This post is sponsored by AXA PPP healthcare.
We didn’t quite make it to 40 days and 40 nights of rain over here, but it came very close! Now summer is well and truly on the way with this forecast for the rest of the week! Huzzah!
I have written before about what a joyous occasion the spring is here in the UK. Seeing gardens and parks turn from desolate grave-like patches of earth into flourishing, blossoming, green and sweet smelling Edens; bare tree branches gradually dressed with green again; for the air to be imbued with blossom scents and warmth; to feel the sun on bare skin again. It is such a stark contrast to the dark, bleak dampness of the winter. The changing of the seasons is something I now look forward to every year.
Except for one thing. When it starts getting warmer, I know the onset of hayfever season is upon me and I need to take an antihistamine every time I leave the house. Well not quite, but near enough!
I don’t remember it always being this way and I’m not sure whether it’s just getting older or having moved to a different country with a different eco-system (!) but certainly over the past six or seven years I’ve noticed it come and go with varying severity, particularly in the summer. When I was younger it wasn’t so much of an issue. I found my eyes sometimes watered when cuddling our family cat, but I never got the same reaction with the dog, interestingly enough. When I was in my early twenties I noticed I would have sneezing fits in warmer weather, which I’d remedy with a Clarinase. It took the edge off it but only slightly. It was never bad enough to really bother me and I was hardly self aware at that time in my life so didn’t really put two and two together on anything!
It was only when I moved to the UK that I started noticing how the change in the seasons affected the severity and regularity of these sneezing fits. Anytime I polished or vacuumed my flat, or cleaned under the bed, I would get a sneezing fit. If it was particularly dusty (our flat in Pimlico was the Dust Palace) I would sometimes get a tightness in my chest too. I am also allergic to my sister-in-law’s cat, who doesn’t like me anyway, so no love lost there!
 |
| Ah, Rusty. Forgive me for putting this picture of you on the internet. |
Before leaving for my walk to work each morning in the summer, I would have to remember to take an antihistamine before heading out the door. If I didn’t take one, I would usually arrive at work with a streaming nose, eye makeup ruined and sometimes a rash on my chest! I remember one particularly bad day I walked home – it was warm but very windy, and I was walking down a street near the flat that was lined with trees. You could see the pollen thick in the air, as the wind had stirred up so much of it. I sneezed for the rest of the walk home, wheezing, spluttering. When I got in I could wipe traces of pollen dust from my hands and cheeks.
Oddly enough, since moving to the country, my hay fever hasn’t been too bad, despite being surrounded by nature, freshly mown lawns, fields, shedding trees, flowers and bees! I’ve read up on this and apparently hay fever is far more common in city dwellers than those who live in the country due to less pollutants in the atmosphere. And since cutting way, way back on our dairy consumption, I’ve noticed neither Tom nor I have needed antihistamines as much, which is interesting.
But I know the worst of it is probably yet to come with summer just around the corner now, and my sneezing fits do still occur, most commonly first thing in the morning when I’ve woken up. Unfortunately I have become quite reliant on antihistamines for fast relief, which I can imagine isn’t ideal. It's a very convenient solution but popping a pill every time I'm uncomfortable isn’t really how I like to live my life if I can help it. I’d prefer to manage it in a more natural way. Please don’t tell me I need to clean more often though! (shudder!)
Luckily, my wondering about how to manage my hayfever in a more natural, less dependent on antihistamines way has coincided with one of the latest AXA PPP healthcare live chats which is all about allergies. AXA PPP is putting on a dedicated allergies live chat next Wednesday, 30th May, from 3pm – 5pm UK time. If you have a question on an allergy of any sort, you can get it answered! Here are the details:
- AXA PPP’s allergy expert Dr Michael Radcliffe will be answering questions about allergies of any sort. Dr Radcliffe is an NHS Specialist in Allergy Medicine in London and Clinical Research Fellow in Allergy in the School of Medicine at the University of Southampton. He is Chairman of the Medical Advisory Panel of the Anaphylaxis Campaign and an Advisor to Allergy UK. He has a particular interest in food allergy and intolerance, and assessing people who have suffered unexplained symptoms including anaphylaxis (allergic collapse) and allergy rashes.
- Participants can ask questions on any sorts of allergy – including hay fever, asthma, rhinitis and skin allergies, or allergies to foods, pollens, animals, drugs, insects, rubber latex and chemical sensitivity.
- After the live chat ends, there is plenty of more information and guidance for allergy sufferers on the brand new AXA PPP Allergies Centre which has practical information and support for allergy sufferers, as well as lifestyle and healthy living guides to help manage and minimise the effects of allergies.
You can ask questions live on the day or in advance via Twitter and Facebook.
So my question(s), unsurprisingly, is what advice would you give to a hayfever sufferer who wants to be less dependent on antihistamines? What natural remedies are effective in treating hayfever and are there any that are fast acting in the way an antihistamine is? Do antihistamines have a detrimental effect with prolonged/constant use?
Everyone I've spoken recommends local honey, preferably with some honeycomb still in it, as a good natural way to combat hayfever. Maybe I need to do an Ash and take up bee-keeping?
What about you? Are you a hay fever sufferer as well? How do you cope with it?