Hayfever and allergies
 

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)

I am updating these pages as quick as I can . Please return to get some new info