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*sniff* — pollen

B

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
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Woke up this morning with a sneeze and bloodshot eyes which are now itching away. It's the beginning of hayfever season here in the UK. :mad:

Once when I was kid, we went camping somewhere in Germany next to a field of some kind of flowers... my throat swelled up, the local doctor had to be called out.

Anyone else a fellow sufferer?

*atchoo*
 
I can completely sympathise with you Blue Velvet. Though it has become somewhat less severe in recent years, almost anything sets my hayfever off - pollen, pet hair, dust mites. :(

All the usual symptoms - sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes and worst of all an itch in the back of my throat.

There are some medications now to help relieve the symptoms, which I have found to be very effective. You can bye them at the chemist.

Hope you feel better soon! :)
 
usually i get it pretty bad, last year i was dreadful, so far this year (touch wood) i havent felt anything, which is nice as im just in the middle of my final university exams so if it can hold off for the next two weeks i will be happy with that!
 
I got my first sniffles yesterday, so took an antihistamine (spelling?) before going to bed last night. Good job. This morning is really bad, you can smell the pollen in the air, even over the traffic fumes. Loads of people were suffering whilst I was walking into The City.

Get yourself down the chemist and pick up some Benadryl quick. I think they'll be a run on it.
 
Something flowers for a couple of weeks every year about this time that leaves me sneezing all day.

Luckily it clears by early June and the rest of the summer is clear.

It must be really crap to suffer all summer.
 
WinterMute said:
Something flowers for a couple of weeks every year about this time that leaves me sneezing all day.

Luckily it clears by early June and the rest of the summer is clear.

It must be really crap to suffer all summer.
Click to expand...

It's tree pollen in May. Luckily like you it's the only one I suffer from. Grass pollen has no effect.
 
The tree pollen started on me early this week, it affects my Asthma and turns me into a wheezing idiot unless I take some hay-fever tablets.... even my inhalers don't help that much. I used to take either prescription tablets or Clarytin (sp?) but these cost like £7 for a weeks worth.... but now all the Supermarket chains do one that cost 99p for a weeks and works for me!
 
I used to suffer moderately, but haven't had any symptoms over the past two or three summers.

Hope you start to feel better soon, Blue.
 
My sniffles reared their ugly head today for the first time this year. Boo. And I left my antihist's at home. Double Boo. Here's to sneezing, blowing my nose and having itchy eyes all day... Hurrah!:mad:
 
sreedy said:
The tree pollen started on me early this week, it affects my Asthma and turns me into a wheezing idiot unless I take some hay-fever tablets.... even my inhalers don't help that much. I used to take either prescription tablets or Clarytin (sp?) but these cost like £7 for a weeks worth.... but now all the Supermarket chains do one that cost 99p for a weeks and works for me!
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Well, I was gonna suggest something like Singulair, but if the OTC stuff works... :D
 
Man, I am not good in hayfever season, an absolute mess. I've tried a few different methods to get rid of it or limit the symptoms but unfortunately to no avail. I just end up being utterly useless for one month a year, possibly more if I'm unlucky. :(

Even my post count sometimes suffers!
 
mad jew said:
Man, I am not good in hayfever season, an absolute mess. I've tried a few different methods to get rid of it or limit the symptoms but unfortunately to no avail. I just end up being utterly useless for one month a year, possibly more if I'm unlucky. :(

Even my post count sometimes suffers!
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Take lots of antihistamines, it's the only thing that's ever worked for me. A doctor once recommended acupuncture, though I never tested it out. Perhaps you could give that a try.

We can't have your post count going down, now can we?
 
Yeah, I found acupuncture pretty useless. The problem with the pharmaceuticals is that I find I grow an immunity to them after a while. I think they key is to just keep switching brands.

