensive antibodies from parasitic infection — and affect blood arteries badly. Increasing the quantity of mucus in the chest, the mulberry pollens cause acute asthma and other respiratory diseases. When asked, Dr Hayat said the environmental degradation certainly makes the problem more severe.
During spring, the pollen count of paper mulberry shoots up to 35,000 plus per cubic metre in the air while count for other trees does not exceed from 100 per cubic metre or so.
The symptoms typically start with irritation in the eyes, nose, throat, ears and sometime exposed areas of skin. This is followed by sneezing, running nose, blocked nose, watering eyes, and cough. The cough may be simply due to irritation in the throat, or as a first sign of asthma, is associated with exertion, laughing or shouting. Asthma usually begins at night, with coughing, wheezing (whistling sounds from the chest), and difficulty in breathing.
Peak pollen times are in the morning, between 8 to 10 a.m., and then as the day starts to cool, around sunset. The pollen counts are usually lower in hot sunshine, since as the air and the ground heats up, the pollen grains rise higher into the atmosphere.
Talking of the remedial steps, the most effective is complete eradication of these trees. For the first six years when I came to Islamabad I did not suffer from allergy but last year was terrible. I have added a few things in my daily routine. Remedial measures for me are :
1-Keep the inner linning of the nose greased with olive oil.
2-Drink honey in luke warm water first thing in the morning
3-Wash your nose (which is automatically done if u perform wudu for fajr prayer)
4- Wear mask because prevention is better than medicines.
5- Last and most effective is a drink Hakeem Ghaffar told on some tv channel. Take a cup of water and add 3 cloves+ one big black cardamom+ one stick of cinnamon, a little ginger. Cook it until half is left . Now add honey and drink it. It helped me a lot. Give it a try!
If you need professinal help Dr Osman Yusuf is a good allergy specialist in Islamabad.
