You Give Me (Hay)Fever

I hate Summer.  In fact I hate every season but namely Summer as that’s usually when it’s at its worst.  The pills’ effect seems to reduce every year.  Unless you have it, it’s impossible to know what it’s like.

I’d choose a terminal disease over this any day – at least then I know it will come to an end.

The dry throatiness, listlessness, sniffles, nose bleeds, eye itchiness, sinus pains, congestion, skin irritation, itchy mouth, sneezing, tiredness, coughing, shortness of breath, tight chestiness and ultimately a cold/flu when it gets bad enough (which usually happens to me) are enough to drive you insane (for a full list of symptoms, click here).

I found this rather interesting as no one who I know who doesn’t suffer from hay fever is aware of the impacts of this:

“Left untreated, however, hay fever symptoms can worsen and may also impact a person’s work, home and family life. Hay fever causes a range of symptoms but these tend to be centred in the upper respiratory tract and facial area. Inflammation and painful irritation around the nose, throat and eyes often occurs.”

This is an excerpt from the above link which provides details on the symptoms and affects of the disease.

What I find really disheartening is that non sufferers fail to appreciate how bad it actually is.  The list of symptoms is enough to make us who suffer it feel worse just by reading them.  Although, if and when the symptoms worsen to the point where it manifests into a cold/flu we then get the blame because we infected them (partners, friends, family or colleagues usually).

Here’s another excerpt from the same source which I find more interesting:

“Hay fever may occur daily, or intermittently, but its presence can lead to missed days off work, irritability, depression and anxiety. This is due, not only to the pain and discomfort from the symptoms themselves, but also from the social anxiety related to a runny nose, bloodshot eyes and facial redness.

Hay fever sufferers often cite self-consciousness as a major issue related to hay fever and these symptoms can lead to the anxiety, withdrawal and depression.”

I don’t remember it being this bad for a while but I can tell if it’s going to be bad as soon as I wake up – if I sneeze within 10-15 minutes of being awake that’s enough to tell me I’m fucked for the rest of the day.  And over the past week or so I have been extremely irritable and tend to want to be left alone to reduce the chance of me snapping unnecessarily.

I have tried various types of allergy pills from Piritin/Piriteze to Zirtec and even the cheapy own brand for Asda etc.  I’ve tried herbal remedies and nasal sprays (which were the worst as no sonner would I spray the stuff but I’d sneeze and have that awful taste in the back of my mouth for hours later).

Apparently there are talks of bringing back the injections they used to administer for it, not sure what it’s called but after Googling ‘Hayfever Injections’ I found details of Kenalog which some people have had over the past few years as a regular form of treatment for Hayfever but are now being denied it by their doctors as it can ‘thin your bones’ in the future.  You can view details of this here.

On the above post (by clicking ‘here‘ you will go to the forum I found) and a lot of sufferers are also claiming that their hay fever is the worst it’s been in a while also so I’m not the only one and its reassuring to see other people who are in the same boat as myself.

I hate needles but if it meant I could reduce or even prevent the symptoms from taking hold of me I’d gladly do it.  It’s a real spoiler considering the natural thing to do is go out when the weather is nice but I try to avoid going out more than an agoraphobic does!

Saying that, though, it doesn’t matter if I’m indoors or out, it still gets me as my form of Hayfever is is all year round (perennial allergic rhinitis).

“Perennial allergic rhinitis, unlike seasonal allergic rhinitis, occurs year round. The majority of people who suffer from hay fever, however, will find they have the seasonal variety.

Those who do suffer from hay fever year round tend to be sensitive to allergens that aren’t exclusive to the summer and spring months. These include dust mites and pets.”  – Source

If anyone reading this has some or even all of these symptoms and you haven’t contacted a doctor about this yet, my advice would be to do so.  But for those who have been diagnosed and are still battling on, hopefully some of the aforementioned links can provide more info/tips on things you may not have done/tried yet.

If any of you, like me, suffer from it all year long then I hope that some of the info helps as well but at least you know you’re not the only ones and it doesn’t appear to be as rare as the t’internet would lead you to believe!

Let’s just hope this Summer gets a bit better for us so we can actually enjoy it rather than detest it…