Hay Fever All About it

Main Category: Allergy
Article Date: 21 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT


Hay fever is the commonest form of allergy in the UK

Hay fever is the commonest form of allergy in the UK affecting up to 20% of the population of the UK, which would be up to 10 million sufferers. It is an allergy to pollen. Hay is produced from grass, and grass pollen is the most common culprit for producing hay fever symptoms, but tree pollen, flower pollen, and fungal spores (the fungus equivalent of pollen) also produce the same symptoms in sensitive people.

Allergic rhinitis is the medical word for hay fever - but the medical word covers more than just the pollen allergy of hayfever. It also includes other allergies which produce the same symptoms, and also those that can go on all year round. House dust mites are minute insect living in most of our homes. Many people are allergic to this, and it can produce hayfever symptoms all year round. Pets and other animals produce a dust from their skin which many people are allergic to. Feathers in duvets or pillows produce the same dust. The treatment is the same for all. As with any allergy it will not go away. Try to find what it is that you are allergic to, and avoid it whenever you can. The more you expose yourself to the problem - the more you will react to it. Some other things can also give the same symptoms - eating a curry, alcohol, some medicines and some emotional states.

Hay fever is also called a 'summer cold' - but it is an allergy, while a cold is caused by a virus. The symptoms can be the same though, with sneezing and a runny nose, but hay fever will not cause a fever, despite its name. The timing of the symptoms is the best guide to decide which is which. Colds only last a week or two, and are usually in the winter, while hay fever causes symptoms which can last longer, and can come and go, depending on the pollen levels each day, and are normally at the same time each year, in the spring and summer.

The nose is the main target for hay fever. Pollen is breathed in and sticks on the inside of the nose. If you are allergic to that pollen the nose lining will react. This reaction causes the release of chemicals, the main one being histamine. These chemicals trigger the body's defenses, and cause inflammation. Inflammation can go through three stages -

-- Sneezing - this is caused by irritation of the nose lining, and is the body's natural reaction to blow out the thing causing the irritation. If this is not successful the next stage is -

-- Runny nose - the lining of the nose is now starting to swell, and produce a watery liquid to wash out the irritation. If this is not successful -

-- Blocked nose will result when the swelling of the lining of the nose combined with the now thicker mucus, gets so far as to start to block the air going through the nose. This is nasal congestion.

The eyes can also be affected, and can become red and itchy, and start to water.

The mouth, throat and ears can more rarely be affected. The roof of the mouth can become itchy. The throat can react by causing a cough. The ears can itch. All these reactions are the same allergic reactions that happen in the nose and eye.

There is some genetic link in hayfever. You are more likely to develop it if your parents had hay fever, or if they suffered with other allergic conditions such as eczema or asthma. So if your brother or sister already suffer from hay fever, then you may well have inherited the same sensitivity from your parents. Similarly if you had eczema or asthma as a child this makes you more likely to develop hay fever, and this is often the pattern that shows itself for someone who suffers from allergies. The peak age for hay fever is late teens and twenties. After that it usually gets gradually better, but may always give you some symptoms, especially in years with high pollen counts.

The way we live may have some effect on the development of hay fever. We are all exposed to many things every day that can cause us to become allergic to them, but most people don't. Our modern lifestyle could expose us to more of these allergy triggering substances. This allergy overload causes more people to become allergic to something. This could explain the increase in hay fever over recent years.

Treating hay fever is important to allow you to minimise the symptoms, and let you get on with your life, and stop it being a misery. Hay fever can not be cured but the symptoms can be controlled.

From:
http://www.mypharmacy.co.uk

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