Cedar fever causing issues for North Texas allergy sufferers

For those with allergies, three words are enough to make them miserable right now: Mountain Cedar pollen.

The pollen count reached extreme levels this week. There's so much of it blowing off the trees that it looks like smoke.

Araceli Reyes is trying to keep a few allergy symptoms from becoming a full-blown respiratory crisis.

"I've been having sneezing, coughing, postnasal drainage,” she said. “I'm a mother so it can affect me spending time with my son, doing activities for him, taking him out to the park. It just interrupts life.”

Reyes is among thousands of North Texas allergy sufferers inundating area clinics and offices.

Michael Calvin is a physician’s assistant. He says effective treatments range from over-the-counter nasal sprays to shots and other forms of immunotherapy for severe cases.

"The pollen counts are registering very high for Mountain Cedar,” he said. “I inhale the same stuff you do, but your body is trying to fight them off. And that's causing all these symptoms here."

Sometimes, the best solution is to just stay indoors.

“On severe days, they may want to binge watch on Netflix,” Calvin said.