Your guide to managing hayfever

Your guide to managing hayfever

I always think of hayfever as being a particularly cruel affliction. Just as the days get longer, the weather hotter and the hedgerows more beautiful – hayfever sufferers get struck down with sneezing, itching, a runny nose, irritated eyes, blocked nose and a dry cough. These symptoms mean hayfever sufferers are running indoors while everyone else skips outside with their sun cream and a good book. One in five Irish people suffer from hayfever. If, like me, you are one of them, read on. I will explain how you can manage your symptoms and enjoy summer with the rest of the population.

What is hayfever?

People who suffer with hayfever have an immune system that can be likened to a melodramatic friend, prone to overreaction. If you have hayfever, your immune system perceives the harmless pollen from trees, plants and grass as a threatening invader. In response your body produces a chemical called histamine, which is inflammatory. Histamine starts the process that tries to rid your body of the perceived invader. This is why you end up with symptoms that involve different methods of expulsion – sneezing, runny eyes and nose. Your body is trying to get rid of what it sees as a threat! Even though the symptoms are terrible and make you want to curse your melodramatic immune system, it’s nice to remember that it’s really just doing what it thinks is best for you. (However, I’m not sure the same can be said about your melodramatic friend.)

Calming this over-reactive immune response is a good strategy for tackling hayfever symptoms. Balancing your immune system and histamine levels is important, as is taking practical steps to minimise exposure to allergens.

Ways of reducing histamine levels

There are certain foods that contain high levels of histamine and others that encourage its production. So, following a low histamine diet during the hayfever months can really improve symptoms. In general try and follow these tips to keep your histamine levels balanced:

• Ban energy drinks and keep caffeine to a minimum.
• Be wary of mucus-inducing dairy products.
• Try to focus on fresh and dried fruit for sweet snacks instead of sugary cakes and biscuits. Snack on fresh pineapple, which contains bromelain, as this could help to reduce swelling experienced with hayfever. 
• Add foods that are helpful for hayfever symptoms such as ginger, garlic, pineapple and stinging nettle. In the lead up to hayfever season, I start to make lots of nettle soups and teas, there are products you can take if you find nettle too bitter!
• Increase your intake of vitamin C-rich foods. Vitamin C is a key nutrient when it comes to combating histamine.
• Reduce stress. Stress hormones can make allergy symptoms more acute. They ramp up an already hypersensitive immune system. Anxiety may not be the reason that you have allergies, but it is a contributing factor.

Practical tips

Another way of coping with hayfever is minimising exposure to the allergen. This doesn’t mean being stuck inside every day, but it does mean taking extra care when you do go outside. Here are some of my favourite ways of hayfever-proofing my outdoor expeditions:

• Wear sunglasses. A wrap-around pair will enhance the efficacy of this, but might mean your trendy Ray Bans get left inside. Sad face.
• This is my all-time favourite tip and is so simple– rub some barrier cream on the edges of your nasal passages before going outside. This will catch the pollen particles before they can enter the nose. This has really helped minimise my hayfever symptoms and bonus - It’s nourishing for your skin so helps heal cracked or dry skin from constant tissue use.
• Keep an eye at the pollen count each day. On days when the pollen count is high, avoid being outdoors, especially in fields and parks, as much as possible.
• One of the plus sides of having hayfever is getting to delegate the job of lawn mowing to someone else!
• Set up a decontamination station by your front door, so when you get back inside you immediately “de-pollinate”, for want of a better word!
• Using a Nasal Spray, this will have a cleansing action that will get rid of any pollen lying on the surfaces of the lining of the nose. Spray once or twice into each nostril, 2 -5 times per day. 
• Put the clothes you were wearing into a laundry bag or straight into the washing machine so you are not sitting in a pollen suit for the rest of day.
• On high pollen days, have a shower and wash all that pollen off.

Symptomatic relief

Even with our best efforts, hayfever can catch us. Maybe you fell into a pile of fresh grass cuttings or spent the day picking dandelions in the sun and now you have all the classic hayfever symptoms. A.Vogel has a remedy for just about every hayfever ailment, without the side affects you get from over-the-counter products.

My favourite natural product that keeps my hayfever symptoms in check is Pollinosan Hayfever tablets. This is a blend of tropical herbs in an easy-to-take tablet. For those who prefer a tincture, Luffa Complex is a vegan alternative and can be recommended from the age of two.  If your symptoms are intense, you can take Pollinosan tablets and use Pollinosan Nasal Spray too.

If you suffer with dry itchy eyes, A.Vogel’s Moisturising Eye Drops are super. The hyaluronic acid mimics natural tear secretions, which means you get the moisturising and cleansing benefit of tears without the runny eyes! Similarly, Sinuforce Nasal Spray is gentle but effective for relieving congestion in the nasal passages without the horrible rebound dilation of steroidal sprays. It’s one I always keep beside my bed, as there is nothing worse than a blocked nose interrupting your sleep.

Regardless of what solution you choose to help with your hayfever symptoms, do try and start as early as possible, as it is better to keep things at bay rather than control a fire once it’s started.

