Suffering from allergies

[Ian Sutton]

From Admin: We got onto an interesting off topic discussion of allergies so I started this new thread and moved the posts here.

I'm hoping you'll be greeted by the warm weather we've been having (almost exactly a year before you arrive), though the pollen is very high, so worth picking up some tablets if you suffer and it's as strong next year. The other recommended aid to combat this seasonal issue is to have lots of the local honey.

 

[Pauline]

The other recommended aid to combat this seasonal issue is to have lots of the local honey.

Possibly a myth. We use Dorset honey daily in our tea and we are both suffering this summer! But, who knows, maybe it could be worse ...

 

[Ian Sutton]

It's been awful this year Pauline, the worst I can recall.
The best approach (they say) is to have local honey for the months preceding, so that you you get honey from bees that feed on the same mix of local pollen. Local being the same village or very nearby.

Once affected, head buried under running water or in a sink of cold water is about the best action, but getting/staying indoors is important

 

[Eleanor]

It's interesting to know that I'm not the only one suffering. My hay ever has been a lot worse this year han normal. Glasses do help when out.

 

[artnbarb]

I wear contacts, so it could be misery for me. Luckily I'm not generally affected, but you never know when you're travelling how different plants might affect you!

 

[joe]

It's been awful this year Pauline, the worst I can recall.
The best approach (they say) is to have local honey for the months preceding, so that you you get honey from bees that feed on the same mix of local pollen. Local being the same village or very nearby.

Just out of curiosity - what are the flowers/plants whose pollen causes the hay fever?

 

[Eleanor]

It can be anything. Traditionally grass pollen is the worst.

 

[Pauline]

but getting/staying indoors is important

No chance! It is prime walking season.

Steve uses a Weleda nasal spray. We both use eye drops. And we use local honey all year long. The farm near us makes honey. I'll try using theirs. And I'll try that head in a sink of cold water!

I don't know what we are allergic too but Steve suffers less in Dorset, by the sea, than he did in the Cotswolds. I am not as affected as him, but neither of us had this when we lived in New Mexico. Rape flowers are supposed to be bad but we don't have them in Dorset. We live in a cow and sheep farming area, so lots of fields.

 

[Eleanor]

I used to suffer really badly as a child and when it got too bad I was taken to the seaside for a day. I think it was something to do with the sea breezes blowing the pollen away...

When I moved from the London area to Durham it was wonderful as my hayfever was a month later starting.

I remember several years ago we were on holiday in the Isle of Man and had gone for a ride in the open trailer on the Manx Electric Railway. We were at nose level with the grasses on the bank and by the end of the trip my eyes were swollen and streaming from the pollen. I had to sit in the enclosed coach or the return trip.

 

[joe]

I don't know what we are allergic to.... Rape flowers are supposed to be bad but we don't have them in Dorset. We live in a cow and sheep farming area, so lots of fields.

The most important thing in hay fever, or any allergy, is to know exactly what you are allergic to. Obviously, in order to try and come into as little contact as possible with the allergen. But also because sometimes a homeopathic remedy that can be made from the specific allergen has the potential to treat the problem. Not everyone believes in homeopathy, but if you suffer severely from something, it doesn't cost much to give it a try.
Since we are talking about Great Britain, then here's something to consider :
https://www.britishhomeopathic.org/...spring-is-in-the-air-and-the-sneezing-begins/

There are other alternative remedies I know of that purportedly can aid, but let's start with the above...I'm in enough trouble already for saying that AirBnB has some good sides....

 

[Sojourner]

If what you are reacting to is tree or grass pollen (common cause in spring months), then using local honey because local bees took pollen from the spring flowers isn't going to work is it. Some old wives tales have a basis in fact, but that doesn't mean they will cover all possibilities.

To diagnose just what it is you are reacting to, you can have your doctor do some skin tests. They just prick your skin with a miniscule amount of a known allergen. They then measure the amount of antibodies being produced to determine if you are allergic or not. They can do multiple skin tests at the same time.

