Preparing for Cedar Fever by Understanding the Symptoms

Every year, allergy sufferers throughout the country breathe a collective sigh of relief as the winter cold begins to set in. The winter months bring a reprieve from the bombardment of pollen that lasts from March through September all around the US. However, if you happen to live in Central Texas, or other parts of the Midwest, the relief is short-lived as Cedar fever soon comes out in full force!

Cedar fever tends to cause even more pain that the typical spring and fall allergy seasons. This is because cedar pollinates during the winter months, and many people regularly misidentify the real cause of their suffering as being a common winter cold. Most newcomers to Central Texas cities such as Austin, Dallas, or San Antonio tend to make this mistake during their first cedar season. Eventually they catch on as the locals can constantly be heard talking about the pain that the cedar pollen is inflicting on their senses.

As we mentioned, the symptoms of cedar fever are often misidentified as a common cold, which leads sufferers to wait even long until seeking treatment. Therefore, understanding the symptoms are going to make your search for a treatment much easier.

Cedar Fever Symptoms

• Runny Nose


• Stuffy Nose


• Itchy Eyes


• Sneezing


• Lasts many weeks, up to 6 or longer

Cold Symptoms

• Although the symptoms of a cold are going to be very similar, they differ in a few key ways. Use these differences to help determine what you are actually suffering from.


• Colds tend to last less than 2 weeks, anything longer is likely allergies.


• Colds cause headaches, and other aches and pains.


• In rare instances, colds can cause a fever, whereas allergies never will.

Cedar Fever Treatment

Once you've identified that your allergy symptoms are in fact cedar fever, and not something else, then you can focus on treating them in a number of different ways. Because cedar fever is a pollen allergy, it can be treated the same way as other types of seasonal allergies, such as antihistamines, allergy shots, or immunotherapy.

However, the number one recommended treatment is avoidance. By avoiding the pollen, you can prevent your symptoms from occurring altogether. Avoidance means staying indoors when pollen levels are high, and running an air purifier when indoors both at home or work.

However, this is not always practical, so antihistamines are helpful to have on hand during the peak cedar pollen months of January and February.

For additional information on allergy treatment methods for including a comprehensive list of allergen avoidance techniques, see our Hay Fever Relief website listed below.