hay fever (again)

[secretsquiz]

ok, i asked this last year and thought i'd see if there were any new suggestions.

i've got a nasty tickly feeling in the roof of my mouth, my eyes water all day long, my nose is bunged up and i have manic sneezing fits.

firstly, what's the best remedy? i'm taking one a day zirtek/clarityn/boots own brand tablets and they really don't seem to make much difference. i'm even suffering today and it's raining! are any of the tablets better than others? are there any homeopathic remedies you guys recommend? or will i just have to slice my head off at the neck to eradicate the problem?

and secondly, am i likely to grow out of hay fever at some point? i grew into it (never used to get it until i was about 15), so i was wondering if i'll simply stop getting it in a few years, or am i destined to spend every summer for the rest of my life with streaming eyes and sneezing fits?

[5029]

I have found that taking a tablet when you feel bad doesnt help, you need to have been taking them for a while everyday to build up your immunity.

[pwhittaker]

My girlfriend absolutely swears by Beconase (nasal spray). She suffers really bad with hayfever and says that it is the best think that she has tried to help it

[happy_face]

I was born allergic to many animals, with hayfever and asthma.
Luckily I have grown out of most of my allergies and the hayfever has become a lot milder. If you get allergies later in life there is a less chance of growing out of it compared to if you're born with it. Scientists also say that when born allergic and you grow out of that allergy you might find you get allergic to something else instead. I have experienced that as I'm now allergic/intolereant to dairy.
With regards to medication my GP prescribed me some stronger allergy/hayfever tablets when I was younger as normal over the counter didn't work. So maybe if you go to your GP and explain your situation he/she might do the same to you.

[Guinevere]

I have heard (and this may be rubbish) that eating honey produced locally helps.  The idea being the bees have fed off the flowers that are causing you to sneeze, and by eating the honey you build up a resistance.
Sounds like a nice idea, but probably bunkum.

[jake-the-peg]

I've never grown out of it either - some years seem worse than others though, could be what's being planted locally.

This year seems particularly bad

[purpose]

I agree with j-t-p... this year, for me, is AWFUL. I don't normally suffer, perhaps every 2/3/4 years and only for a few days, but this year has been chronic!

Haven't found anything over the counter to work but have been told prescription medication will make me very drousy.

I thought i'd grow out of it, but at 34, i haven't done yet.

[elleroo]

i get bad hayfever, i usually get the hayfever injection as ive tried and tested nearly every remedy going!

someone told me eating locally produced honey really helps so try it.

by the way im suffering a lot with it today and weather is ****...guess bad weather doesnt always stop the symptoms.

good luck

[RAYMAN]

I find that if you take a piriton pill when you go too bed the next day you should be free from hay fever symtoms without feeling drowsy  plus if you line each nostril with vasaline it de-sensitises them.

[honkytonkman]

I started getting hayfever at about 10 years of age. Over the years I tried everything, a few I can remember are, Piriton (just made me sleepy), Triludan (which I think is now is banned as it's thought to give heart problems), Beconase spray, Clarityn and many herbal things. The best I found for me was Cetirizine, (I think this can also be called Piriteze) which is available over the counter. I still sneezed in the mornings (when the pollen is rising) and evenings (when the pollen is coming back down again) but it made life tolerable.

It's all a bit of trial and error really....

Rainy days don't really help as all they do is keep the pollen at ground level which can actually make symptoms worse.

But if it's any consolation, I'm 35 now and this year I've had no symptoms at all. Yayyyy! I'm feel normal again, so you can grow out of it.

[CT]

I don't suffer from hayfever, but after being in the garden the other day I found my eyes kept watering and I had a blocked nose. After I went in the shower later though it seemed to clear the symptoms. Don't know if this'll work for anyone else.

[mainswiggans]

there is a company online that does a really good product called hayfever releiever. the only problem is that you have to start taking the stuff  a month before you usually start getting your hayfever symtpoms. try: http://www.healthydirect.co.uk/HDSite/product/Immune+Support/0426.htm

otherwise, there's been a lot in the paper about pine bark extract as a good source of relief, but i don't know how much research has been done on that.

[Cahill 2]

I have suffered very badly from hayfever since I was about 15, I've tried all sorts of remedies some were better than others. I've even had the injection which did not work for me, my doctor told me I needed to treat each symptom seperately, so I take a clarityn tablet every morning and two sprays in each nostril of Flixonase and two drops in each eye of Otrivine antistin. I find this works best for me and gives good relief from the symptoms, itchy watery eyes, sneezing, itching on the roof of the mouth and in the throat. This does seem to be a bad year for hayfever sufferers though! Good luck.