Hay Fever

Absolutely threaders with this stupid excuse of an allergy. Tried everything, Telfast 180mg's, pirraton, vasaline under nostrils, that little LED thing from lloyds pharmacy..... nothing works. .

Army doctors won't inject Kenalog apparetly because of the side effects and it being steroid based. Apparently it can leave an indent the size of a golf ball in ones arrse aswell. That aside, it's meant to work wonders.

Any one know of any mirracle cure, or any way of getting this injection? Fed up of going into work every day looking like a junkie and being accused of having a heavy night on the sauce. Any suggestions or advice bar man the f*ck up welcome...

Danke.

 

Can you source local honey? The theory is that ingesting the local pollen helps your system deal with it. I know several people who swear by it: and at least it's cheap so you don't lose anything by trying.

Also the Optimist eyespray really does work, if itchy eyes are one of your symptoms. And - depending on the length of your hair - showering frequently (and certainly before bed) gets dust/pollen away from you.

 

You may discount this as hippy bollocks if you wish but I studied herbal medicine and Nettles are an effective natural anti-histamine. You can take it in tablets or tincture (tincture is most effective) if teas aren't your thing. Golden rod, elder and eyebright are also good herbs for hayfever and echinacea is a good all round immune system herb. You can get lots of preprepared mixtures in drop or tablet form so if you want to try one of those then look for some withthose herbs in.
Witch hazel (you can get a bottle of it at most chemists) is a good astringent, cooling treatment. Dampen some cotton wool and hold it on for a few minutes, repeat as often as you like but be careful of drying out the skin around your eyes.

What are your symptoms though franklin? Are you certain that it's hayfever?

 

Sound theory. Whoever heard of a bear with hayfever? But honey aint cheap anymore, and local artisan honey is likely to be very expensive. But if it works, its worth it.

The only consolation is that your susceptibility recedes as you get older. When I was a teen I suffered horribly with it, to the point of exposed skin also coming out in an itchy rash sometimes. Now, in my early 40s I only get slight symptoms when pollen is very high.

You could always try one of these, but you might scare other passengers on the bus.

http://www.armynnavy.com/catalog/catalog/popup_image.php/pID/2178

 

Following on from WOTM, do you have any other atopic conditions? If so, milk thistle might be worth a try. Also yoghurt (think there's been something in the press about it's immune system boosting qualities being useful for hay fever)

Edited to add: Holland and Barrett have offers on this week, so a good time to stock up.

 

I use a Nasal spray called Flixonase and you buy it over the counter,it works for me !

 

Milk thistle is great for the liver and therefore for the skin so it's incredibly useful in skin conditions, like eczema and dermatitis.
Yogurt would be useful for it's probiotics. Taking a probiotic supplement would be a good idea because you can pack more of them in, take high doses for the first week and then maintain a lower dosage until your symptoms clear up. There is ongoing research into how and why probiotics work in reducing the body's reaction to histamine but recent trials have shown that it does work

 

Then mentioned that on telly this morning, you have to keep using it to get the benefits of it

 

Two sprays up each nostril a day,but if it's severe you can give it another squirt !

 

Beconase for your nose and Optichrom for your eyes.

I get almost incapacitated by it every summer, and these work a treat. used to be prescription only (how they were introduced to me, by a genius of a doctor who I will be forever indebted to) but you can get them over the counter now. the co-op pharmacy do an own brand version as well thats rather cheaper and are exactly the same thing as far as I can tell.

 

My quack said he wouldn't advise it because he said it suppresses the immune system. Although I now work with lab animals, so I'm not sure if messing around with histamines etc, is a good idea anyway (because of the risk of developing lab animal allergy).

 

Many thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I've briefly heard about sourcing local honey but in all honesty dismayed it as myth. Upon hearing it again I will give it a try.

Wench_Of_The_Manor - Yes pretty sure its hay fever, as have suffered it for years throughout the summers. Saying that though, I had an allergy test last time in BFG by the German healthcare and it turns out I’m allergic to quite a lot. All year round I never seem to have clear nasals but come the summer it erupts. The Germans did want to operate on my sinuses but I had an early posting so it never came around. Maybe this was the reason I still had to take antihistamines on Herrick.

Looking forward to this new jab coming out, albeit a 4 year wait!

 

Be careful with the local honey thing, I tried it a few weeks back and almost went into anaphalactic shock! My tongue started swelling up and my throat was constricted, I had to throw a few anti-histamines down my neck pretty sharpish.

I suggest you try a very small amount to start with, not the teaspoons worth I lobbed down my throat.

 

Ignore all of that. I was exactly the same. And I found THE tablet to take each day from the MO. Loretadine. It works fantastically for me.