Once the cause is diagnosed then there are various ways to treat the problem. The answer may be immunotherapy which can in many cases entirely end the problem although it may take some time.

I'm with joe (even if he wrongly supports Airbnb) that the first step is to get a proper diagnosis. I don't know why anyone who actually suffers to any appreciable degree would not take that approach to the problem. This is the 21st century, we no longer have to rely on old wives tales.

 

[artnbarb]

Should I simply start a new thread? This one seems to have been hijacked with allergy comments!

 

[joe]

Sorry about that!
....just trying to help (I suffer a month a year from a plant here, so I know how bad things can get). Not another word...

 

[Pauline]

We got onto this topic in Barb's thread, so I am splitting out the allergy posts and moving them here.

 

[Eleanor]

Many years ago Husband was tested to try and find out what he was allergic to - the answer came back everything he'd been tested for...

 

[artnbarb]

Now I'll be the one to go off in a different direction, but it's still related - right now I am being eaten alive by midges/sand flies/pappatacci. The bites itch and itch and itch and itch!!! I've had the bites for over 2 weeks and they are finally going away but the itching is as bad now as it was in the beginning. I have seen a dermatologist and have used an antihistimine, a steroid cream, tea tree oil and a zinc cream. Nothing really seems to work, but I keep thinking they will dry up sooner or later - and it's been much, much later than I'd prefer. Like allergies, just another unexpected surprise when traveling to a different locale. The dermatologist said there had been a bad infestation here this year, altho I don't know why. Again, like allergies, completely unpredictable!

 

[Roz]

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll say again here that the product that's made it possible for me to survive the grass pollen season was Fluticasone nasal spray (best known trademark name is Flonase). I'd had pollen allergies as a child, but they mostly went away until we moved to California, where they came back with a vengeance. Maybe I'd built up resistance to East Coast grasses, but here I was totally miserable until I went to an allergist who suggested Flonase.

Now I can actually go outside again for a few hours a day and not spend the rest of the day with a runny nose and horribly itchy eyes.

By the way, my doctor would not prescribe immunity shots because he said they weren't recommended for people over a certain age -- they could lead to heart problems. My grandson, who has similar allergies, did take the shots but he said Flonase worked much better for him.

Barbara, so sorry about your itching. I had hives a few years ago, and I know how crazy that can drive you. Allegra did help me, but I know success with antihistamines can vary by the individual. Gold Bond anti-itch cream also can provide temporary relief.

 

[Eleanor]

I've heard that Vitamen B (brewer's yeast) is good at preventing midge bites if you take it regularly.

Husband swire by his pipe and would light that up and puff away when he was walking. Problem was it might keep the midges away from him but they made a beeline for me instead....

 

[Pauline]

I am being eaten alive by midges/sand flies/pappatacci.

Ugh! One of the things I liked best about Santa Fe was very few insects. No mosquitoes, no fleas on the cats, no dust mites. It was the dryness and altitude. We don't have many biting bugs in Dorset but I've read the midge season in Scotland is May to September! No biting bugs here in Brittany.

 

[Rome Addict]

Now I'll be the one to go off in a different direction, but it's still related - right now I am being eaten alive by midges/sand flies/pappatacci. The bites itch and itch and itch and itch!!! I've had the bites for over 2 weeks and they are finally going away but the itching is as bad now as it was in the beginning. I have seen a dermatologist and have used an antihistimine, a steroid cream, tea tree oil and a zinc cream. Nothing really seems to work, but I keep thinking they will dry up sooner or later - and it's been much, much later than I'd prefer. Like allergies, just another unexpected surprise when traveling to a different locale. The dermatologist said there had been a bad infestation here this year, altho I don't know why. Again, like allergies, completely unpredictable!

Next time you get bit as soon as you can get a spoon and run it under hot water. Then place the spoon against the bite site. Told it there as long as you can beat without burning yourself. Take spoon off bite site. Then reapply. I have found that even when they have chewed me to pieces getting some of the bites taken care of this way really helps. Something about the external heat breaks down whatever it is they inject into people. Do it twice a day. I have found usually two treatments clears them up.