Hay Fever

~ beetleypete

When I was fifteen years old, I started to get Hay Fever. It came out of nowhere, and hit me very hard. Eyes streaming and itchy, constant sneezing and a runny nose, easily able to get through a couple of boxes of Kleenex in one day. It was relentless, stopping me sleeping properly, ruining concentration at school, and making the commute to and from that school unbearable, as I sneezed and spluttered all through the journey.

I soon consulted the family doctor, and received a prescription for Piriton. That tablet helped immdediately, drying me up and reducing the symptoms considerably. But it had the side effect of making me very drowsy, and that didn’t help at school either. So I stopped taking it, and just suffered in silence.

There were some places I could get relief. The coast and seaside helped, as it never seemed so bad there. And later on, once I was married, I could enjoy foreign holidays as I seemed to get no symptoms in any country outside of Britain. Something specific was causing it, and whatever it was definitely existed only at home.

Then one year, it stopped. That year was a supposedly bad Hay Fever season, but I got nothing. Not a sneeze nor sniffle.

Moving to Norfolk in 2012, I expected to get Hay Fever again, after being free of it for more than twenty-five years. Surrounded by countryside and fields, out for hours every day with Ollie, it semed likely to return.
But it didn’t.

Then today, after eight years when Hay Fever was only a bad memory, wham! I had to cut Ollie’s walk short, after constant sneezing and raging itchy eyes made me wonder what was happening. I didn’t wonder for long. Some perfect combination of weather conditions had been the cause of something happening that I had avoided for years.

It’s back, and I am not happy!

67 thoughts on “Hay Fever”

    1. A pharmacist suggested it was worse this year because lack of air pollution was allowing a wider spread of pollen and irritants. She could be right.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. My daughter suffers from it terribly. I fortunately, although it sometimes makes me wheeze a little, am ok.

    But I remember as a child finding it hilarious when one of my school friends could not stop sneezing for hours on end. I of course didn’t realise how much they were suffering.
    I wonder if the reduction in traffic has in some way desensitised you again and allowed more pollen to circulate or something? Or not 😂😂. Hopefully this recent rain helps you.

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    1. Thanks John. The rain has helped, and although we have very little traffic here, I am sure the much clearer air has allowed some plants or trees to pollinate more.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  9. When I moved to the west coast/US/Seattle years ago Pete, the same thing happened to me. I finally found a naturopath. I took freeze dried nettle capsules and it really worked. Now that I am in the East, I did have problems at first but had weekly allergy shots that took care of allergy symptoms. (Also fresh pineapple with local honey was recommended from a friend in Austria and that worked too!) Someone told me that with climate changes, we are even more inundated with pollen – thus we sneeze.

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  11. I sympathise, Pete. Mine started a bit earlier, when I started secondary school, and continued at around the same level of intensity every year, which was never too debilitating, luckily, until about ten years ago, when I noticed that it wasn’t so annoying. I hadn’t moved areas [my last major move was in 1995], so I couldn’t explain it. I’ve only very occasionally taken medication for it, and nowadays it’s mainly a few sneezes & the occasional itchy eye morning and evening, around this time of year. Given that I live surrounded by fields of various arable crops [albeit possibly mitigated by sea breezes given my proximity to the coast], I consider myself very lucky compared to some people’s miserable experiences. Cheers, Jon.

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  12. I’ve had hay fever worse than ever this year. The only place I don’t get it is on the Isle of Wight, perhaps because I’m near the sea. The itchy eyes have sometimes been unbearable. It’s not unusual to find me sitting with a cold wet flannel over my face!

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    1. I spent my late teens doing things like that, Stevie. Like you, I never got it at the seaside, or coastal locations. That always made me imagine it has something to do with trees. Yesterday, my eyes were so swollen, I gave up even trying to watch TV last night.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. i take it at bedtime upon the recommendation of my doctor and it works very well for me. Zyrtec has a 24 hour effect so at night it makes me sleep well and protect me during the day. 🙂 🙂

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  17. I used to have terrible pollen allergy, but it disappeared as I got older. Toward the end, I figured out it might have been tree pollen. Some trees produce lots of pollen even though they don’t have visible flowers as such. Maybe the wind just happened to be blowing pollen your way; with luck it won’t happen again.

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        1. It is called Zirtek here, and I have taken it sometimes. It still makes me drowsy though. I was naughty last night, and took an extra tablet at bedtime. I was asleep for over 13 hours and only woke up an hour ago! 🙂
          Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. Some people say it is caused by rape seeed, hich is everywhere around here. But this is the first year I had it since moving here, so it’s a mystery.
      Thanks for reblogging ladies. I hope that you are both well. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  22. As I’ve had it, sometimes quite badly, I can feel with you. Luckily, not very much of allergies remains. I do have some when our cedars sending their pollen all over the place, but uckily it’s bearable and with medication [which doesn’t make me drowsy] nearly gone.
    I used to joke that hay fever is something to wish on your enemy: it’s harmless but such a nuisance that life becomes nearly unbearable sometimes.
    I hope you’ll find a good medication,

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  23. I’ve never experienced hay fever. But maybe spending my childhood out in the fields and forests, and being around animals, served to immunize me.

    Speaking of hay, I’ve baled hay using a tractor, and stacked hay in the loft of a barn—on more than one occasion. Of course, what I really wanted to do was roll in the hay…

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    1. It is badly-named, as hay probably has nothing to do with it. More common is a grass pollen allergy, and in London the ubiquitous Plane Trees cause irritation for many with their sap.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  24. I hope it passes, Pete. Our weather stations here tell us what is blooming and how socked in with clouds we are which makes the accumulation of pollen unbearable. I find great relief using a simple saline spray to wash the irritants from my nose.

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  27. Bummer Pete! I hope it’s a passing thing. I have it too though not nearly so bad as you. I’ve tried various over the counter remedies but I don’t like how they make me feel so usually don’t take anything.

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    1. There are some non-drowsy remedies available here, but they still tend to make me drowsy! 🙂
      I took a tablet when I got back with Ollie, and feel tired now. It’s ony 6:45 pm here, so I can’t go to bed. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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