I
am also a hayfever suffer and hope that these pages will
help any one else suffering out there.
Some days I really feel like scratching a hole in my ears
or pulling out my eyes from the itching and irritations.
If any body has some extra advice please
e-mail me.
I would really like to get some long term cure as I suffer
most of the year.
I Am allergic to trees, grass, pollen, feathers, dogs,
flowers, bees, and even starting with certain type of
foods.
THE
SYMPTOMS OF HAYFEVER
One
of the greatest honours of a successful medical career
is to have a disease named after you. For many years the
medical profession used the term 'Bostock's catarrh'
for hayfever, in memory of John Bostock, a London physician
who, in 1819, reported the strange case of a patient with
'a periodical affection of the eyes and chest'. The patient
was Bostock himself, and he attributed his symptoms (which
were highly unusual in those days) to the heat and sunshine
of summer.
His
failure to identify the real cause lost Bostock his chance
of medical immortality. By the 1820s, a fair number of
the public were similarly afflicted, mainly those of the
upper classes, and they became convinced that the new
disease was 'produced by the effluvium from new hay'.
To suffer from this novel disease was a sign of good breeding;
it became something of a fad, and the public, or the newspapers
perhaps, thought up the term 'hayfever'. Doctors
of the day rejected the explanation, deplored the fashionable
nature of the disease, and disliked the name. But it happened
that the public was right about hay, while Bostock and
his colleagues were wrong, so the name 'hayfever'
stuck.
Although
many doctors now use 'pollinosis' for this disease
the term 'hayfever' is not entirely inappropriate
because some patients actually do feel feverish and sweat
easily during the pollen season. However, their temperatures
are usually normal, and feverishness is not the most typical
symptom of hayfever: the major reactions to pollen occur
in the nose and eyes.
An
attack of hayfever often begins with an unpleasant,
itchy sensation in the mouth, nose, throat and eyes. This
is a sign that the allergic reaction to the pollen has
begun.
Symptoms
of airborne allergens include:
Eyes that are itchy,
red, tearing or swollen
Runny nose Sneezing
Coughing Difficulty breathing
Itchy nose, mouth or throat and ears that itch deeply
inside.
Headache from sinus congestion
Antihistamines
relieve many symptoms caused by airborne allergens, such
as itchy, watery eyes, runny nose and sneezing.
An
allergy is your body's overreaction to a substance that
it thinks will do it harm. For example, dust is harmless
to most people, but some people's bodies will try to flood
it out with tears and mucus. Allergies are often hereditary.
Sneezing
is a natural reflex that serves to remove bothersome particles
from the nose by expelling them violently. The production
of large amounts of mucus serves a similar end — it is
intended to flush the unwanted items out of the nose.
The fact that the symptoms persist suggests that neither
response is of much use in expelling pollen, probably
because each new breath brings in a fresh supply. Thus
the sneezing and the runny nose are part of a frustrated
and futile effort to eject pollen from the nose.
A
blocked nose occurs for different reasons. In this case,
the degree of inflammation in the nose is so great that
the delicate membranes swell up and block the air passages.
'Inflammation' is a term used to describe the reaction
which occurs whenever there is an intense immune response
in a particular area of the body. This reaction is usually
characterized by swelling and redness (hence 'in flames').
Inflammation in the nose produces no obvious redness,
but the swelling is very apparent to those who find that
they can no longer breathe with their mouth closed!
A
blocked nose can make it difficult to sleep, and constant
breathing through the mouth may lead to dryness of the
tongue and throat. For some hayfever sufferers, there
is also a loss of the sense of smell. (This seemingly
trivial symptom can prove fatal if there is something
ablaze in the kitchen and you are watching television,
oblivious to the smell. Fitting smoke detectors in the
home is a good idea for anyone whose sense of smell is
lost, either permanently or temporarily.)
Decongestants
clear up redness and nasal congestion. Make sure to see
your doctor before using decongestants, because they can
be addictive.
The
most common treatment is to avoid what's causing your
allergy.
Itchy eyes? Keep your home free of pet dander and dust,
and stay inside with the air conditioner on when a lot
of pollen is in the air.
Air conditioners filter out allergens. (That is to
say if you can afford one)
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