hay fever

Hey

Can anyone point me in the right direction for finding more on helping my hay fever - i'm at my wits end - taking 4 diff meds - got my singlair, citerazine, actrivistine, fluctisone (nasal spray) and eye drops and i don't want to leave the house i feel thatbad - does anyone know where i can research mroe?

xxx

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Hi Laurenjayne,

There have been a couple of threads on hayfever in the Medical forum recently - I've bumped them up for you. There's some good general tips on minimising your exposure to pollen and other allergens.

You seem to be on a good combination of medication, so there are no easy answers, I'm afraid. Ancedotally, changing medication within a class (eg, changing to a different antihistamine, or changing from montelukast (Singulair) to zafirlukast (Accolate)) can be helpful for some people, although there is no really compelling evidence to support this strategy. Other things you might want to ask about - Grazax, the new sublingual grass pollen immunotherapy, although there are no funding recommendations currently for this, so getting it may be difficult. Some physcians also occasionally use systemic steroids, either oral or as an IM injection of triamcinolone (Kenalog), in people with persistently bad hayfever, especially when this is impacting on asthma control. Of course, as with any medication, the benefits of this have to be weighed against the risks of side effects from systemic steroids.

One thing that can be really helpful is showering (including washing your hair) immediately that you get into the house, to remove any pollen that you may have picked up. Keeping the windows closed and making sure that you don't hang washing out to dry outside also can help. Nasal sinus washout can be helpful in removing allergens from the sinuses (see the rhinitis thread in Medical for more information on sinus washout), and also helps your fluticasone nasal spray to work more effectively, if your sinuses aren't blocked with thick sticky mucus. Try to avoid touching and rubbing your face and eyes (easier said than done, I know!) as this will increase the amount of allergen you're transferring to your face and worsen the reaction. Some people find that putting a small amount of vaseline in the nose can help, as it is said to trap pollen particles and other allergens and prevent them from getting into the sinuses - however, vaseline should be used very sparingly, and only at the front of the nose, as there is a tiny risk that it can be inhaled into the lungs and cause a rare and serious complication called lipoid pneumonia. It may be safer to use a water-based lubricant in your nose instead of vaseline - it should work in the same way.

I know how you feel, as I am on a similar combination of medication (montelukast, ceterizine, hydroxyzine (a sedating antihistamine), fluticasone nasal spray, chromoglicate eyedrops, as well as high dose pred at the moment) and I am still suffering from hayfever symptoms at the moment. The hayfever seems to make all my allergies worse, presumably because the inflamed nasal mucosa is more sensitive to allergens than non-inflamed mucosa would be, so the whole thing becomes something of a viscous circle. My husband did some hoovering last night while I was in the next room, and within minutes my sinuses were throbbing, my eyes were swollen and red and I was wheezing. It's a bit of a problem, because we are living downstairs in three rooms at the moment, because I can't quite manage the stairs, so there is not really anywhere that I can go while he does the housework!

As I said, there are no easy answers, I'm afraid - I think we will all just have to hibernate till winter!

Take care

Em H

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thanks a lot EmilyH,

I think i need to go back to the doc and say its not working thi year - its like every year what worked the year before doesn't work now!

arghh!!

xx

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Hi,

Ive been suffering too, itchy throat & ears, eyes, nose etc. & have been wheezing quite a bit too.

I am being desensitized against the grasses & cereals. I am alot better than i have been, have good days & bad days.

LMC