 

Hayfever is a particularly cruel affliction. Just as the days get longer, the weather hotter and the hedgerows more beautiful – hayfever sufferers get struck down with sneezing, itching, a runny nose, irritated eyes, blocked nose and a dry cough. These symptoms mean hayfever sufferers are running indoors while everyone else skips outside with their sun cream and a good book.

One in five Irish people suffer from hayfever.

Here we will explain how you can manage your symptoms and enjoy summer with the rest of the population.

What is hayfever?

People who suffer with hayfever have an immune system that can be likened to a melodramatic friend, prone to overreaction. If you have hayfever, your immune system perceives the harmless pollen from trees, plants and grass as a threatening invader. In response your body produces a chemical called histamine, which is inflammatory. Histamine starts the process that tries to rid your body of the perceived invader. This is why you end up with symptoms that involve different methods of expulsion – sneezing, runny eyes and nose. Your body is trying to get rid of what it sees as a threat! Even though the symptoms are terrible and make you want to curse your melodramatic immune system, it’s nice to remember that it’s really just doing what it thinks is best for you. (However, I’m not sure the same can be said about your melodramatic friend.) Calming this over-reactive immune response is a good strategy for tackling hayfever symptoms. Balancing your immune system and histamine levels is important, as is taking practical steps to minimise exposure to allergens. Ways of reducing histamine levels There are certain foods that contain high levels of histamine and others that encourage its production. So, following a low histamine diet during the hayfever months can really improve symptoms. 

Tips to keep your histamine levels balanced:

- Ban energy drinks and keep caffeine to a minimum.

- Be wary of mucus-inducing dairy products.

- Try to focus on fresh and dried fruit for sweet snacks instead of sugary cakes and biscuits. Snack on fresh pineapple, which contains bromelain, as this could help to reduce swelling experienced with hayfever.

- Add foods that are helpful for hayfever symptoms such as ginger, garlic, pineapple and stinging nettle. In the lead up to hayfever season, I start to make lots of nettle soups and teas, there are products you can take if you find nettle too bitter!

- Increase your intake of vitamin C-rich foods. Vitamin C is a key nutrient when it comes to combating histamine.

- Reduce stress. Stress hormones can make allergy symptoms more acute. They ramp up an already hypersensitive immune system. Anxiety may not be the reason that you have allergies, but it is a contributing factor.

Practical tips

- Minimise exposure to the allergen. This doesn’t mean being stuck inside every day, but it does mean taking extra care when you do go outside. Here are some of my favourite ways of hayfever-proofing my outdoor expeditions:

- Wear sunglasses. A wrap-around pair will enhance the efficacy of this, but might mean your trendy Ray Bans get left inside. Sad face.

- Rub some barrier cream on the edges of your nasal passages before going outside. This will catch the pollen particles before they can enter the nose. This has really helped minimise my hayfever symptoms and bonus - It’s nourishing for your skin so helps heal cracked or dry skin from constant tissue use.

- Keep an eye at the pollen count each day. On days when the pollen count is high, avoid being outdoors, especially in fields and parks, as much as possible. One of the plus sides of having hayfever is getting to delegate the job of lawn mowing to someone else!

-Set up a decontamination station by your front door, so when you get back inside you immediately “de-pollinate”, for want of a better word! - Using a Nasal Spray, this will have a cleansing action that will get rid of any pollen lying on the surfaces of the lining of the nose. Spray once or twice into each nostril, 2 -5 times per day.

- Washing: Put the clothes you were wearing into a laundry bag or straight into the washing machine so you are not sitting in a pollen suit for the rest of day.

- Personal hygiene. On high pollen days, have a shower and wash all that pollen off. Symptomatic relief (This is the only part that has reference to products in it) This entire section can be deleted if you so wish!! Even with our best efforts, hayfever can catch us. Maybe you fell into a pile of fresh grass cuttings or spent the day picking dandelions in the sun and now you have all the classic hayfever symptoms.

Product Recommendations

A.Vogel has a remedy for just about every hayfever ailment, without the side affects you get from over-the-counter products. My favourite natural product that keeps my hayfever symptoms in check is Pollinosan Hayfever tablets. This is a blend of tropical herbs in an easy-to-take tablet. For those who prefer a tincture, Luffa Complex is a vegan alternative and can be recommended from the age of two. If your symptoms are intense, you can take Pollinosan tablets and use Pollinosan Nasal Spray too. If you suffer with dry itchy eyes, A.Vogel’s Moisturising Eye Drops are super. The hyaluronic acid mimics natural tear secretions, which means you get the moisturising and cleansing benefit of tears without the runny eyes! Similarly, Sinuforce Nasal Spray is gentle but effective for relieving congestion in the nasal passages without the horrible rebound dilation of steroidal sprays. It’s one I always keep beside my bed, as there is nothing worse than a blocked nose interrupting your sleep. Regardless of what solution you choose to help with your hayfever symptoms, do try and start as early as possible, as it is better to keep things at bay rather than control a fire once it’s started.

All products mentioned are available in all of our 11 stores and selected items are available on thehealthstore.ie 

This article was kindly contributed by the lovely Sophie Hannevig