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Just when winter cold and flu season is over and we can look forward to putting away the heavy sweaters and the ever-present pack of tissues, along comes spring, with its budding trees, flowers, and weeds to make us all say, AH-CHOO! “Spring allergies usually start up in March with tree pollen, and then in May you get grass pollen, so spring allergies can really last from March through June,” says Purvi Parikh, MD, an allergist in New York and spokesperson for the Allergy & Asthma Network. Even if you don't have a lot of trees near your home or workplace, you can still get pounded by the release of pollen, says Jessica Hui, MD, a pediatric allergist at National Jewish Health in Denver. “It's possible for pollens to travel for many miles,” she explains. And while we think of allergies as a whole lot of sniffling and sneezing, there are actually a bunch of crazy symptoms that go along with your allergies (which are also known as hay fever and allergic rhinitis). Both doctors highly recommend that people with known allergies be proactive and start taking their medications before they have their first sniffles. That means if trees start pollinating in your area the second week of March, start taking your meds at the end of February (of course, always discuss the best plan of action with your allergist). Here, some of the most common—and most perplexing—signs of spring allergies. • SneezingYou know the drill: Walk outside on a beautiful spring day when the trees are blooming and get a sudden urge to sneeze. That's because when the pollen released by the offending plant gets into your nose, your immune system tells your brain to eject it by force. The main difference between the sneezing caused by allergies and the sneezing from a cold or flu? If it's allergies, you won't have a fever or feel the aches and exhaustion that come with a virus, says Dr. Hui.• CoughingWhen you have spring allergies, you'll often suffer from postnasal drip, which causes you to cough. "We'll have patients saying, 'I cough a lot in the morning. When I'm lying down, I feel the drip down the back of my throat, and that triggers it,'" says Dr. Hui. But once that drainage is gone, the cough usually resolves. • Red, itchy eyesWhen allergens trigger the histamines in your body to fight back, that can lead to swelling and inflammation in your eyes, which can then feel watery, gritty, or itchy, says Dr. Parikh. Which also leads to...• Allergic shinersYour spring allergies can knock you out—and sometimes even make you look like you've been knocked out in a boxing match. "A classic sign that allergists look for is what we call 'allergic shiners'—when you have swelling under the eyes and the skin turns kind of bluish," says Dr. Hui. This is caused by congestion in the small blood vessels beneath the skin under the eyes. • HeadachesAllergy sufferers can frequently get a stuffy, dull headache they refer to as a "sinus headache," says Dr. Hui, who explains that all that drippiness can clog up your nose and sinuses, backing everything up. "All that pressure can definitely build up and cause a headache,” she explains.• Asthma symptomsFor the 25 million Americans who have asthma, allergens are the most common trigger, points out Dr. Parikh. When you breathe in an allergen (which can be pet dander, mold, dust mites, or pollen) your immune system reacts by releasing immunoglobulin E, which can trigger inflammation of the airways in your lungs, making it harder to breathe. • Skin rashIf your skin tends to get very dry and itchy during the spring, it could be due to ectopic dermatitis, also known as eczema, which is triggered when an allergen causes inflammation and irritation in the skin. "In babies, eczema is usually caused by food allergies, but as kids get older they can get eczema from pollen, mold, dust mites, or pets,” says Dr. Parikh. Most children outgrow it, but it can still affect up to 3 percent of adults.• Clogged and itchy earsNothing on your face is safe from spring allergies. In addition to irritated eyes and congested nose, Dr. Parikh points out that your ears can feel itchy and clogged as well. This can be caused by congestion, but it may also be related to...• Weird reactions to eating fruitIn one of the more puzzling symptoms of spring allergies, you might bite into an apple and trigger your birch-tree allergy, or pop an orange slice in your mouth and trigger your grass allergy, making your mouth and even your ears get super-itchy, and possibly causing swelling or hives around the mouth. This is called Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome, and it happens because the fruit has the same chemical structure as the pollen, explains Dr. Parikh. The good news, she says, is that you can bypass the reaction by cooking the fruit.• The "allergic salute sign"Crinkly noses can be adorable, but they are also a telltale sign of allergies in kids and sometimes even adults, says Dr. Hui. "When chidren are constantly rubbing their nose upward with their hand, it can cause a little crease at the top of the nose," she says. Luckily, the crease usually goes away when the allergies are treated and the patient stops fussing with their nose.