‘Start doing this now’ to beat hay fever, says GP

With the dreaded hay fever season looming, many Britons are already stocking up on tissues and eye drops in preparation. We consulted several GPs to discover what measures can be taken now to stay ahead of increasing pollen levels, hopefully preventing weeks of sneezing, streaming eyes and persistent sniffles.

What is hay fever?

“The medical term for hay fever is allergic rhinitis and essentially it’s an immune response to when your body is exposed to an irritant or allergen in the environment, most likely pollen,” says Dr Naveed Asif, GP at The London General Practice. “When people inhale or ingest it through their nose or mouth, the body doesn’t know what to do with it so it elicits an immune response and produces antibodies to try and fight whatever it thinks is attacking its system.”

What time of year is hay fever season?

“There are certain people that will get hay fever throughout the year, but we usually say hay fever season typically comes during early spring and can continue all the way up until late autumn,” says Dr Asif.

What are some common signs of hay fever?

“The typical signs that people tend to present with include itchy, watering eyes, sneezing, a runny nose and an itchy nose,” highlights Dr Alia Fahmy, medical director and GP at Concierge Medical.

“It can also have an impact on people who are asthmatic, as hay fever can trigger their asthma and lead to coughs, shortness of breath and wheezing. There’s also a lot of increased mucus production with all of this, so people can experience a lot of congestion and sometimes feel quite foggy in the head with it as well.”

Dr Asif agrees and explains: “When you get an allergic response, your body is basically trying to prevent it from getting further into the body, so all the symptoms that you get is basically the body trying to protect against it.”

How can hay fever impact people’s quality of life?

“I think a lot of people often brush hay fever off as just a bit of a cough and a sneeze, but actually it can really impact people’s quality of life,” says Dr Fahmy. “As well as the continuous coughing and sneezing, hay fever can also impact someone’s focus and work. It makes you feel really quite rotten, particularly if you’ve gone for weeks without a decent night’s sleep because of your symptoms.”

How to prepare for the hay fever season

Be proactive

“A lot of people wait for their histamine levels to be triggered before doing anything about it, but the best way to tackle this is to prevent that increase in histamine in the first place,” says Dr Fahmy.

So, she recommends starting any treatment early before hay fever season actually hits. “Get the longer-acting antihistamines into your system for a good four weeks before your hay fever symptoms tend to start,” suggests Dr Fahmy.

“This way you will have the antihistamines in your system and are reducing the histamine levels before any pollen has had the opportunity to enter the system and trigger that immune response.”

“Most weather apps will tell you the pollen count of the upcoming week,” notes Dr Asif. “So, if you know that the pollen is going to be high and is likely to impact you significantly, I would recommend taking regular medication preventatively to limit the progression of the severity of the symptoms.”

“Think about what your most predominant symptoms are, and if it’s mostly nasal, you can get nasal steroids and nasal decongestants, which are easily purchased over the counter, highly effective with minimal side effects,” points out Dr Asif. “If you get eye-related symptoms, stock up on anti-allergy eye drops.”

Change out of outside clothes

“Shower and change clothes after spending time outside because that way you will reduce the amount of pollen that you’re bringing inside with you,” advises Dr Fahmy.

“Even though it might be quite warm, you’re better off sleeping with your windows closed to stop that pollen coming into the house, particularly in the early morning and evening when the counts are typically quite high,” recommends Dr Fahmy.

Wear wraparound sunglasses

“If you are getting itchy, watery eyes, wraparound sunglasses can give you a little bit of additional protection from the pollen getting into the eye,” advises Dr Fahmy.