Facts, Prevention, and Relief for Sycamore Tree Allergies for 2024

Sycamores are sometimes known as sycamore maples and can be easily recognized by their flaky brown bark with white underneath. These common trees are moderately allergenic and can be found in large swaths of the United States.

As with most wind-pollinating trees, it can be quite difficult to avoid sycamore pollen. The pollen is lightweight, small, and can travel for many miles. If you’re allergic to sycamore pollen, Wyndly can help you find relief.

Schedule a consultation with Wyndly today to get your personalized allergy treatment plan, or keep reading to learn more about sycamore allergies.

Common Symptoms

If you have sycamore tree allergies, there are several symptoms you may experience, including:

• Runny nose
• Coughing
• Congestion
• Sneezing
• Scratchy throat
• Itchy eyes
• Watery eyes
• Allergic rash
• Aggravated symptoms for people who have asthma

You may notice your allergy symptoms become more severe or common when the pollen count is high.

Where Is Sycamore Found?

Sycamore trees can primarily be found in most of the eastern United States and in many of the central states.

These trees are commonly found along rivers and in floodplains, but they are also found in towns and cities.

When Is Sycamore Pollen Allergy Season? 

Sycamore pollen allergy season occurs around the same time as many tree pollen allergies. The season tends to start in early March and will begin to taper off in May, sometimes extending into June. Pollen counts will usually peak around April.

Foods to Avoid

Several foods have similar proteins to the ones found in sycamore pollen. If you have sycamore allergies, it is recommended to avoid the following foods:

• Peaches
• Peanuts
• Hazelnuts
• Celery
• Bananas

If you have cross-reactivity with any of these foods, you may experience a reaction known as oral allergy syndrome, or OAS. OAS can cause your mouth to feel itchy or tingly. If you have a more severe reaction, like trouble breathing, seek emergency medical attention immediately.

Testing and Diagnosis

Allergies to sycamore tree pollen may be common, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to identify sycamore trees as the source of your allergies. Since many trees produce pollen at the same time, you may be allergic to a different species. With an allergy test, you can find out exactly what you’re allergic to. Wyndly makes allergy testing convenient with our at-home allergy test. Order your at-home allergy test from Wyndly today!

Here’s more information on how different allergy testing options work.

Old-Fashioned Method: Skin Prick Test at Your Doctor’s Office

Skin prick testing requires you to go to the doctor to find out your allergen triggers. It’s often uncomfortable, and it takes time out of your day. You’ll go to the doctor’s office, they’ll administer a test where they prick or scrape your skin with a needle tipped with different allergens, and then they’ll observe the areas they pricked for itchiness, redness, or swelling. All in all, it’s not a pleasant experience. Instead, you can save yourself time and pain by getting an at-home test.

Modern and Efficient At-Home Method

1. Get Wyndly’s at-home allergy test. We ship our CLIA-certified test straight to your door.
2. Take the allergy test and send it back to us. Just do a quick finger prick test to provide us with a blood sample and mail it back when you’re done.
3. Receive your personalized treatment plan. Our doctor will interpret your results, create an allergy profile, and walk you through your treatment plan.

Unlike self-diagnosis, an allergy test can reveal the full breadth of your allergies. This way you know exactly what you’re allergic to and how you can treat your symptoms.

Treatment and Remedies

If you have sycamore allergies, there are plenty of options for managing or even treating your symptoms. The following are some of the remedies you may want to try.

Limiting Exposure

When it’s allergy season, you should take additional precautions to limit your exposure to sycamore pollen. While avoiding airborne allergens altogether is difficult, taking these measures can help keep exposure to a minimum.

• Look at the pollen count: Each morning during allergy season, it’s a good idea to check the pollen count. This tells you how concentrated the pollen levels are for the day, letting you know if you should try to stay inside during the day. The higher the pollen count is, the more likely it is that your symptoms will flare up.
• Wear a mask: If you go outside on a high pollen count day, try wearing an N95 mask and sunglasses to keep pollen out of your nose, mouth, and eyes.
• Avoid the morning hours: The morning hours are usually when pollen levels are peaking. It’s best to do what you can to limit outdoor time to the evenings.
• Trim sycamore branches: Trimming the branches of sycamore trees will reduce the amount of pollen they produce. If you have sycamore trees in your yard, this can at least reduce the pollen concentration in your immediate area.
• Keep your home clean: It’s a good idea to clean more diligently during sycamore allergy season. Using a vacuum with a HEPA filter and dusting hard surfaces with a wet rag can help clean out pollen in your home.
• Wash yourself and your clothes: Your skin, hair, and clothes are all places that pollen can easily stick to. Rinsing off after being outside and doing laundry more frequently during allergy season is recommended.
• Keep windows closed: Pollen can easily float in through open windows. Try running your A/C system (ideally with a HEPA filter) during allergy season instead.
• Wipe off pets: When pets come in from the outside, wipe off their paws and fur with a towel to get pollen off, and be sure to bathe outdoor pets more often.
• Take off your shoes: Make sure to take off your shoes when you come inside to avoid tracking in pollen.
• Avoid the aforementioned foods: Try to avoid the sycamore-related foods we listed.

Medications

Limiting exposure may help manage mild symptoms, but many people will need to use allergy medications to provide further relief. Here are some of the allergy medications you may want to try.

• Over-the-counter: Over-the-counter allergy medications are widely available and are effective at managing most allergy symptoms for short-term relief. These are some common OTC options:
  • Antihistamines: Antihistamines inhibit histamine production, which can help relieve a number of common allergy symptoms.
  • Nasal sprays: If you’re looking to relieve stuffy or runny nose symptoms, nasal sprays can help. Nasal sprays reduce inflammation and swelling in the nasal passages.
  • Eye drops: Eye drops are helpful for itching and watery eye symptoms. They can flush pollen out of your eyes and provide some temporary relief.
• Prescription: When OTC allergy meds aren’t providing you with enough relief, you may want to talk to your doctor about possible prescription options.

Sublingual Immunotherapy

Lifestyle changes and OTC allergy meds may provide some form of temporary relief, but they’re not a long-term solution for allergies. Sublingual immunotherapy is a treatment that introduces a small amount of an allergen to your system in gradually increasing doses over time. This retrains your immune system to ignore these substances instead of triggering allergy symptoms.

Unlike allergy shots, sublingual immunotherapy doesn’t require painful needles. Also, you don’t need a doctor’s visit to get a dose. It can be self-administered under the tongue at home.

Get Long-Term Relief With Wyndly

If you’re interested in long-term relief from your allergies and sublingual immunotherapy, Wyndly can help. Our doctors will create a personalized treatment plan that will address your sycamore tree allergies.

Schedule your allergy consultation with Wyndly today to get started with lifelong allergy relief!

Sycamore Tree FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions we hear about sycamore allergies.

Is there a place in the U.S. where sycamores are less common?

Sycamores are primarily found in the eastern and central United States. They are less common on the West Coast.

Are sycamore allergies deadly?

It’s unlikely that sycamore allergies will be deadly, but if you have an allergic reaction to sycamore-related foods, especially nuts, you should seek emergency medical attention right away.

When is sycamore allergy season at its worst?

Sycamore trees produce pollen in spring, with April being one of the worst months.

Can I just remove sycamore trees from my yard?

Sycamore tree pollen can travel for miles, so this is unlikely to make a huge difference. If you want to reduce pollen concentration around your home, trimming branches is easier and can be effective at reducing pollen production.

Will wearing a mask help with my sycamore allergies?

If you wear an N95 mask when you go outside during allergy season, it can help cut down on the amount of pollen you breathe in.

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