Introduction to Christmas Tree Syndrome
‘Tis the season for sneezing and coughing – but in some cases, this may not be due to seasonal germs. The Christmas tree in your living room can cause these symptoms. Sometimes called “Christmas tree syndrome,” experts say it can cause your allergies to flare up indoors during the holiday.
What Causes Christmas Tree Syndrome
It’s not an allergy to the tree itself, but to what lurks on it. Bringing a Christmas tree into the house makes allergy symptoms worse, says Dr. DeVon Preston, an allergist. He says the problem is not caused by pine pollen from real trees, as is often believed. It’s more like weed pollen and mold spores that collect on the Christmas trees, and then when you bring them indoors, that pollen falls off and makes a lot of your symptoms worse.
Reducing Allergens on Real Trees
Experts recommend rinsing real trees with a significant amount of water and shaking them while still outdoors to remove some of the excess allergens and irritants. An allergy to pine is actually rare, but doctors say the smell of pine can irritate the sinuses and lungs. If you have a living tree, it’s a pine tree, and that doesn’t pollinate in the middle of winter. But it’s living things that die, and what grows on dying things is mold.
Artificial Trees and Allergens
If you have an artificial tree, you’re not necessarily out of the woods. Allergens such as dust and mold can build up on such trees and decorations during months of storage and trigger symptoms when you bring them into your living space. We tend to store them in places in the house where there is a lot of dust and dust mites. Or if they are stored in damp and very warm places, mold can develop. To reduce some of the irritants, try vacuuming the branches to remove any dust that may have accumulated during storage.
Disposing of Real Trees and Using Air Purifiers
If you choose a real tree, it’s best to dispose of it right after the holidays as mold can continue to form on the tree. Studies show that Christmas trees carry around 50 types of mold and can increase the number of mold spores in a home by more than six times. The longer the tree stays in your home, the higher the number of mold spores may be. If you have really severe allergies, it might be a good time to put an air purifier next to the tree. If all of this still doesn’t work, then it’s time to consider some of the over-the-counter nasal steroids, nasal antihistamines, or oral antihistamines that help with these symptoms.
