Hay fever help

LegacyUser

hi i was wondering if anyone has any tips on how to deal with hay fever symptoms im doin my exams and i am in bits ive tried all the diff types of tablets but none of them are really workin

thanks

Victor

You really need to talk to a doctor and / or a pharmacist.

Have a look here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054940448

seamus-2k7

Yeah I get awefull hayfever in the summer and I tried all the tablets. I found 'telfast' the best but it doesn't totally solve the problem, it definately helps though.

If you go to your gp, you might get an injection which aparently solves it completely.

Dudess

You poor thing OP. I suffer terribly from hayfever - an attack has me looking like I've had my face kicked in! - but having it during exams... you truly have my sympathy.

I find nasal spray fantastic, but not everyone does, so talk to your doctor as it contains steroids. The one I use has to be a prescription one as the over-the-counter version isn't strong enough.

Saline spray (literally just salt and water and is available over the pharmacy counter) is really good too - it "washes out" the nasal passages and provides great relief. Handy to have as an addition.

In terms of anti histamine tablets - there are so many and they work differently for different people, so again, it's important to speak to the doctor. And different drugs can change in how they affect you over time - e.g. I used to find Zirtek great, but not so great now.

Hayfever can be absolute misery - definitely a valid medical complaint and worth talking to the doc about. Sometimes it can even turn into an infection such as severe sinusitis (used to happen to me every year and I had to take really strong antibiotics... until I discovered nasal spray).

Best of luck!

Morgase

Fellow sufferer here, I really feel for you. Here's a few tips for you to try as well as whatever the doc advises you to take:

Wear wrap around sunglasses when outside. I think maybe it stops some pollen from reaching the eyes. Also it goes some way towards stopping you from rubbing your eyes seeing as you have to make a conscious effort to move the glasses.

Shower morning and evening to get rid of pollen off your skin. Also change your clothes more often than usual so that you are not wearing clothes with lots of pollen sitting on them.

There is also a school of thought about the best times to open your windows as pollen in the air is at its height in early morning and early evening (so don't have your windows open then).

Just to give you some hope, I used to have it really badly, and exam times were hell. But in the past couple of years it seems to be getting better (I'm 28 now) so perhaps it's a thing that you might grow out of. Hopefully anyway!

Good luck in your exams too.

Rb

I have suffered from very bad hayfever myself for as long as I can remember.

Clarityn never did anything for me and Zirtek was weak at best. A few years ago after a good talk about it with my doctor, I was prescribed Kenalog. It's a steroid injection that has more purposes than merely helping hayfever. It's a serious drug with serious side effects and it is a steroid, so you really have to consider this before even approaching your doctor to talk about it. It has to be done before June so you're out of luck this year but if you're even considering it, make sure to thoroughly talk it through with your doctor first as once you've got the injection, there's no quick way of reversing.

There's some great nasal sprays and eye drops available though and you should exhaust every other resource before pursuing a steroid (imo).

Best of luck with it.

LegacyUser

You poor thing. I really feel sorry for you. I did the leaving cert when I was really ill and I can remember how not being 100% physically made the whole ordeal much more stressful.

Have you ever tried Nasal Irrigation or a Neti Pot ? I know it sounds absolutely horrible but it's supposed to be very helpful for hayfever symptoms and it's drug free. Basically what it does is wash your nose and sinuses out with salt water.It feels alot less traumatic than it sounds. You can buy neti pots and nasal irrigators in alot of chemists and healthshops now. It might be worth asking in your local healthstore about them. I read recently that a study in Guys Hospital in London found them helpful for hayfever so it's not as nutty as it sounds.

Very best of luck in the Leaving. I hope you'll get through it ok and do great.Maybe a few rainy days will help

kraggy

I've suffered from it for years and have gone through all types of medication including the steroid injection (it worked for a few years but then my system became immune to that on top of everything else).

So the last while, I've been using Neo-clarityn tablets, prescription-strength flixonase and Opticrom drops for the eyes.

The first 2 are on prescription and the Opticrom is over the counter.

To be honest, my eyes are what give me the most trouble. They itch and they itch and the more I scratch, the more itchy they get. It's like a horrible rash on the eyes.

Opticrom is the only thing that has ever given me relief from the eye trouble.

They're only 7 euro.

Good luck Op. I know how horrible it is.

And good luck with the exams.

ProperDeadly

What I find good is, after a shower, put a thin layer of vaseline on the inside of your nostrils, and also just at the corner of your eyes and on your eyelids. It can help prevent the pollen from going into your nose and eyes!

MissHoneyBun

Hi OP, in my experience I think that different things work for different people. A few remedies that have worked for my hayfever though are Histaclar antihistamine tablets, these are the generic form of Clarityn which mean practiacally the same active ingredients but cheaper. One of these in the morning will relieve your symptoms all day. Also one of the absolute best things for relieving that horrible tight, stuffed up feeling is Olbas Oil. The stuff is magic for clearing your head and getting rid of that awful heavyness. I can't be without it during hayfever season. Finally for sore, itchy eyes Otrivine drops are good, as are cold teabags, especially if soaked in Chamomile tea (it has anti-inflammatory properties)

In my experience, nasal irrigation tends to make matters worse (Sterimar = overpriced pile of nothing) and a few friends who are pharmacists have said it's due to nasal sprays irritating the already sensitive nasal membranes hence more streaming etc. so just thought that might be worth mentioning.

wobzilla

flixonase is great. costs about €12 for a little bottle though

_Whimsical_

ProperDeadly wrote: »

What I find good is, after a shower, put a thin layer of vaseline on the inside of your nostrils, and also just at the corner of your eyes and on your eyelids. It can help prevent the pollen from going into your nose and eyes!

That's actually a very good idea. It's a pity you didn't market it because someone else did!
You can buy a balm like Vaseline to rub on your nose to prevent pollen grains for entering it called HayMax. It gets some good write-ups so ProperDeadlys Vaseline trick would be well worth trying OP.
Haymax website is here :http://www.haybalm.f2s.com/

murpheous81

Suffer from hayfever myself, if you want a quick fix get Kenalog fom your GP, its a steriod drug but is quite effective. For the last year or 2 I now buy mixed pollen tablets from local health store, works a treat trust me, had to take a week off work due to hayfever.

Do recommend visiting the GP first though