Clean the Christmas Tree and Keep It Toxin-Free

Dec. 7, 2021 — Real and synthetic timber can set off bronchial asthma and allergy flare-ups that make the vacations a distress for some folks.

Christmas tree allergic reactions — triggered by common varieties like fir, hemlock, pine, or spruce — are uncommon. But there are different allergens within the combine that may be triggering for folks.

That’s as a result of actual timber typically journey lengthy distances to achieve your native tree lot. Before the journey, they’re sprayed down with water, permitting mildew to develop alongside the best way, says J. Allen Meadows, MD, previous president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and an allergist at AllerVie Health in Alabama.

Artificial timber, in the meantime, can launch nasty chemical compounds that set off allergy or bronchial asthma assaults proper after they’re unwrapped, Meadows says. Each 12 months after that, they’ll collect mud in storage that additionally causes signs to flare once they’re unpacked. Packing all the things away in baggage and packing containers which might be as hermetic as doable might cut back mud however not remove it.

Preventing Symptoms

“Whether it’s artificial or a live tree, I like to air it out outside before I set it up in my house,” Meadows says. A leaf blower is useful, too, for blasting mildew or mud off the tree earlier than you deliver it indoors.

Timing additionally issues. If you’ll be able to maintain off organising a tree till after the primary onerous frost the place you reside, then you definitely gained’t threat pollen or ragweed getting on the tree while you put it open air to air out, he says.

And with an actual tree, you want to withstand the urge to place it up proper after Thanksgiving, says Sharmilee M. Nyenhuis, MD, an bronchial asthma, allergy, and immunology specialist on the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System. That’s as a result of mildew begins to construct up after a couple of week inside your house.

If you’ll be able to’t stand the considered ready till mid-December to place up an actual tree, you might also be capable of lower down on mildew by spraying it with an answer of half water, half vinegar, she suggests. A vinegar answer may also take away mildew from faux timber.

The identical masks that individuals have been sporting in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic may also come in useful for organising and adorning the tree, Nyenhuis says. Wearing a masks to unpack ornaments, arrange and beautify the tree, and deal with every other seasonal decorations you’re taking out of storage might help reduce symptom flares attributable to mildew and mud.

And you may also take steps to stop bronchial asthma and allergy assaults by working along with your physician to evaluation and revise your medicine as wanted to deal with any publicity to mildew or mud from the tree, Meadows says.

“The bottom line is if your asthma and allergies are well controlled, you should be able to tolerate places with live trees,” he says.