Hay fever is one of many respiratory conditions. One of the main causes of the rise of seasonal hay fever is genetics. Hay fever is the body’s overreaction to outdoor allergens. The reason you may suffer from hay fever and your friends do not is that your family may have a history of allergy sufferers.
Genetics passes this condition down to subsequent generations. But do not be alarmed as there are valuable tips that help relieve you of seasonal hay fever reactions.
The Body Makes A Mistake
In this life nothing is perfect and the body’s immune system can make mistakes. The cause of hay fever is one of those mistakes where the immune system misidentifies harmless airborne particles as dangerous body invaders.
This error causes an allergic reaction known in most cases as hay fever. These harmless airborne particles include a variety of plant pollen, dust mites, pet dander, and mould spores.
Your local lung consultant in London can help you diagnose hay fever and provide you with more information on the upcoming tips.
Expert Tips To Manage Seasonal Hay Fever Symptoms
1. See Your Private Respiratory Medicine Specialists
These specialists can diagnose your hay fever and put you on the right track to manage your allergic reactions during hay fever season. They can prescribe proper medication if it is warranted to make sure your hay fever stays under control.
2. Use Over-The-Counter Medicine
Different antihistamines, decongestants, and nasal steroid sprays can help reduce hay fever symptoms. Those symptoms include sneezing, running nose, itching, and congestion.
However, decongestants only provide short-term relief and should not be used for the long term. Nasal steroid sprays will work on both sets of hay fever symptoms as well as provide long-term relief.
3. Ask Your Respiratory Consultant For Sublingual Immunotherapy
Commonly known as allergen drops, this therapy is noninvasive, can be done at home, and can provide long-term relief. If you have persistent hay fever symptoms this is the go-to treatment option.
4. Use Indoor Prevention Techniques
These techniques include switching to HEPA filters that will filter out airborne allergens including pollen and dust mites. Also, to eliminate those dust mites that escaped the filter, wash your bedding in hot water at least once a week.
Finally, make sure to vacuum regularly. This activity will remove pet dander, dust, pollen and more allergen triggers.
5. Turn To Outdoor Techniques
One of the first things you need to do when you learn you have hay fever is to continually monitor outdoor pollen levels. The peak time for high pollen counts is in the morning and early evening so plan your day accordingly and try to avoid certain activities during those times.
Next, when you come in from outside, take a shower. This will remove all the pollen that has clung to your body and hair during your outdoor activities. Finally, wear sunglasses when you go outside.
The sunglasses will protect your eyes from the floating pollen. Windy days are when you need the sunglasses the most.
Extra Tips To Manage Hay Fever Symptoms
There are other practical steps you can take to help you manage your hay fever and find relief from its symptoms:
- Decrease your exposure by wearing hats– This will block pollen from attaching itself to your hair
- Change your diet– Certain foods help produce histamines thus cutting them out of your diet will help reduce hay fever symptoms
- Keep nasal passages moist– Drink more fluids each day
- Wash clothes– After your outdoor activities place the clothes in the washer to clean off any pollen that has stuck to them
- Stop wearing contacts during pollen season– Contacts do not protect your eyes like eyeglasses can
- Apply petroleum jelly around your nose– This little step will catch pollen before it enters your nose and reduces hay fever reactions
- Learn to do nasal irrigation– This little activity will help remove allergens from your nasal passages. Use a saline solution to be safe.
Become Educated
One of the best tips you can get to manage seasonal hay fever is to become more educated about the respiratory condition. The first item to learn is to be aware of what hay fever entails.
Then learn to identify hay fever triggers as well as recognize its symptoms. Finally, learn all you can about the above treatments and see which ones work for you.
The key to learning about hay fever, its symptoms, and treatment is that not all treatments work the same for everyone. Some medications will work wonders for some people while doing nothing at all for others.
Also, the side effects of different medications will be different for different people. This is why being educated on this ailment is so vital for hay fever sufferers.
This is also why you need to check with London’s respiratory consultants as they will have to test to see which medication works best for you.
Talk To Us Today
If you are not sure about your current hay fever treatment or need more information about treatments, contact our office today. We are a respiratory consultant who treats a variety of respiratory conditions including hay fever.
Consulting with us should get you on the right path to a healthier way to live during hay fever season. With the right medication, you can lead a normal life.
Contact us today so we can get started on improving your life.