Tips to help ease the misery of hay fever

COLCHESTER, U.K. - June 17, 2015 - PRLog -- Dr Jon Craig offers some advice on minimising the impact of hay fever and dispels some common misconceptions.

“Ideally, start taking any medication before hay fever starts to set in to minimise its symptoms. This helps to prepare the immune system in advance and is beneficial because it’s harder to manage allergies after their symptoms take hold. And always be very mindful that some anti-histamine medicines can make you drowsy so you may need to avoid driving or doing anything that could affect your safety. Ideally choose the newer, non-sedating antihistamines – ask your pharmacist for advice.

“Keep an eye on the pollen count and try to avoid outdoor activities when it’s high.

“If it’s necessary to go outside when the count is high, change clothes and take a shower after returning home to remove any pollen that has attached itself to your clothes, hair or skin.

“Most weather forecasts in the summer now mention the pollen count. Usually it’s on sunnier days when winds are light. Some people find that they react to specific types of pollen, for example grass or tree pollen which flower at different times of the year. Keeping a diary of symptoms can help sufferers to predict roughly when their hayfever will start.

“There are a lot of commonly held ideas about easing the discomfort of hay fever which actually don’t work. Many people think that if they go out when there’s a lot of pollen around, they’ll eventually be ‘de-sensitised’ to it and their hayfever symptoms will go away. This is rarely true – if anything, being exposed to high levels of pollen can make things worse.

“People also avoid having flowers in their house because they think it’ll cause hay fever. Actually, flower pollen is designed to be sticky and not blow around so has far less impact than grasses and trees, although some people do have allergic reactions to strongly scented flowers such as lilies, which can create similar symptoms.

“Hay fever doesn’t discriminate on the grounds of age. Some young people do find their symptoms abate as they grow older, but others develop the reaction in later life. Most importantly, people who suffer the most are those with conditions such as asthma or other lung diseases.

“People with these conditions do need to seek medical advice for the best way to manage seasonal hay fever. For other sufferers, your first port of call should always be your friendly local pharmacist who can help with advice and over the counter remedies to help you manage through the sneezy season.”

Care UK runs over fifty primary care services for the NHS including walk-in centres and GP surgeries, as well as providing out of hours healthcare cover for over 10 million people.