Don't worry, I'm sure there'll be another mad, crazy Aussie ready to take my place.
 
mad jew said:
Yeah, I found acupuncture pretty useless. The problem with the pharmaceuticals is that I find I grow an immunity to them after a while. I think they key is to just keep switching brands.
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That's why I never bothered with the acupuncture. I'm all for more natural methods, but something like hayfever just doesn't seem curable by something like that. I usually switch between a few brands for the same reason. :)

Are you trying to imply something?
:p
 
thankfully its the grass pollen that sets me off. at the moment everything is covered in yellow dust which i presume to be pollen but im not affected by that type. i had to have one of those tests where they put various bits on your arm and then puncture you several times. the one which puffs up and itches really badly you dont like. that wasnt fun!

the doctor said to me if you have it really bad and you really dont want it they will inject you with steroids (cant find the name atm) and it will stop it dead for about 4 - 6 weeks depending upon the person.
 
i really don't know what my allergies are. i never had allergies as a kid, and only recently have i noticed what i think are allergies. i am fairly sure that the pollution in new york city after sept. 11 messed with my sinuses pretty badly. i wish i could pin down what all i suffer from specifically just so i can get the right stuff..

what do antihistamines do? i've never really even considered taking meds for it...
 
The hubby claims he doesn't have allergies, but I think he has developed an allergy to one of our springtime plants (not sure which). He's spent over a month sniffling and sneezing with no other cold symptoms. The symptoms subside for at least part of the day on the days he takes an antihistamine.
 
I find my contact lenses help me. The only problem is the days when I either can't get them in quick enough, or I have to take them out through sheer irritation.

TESCO also do a great hayfever nasal spray that, I believe, is steroid based. Not got any yet this year but I'm surviving on the Loratadine for now.

I love the summer, but hayfever can really ruin the short spells of fine weather we have in this country :(
 
mad jew said:
Yeah, I found acupuncture pretty useless. The problem with the pharmaceuticals is that I find I grow an immunity to them after a while. I think they key is to just keep switching brands.

Don't worry, I'm sure there'll be another mad, crazy Aussie ready to take my place.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I've been taking Claritin for so long it's no longer effective. Therefore, Clarinex does me no good either. Benadryl, I was up to 6 pills a day last week, and it exhausted the hell out of me. Thankfully, today we have torrential rains, so the pollen has been beaten down. Now its time for the mold spores to bloom. Wonderful.

Incidentally, Zyrtec is one of the few things that work for me right now, however, the insurance companies know this. The buggers! My insurance provides reduced costs for Clarinex, but barely any for Zyrtec.

I'm allergic to about 17 of the top 20 allergens they test for here in the Eastern US. I'm doing immunization therapy, which is working fairly well, I think.

CNN did a study of the top 10 worst places to suffer from allergies this year, and Hartford, Connecticut was number 1. Unfortunately, I'm only 30 miles from there....

:(
 
jelloshotsrule said:
i really don't know what my allergies are. i never had allergies as a kid, and only recently have i noticed what i think are allergies. i am fairly sure that the pollution in new york city after sept. 11 messed with my sinuses pretty badly. i wish i could pin down what all i suffer from specifically just so i can get the right stuff..

what do antihistamines do? i've never really even considered taking meds for it...
Click to expand...

Your body, when encountering a foreign body such as pollen, releases histamines to combat the foreign body. Unfortunately, pollen is not a danger, but your body doesn't know that. So you get running sinuses, watery, itchy eyes, and sneezing. National Geographic just did a write-up of allergies. Anti-histamines suppress the histamine reaction.

My old allergist had a pretty good theory regarding allergies. Everybody has a "shot glass" in their head, and as they breath in various airborne pollutants, the shot glass fills up. Now not everyones shot glass is the same size, nor does it fill up with the same "stuff." Anyway, as you go about your day, your shot glass keeps filling up, and when it overlows, you display an allergic reaction. The past few years, the allergens have been more and more prevalent, so more and more people are experiencing symptoms for the first time.
 
so what type of non prescription stuff would you recommend to try for someone suffereing from apparent allergies?

i don't have health insurance, so non prescription is key.
 
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