The horrors of hay fever have been predicted to strike earlier than usual this year With that in mind sufferers of the seasonal affliction have been bulk buying antihistamines causing some supermarkets to have reported selling out of their own brands already.

An estimated 12 million people across Britain suffer from hay fever, and many of those will already be gearing up for another bout of seasonal sneezing.

The hay fever season - unlike the British summer - never seems to fail to live up to expectations; and according to John Collard, clinical director at Allergy UK, who has spent years working with sufferers, now is the time to start taking the tablets.

"If you wait until the runny nose and sneezing have started then it's going to be much more difficult to control," he said.

"You should be taking the medication two to three weeks before you normally get the symptoms."

For those who are set for the summer struggle, you might be surprised how far a diary, the facts and some patience, will go towards solving the problem.

John said: "Everyone tends to link hay fever with grass pollen which is around from mid-May to early September. But while it's fair to say that more people are allergic to grass pollen than anything else, quite a lot are also allergic to tree pollen.

"The earlier trees start to pollinate in February/March, and certainly by April you're going to be affected.

"Then after the grass pollen starts to die down, you have weed and shrub pollen. You can be affected from now, right through until the end of autumn."

It's a long slog for the afflicted, who might be tempted to ask, why me? You have your family to blame for your aversion to early evening strolls (when pollen is at its thickest), says John.

While antihistamines will counteract the effect of a pollen allergy, they won't do much to deal with the inflammatory symptoms.

"Steroids work much better," John said.

"Most people with hay fever will need antihistamines, a steroid nasal spray and often eye drops so they're treating the whole thing effectively."

But according to John, this message doesn't always get passed on. And, in addition, people don't understand how the drugs work.

"The GP will sometimes just give someone an antihistamine, rather than all three together. And different antihistamines work differently on different people. So if you try one and it doesn't control your symptoms - don't give up, try another."

John advises his patients that, in order to tackle their allergies, they need to understand them.

"The weather has a big part to play. Pollen is released on warm dry days. So if it's cool and damp there will be less released. And if it's raining, the pollen will be washed out of the air so the count won't be too high.

"Knowing about pollen helps. Trees produce their pollen in two year cycles. Last year there was less birch tree pollen, so this year they will pollinate more heavily.

"Also, pollen is released first thing in the morning on a warm and dry day. It goes up into the air and then comes down in the evening when it cools down, so you might want to think twice about your evening walk.''

10:15am Tuesday 29th April 2008

Print

Email this