Hayfever. How to help yourself

Many people are affected by hayfever every summer.  Most of our patients like to look after themselves, but the cost of treating this allergy for many months can mount up.

This page tells you how you can get safe, effective treatment which doesn’t break the bank.

Firstly avoid pollen. The best way of doing this is to keep windows closed and avoid going out early evening (this is when pollen count is highest). Some people use vaseline or similar in their nostrils to prevent the polen from travelling higher. Wrap-round sunglasses can help prevent pollen from getting into your eyes. When you come in from being outside, wash your face to rinse off the pollen.

Secondly use medication regularly. Hay fever is hard to get under control if it is severe, so treat yourself early and regularly using:

• Any common antihistamine: Loratidine, Cetirizine or Piriton. They can be bought in packs of 3-4 months from any supermarket or on line. A stonger antihistamine calle fexofenadine is now available over the counter if the others aren’t helping
• An eye drop, such as sodium cromoglycate (opticrom or optrex hayfever relief) This can be bought from chemists or supermarkets
• A nasal spray such as beconase, flixonase or benacort can be bought from the pharmacy too

We also recommend an on line advice line such as Dr Fox  or Chemist Direct

Most of these medications are available for children. Their names are:

Clarityn Allergy Syrup

Piriton syrup

Piriteze allery syrup

Becodefence kids nasal spray

Benadryl nasal spray

Together we can make the hayfever season much easier tolerate.