Do you feel a strong desire to rip your eyes from your head? Are you yelling curses at all plantlife? Is it summer? Then the warm, dry weather must have arrived and along with it, hay fever.
Hay fever symptoms are truly unpleasant – continual sneezing; runny or blocked nose (and loss of smell); red, itchy, sore and watery eyes as well as itchy throat, mouth and nose; headaches; and feeling tired, generally unwell and miserable. And for asthma sufferers, it can make symptoms much worse. There is no actual cure for hay fever yet, but there are some things you can do to help relieve the symptoms:
Rub some Vaseline around your nostrils which will trap pollen.
Wear wraparound sunglasses which will help prevent pollen getting into your eyes.
Stay indoors whenever possible when the pollen count is high, but when you have to go outside, don't spend much time out there and don't cut grass or walk on grass. Also, take a shower and change your clothes to wash pollen off afterwards.
Keep windows and doors shut as much as possible.
Vacuum regularly and dust with a damp cloth.
Invest in a pollen filter for the air vents in your car.
It may seem obvious, but don't keep fresh flowers in the house, and avoid smoking or being around smoke as this will make symptoms worse.
Dry your washing in the house rather than outside where it will pick up pollen.
Have a word with your pharmacist who will be able to give advice and suggest treatments, e.g. antihistimine tablets and nasal sprays etc.
If you're suffering severely, do go to see your GP – he may suggest immunotherapy to desensitise you against the allergies.
For further information, please click here to link to Allergy UK's page on hay fever.
It's ironic that when it's cold in winter, we look forward to summer and being warmer, then when summer finally arrives, we're allergic to it!
(Did you know that cats and dogs can suffer from hayfever, too...?)
Written by Leslie Chetland
1st June 2019