Hayfever - Help!

I've had hayfever every summer of my life that I can remember, and this year it's been so bad that I have even developed asthma symptoms! I'd like to add another vote to the nasal spray camp - use it every day and after just a few days it helps you build up a resistance and, used with cetirizine pills, i barely even notice that I even have hayfever

No problem - the sudden onset thing is a surprise as I know well. I had a major reaction to peanuts a few years back - used to eat them regularly and they they started giving my mouth ulcers and stomach upsets. I ate some by mistake after and was vomiting on and off for 12 hours - not anaphalactic shock luckily but it is an unpleasant experience.

One thing I've found over years of suffering hayfever is that eating a good hot curry or chilli does help, particularly if the food induces sweating. I don't know if it cleans out your nasal passages or exactly how it works, but it works. I also found visiting a steelworks with its sulphurous emissions helped for a short while too but since there aren't so many about in the UK these days, a curry's probably an easier solution.

Had hayfever since I was a kid and it comes and goes. It is annoying and it does affect your sporting performance - slowing down a little and not pushing yourself quite as hard but taking a longer run instead to offset the reduced effort usually helps. The once/day tablets do take the edge off it - maybe it's because I've had it since I was a kid but I think going to the doctor is a bit over the top myself.

Bear in mind that certain things act as triggers. I find I can't drink certain leading brands of lager in summertime as they kick off a reaction due to the chemicals they contain (Stella Artois and Grolsch actually). I dealt with this problem by switching to drinking wine of a warm summer's evening. You may find something you used to be able to eat/drink is something you now have an allergy to. It is common. When you have hayfever, you are super-sensitised and things you would normally consume (or indeed products you have previously had no reaction to) will kick off the reaction. I recently had to throw out some hair styling product my wife bought as it contains flower extract of some kind and induces constant sneezing for me - a bit like continuously inhaling pepper.

Hayfever isn't serious. it's just annoying

Plus one for a visit to the doctors. If it's something you've developed recently they should give you an allergy test to isolate just what it is that you're allergic to. They can then prescribe something appropriate - tablets, eye drops, nasal spray or a combination.

Plus one also for glasses. If you wear prescription lenses, try contacts as they help lessen the effect of hayfever.

Otherwise, for quick relief try flushing out any pollens by cupping water in your hands and breathing out hard through your nose (as if you were clearing your nose on a ride). Repeat a few times. Have a shower before you go to bed and another when you wake up. Works for me!

Also keep an eye on what you eat and drink that causes an adverse reaction - certain types of beer or lager will set me off so I know to avoid those.

Hayfever is shite - best of luck with finding some way to ensure it doesn't impact on your riding.

Yeah i would suggest a good pair of glasses and a mask aswell, long before these fancy cycling masks i used to use these because my dad was a mechanic on heavy machinery, he got them for nothing

http://www.langtoninfo.co.uk/showitem.aspx?isbn=0641817021392

Cant see me ever having to wear them now i have one of these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/respro-sportsta-face-anti-pollution-mask/

Cant recommend enough a face mask of some kind, because its not as the pollen gets in that bothers me but at nights when it seems to kick off

I still have slight symptoms and use tablets even after my injection, but you will only get the injection in extreme cases, for instance, some days i couldn't get up in the morning because i couldn't breath and my eyes were swollen closed

I do a couple of things aside from medication that really help me:

1) I have a cheap but I think pretty good pair of glasses with good eye coverage, this keeps pollen out of the eyes - There is a link here to them on my blog with some stuff on them.

http://ukmambo.blogspot.com/2011/07/endura-spectrum-glasses.html

2) for face masks - there is the usual ones and then there are the buffs (which I prefer because they are easier to breath through and can be used to keep you warm in the winter. More info here from my blog.

http://ukmambo.blogspot.com/2011/03/masks-what-works-and-what-doesnt-for...

3) Other than that you can also use medication - if you get it on prescription the tablets especially I think are better than the ones you buy over the counter - nasal sprays I think are great.

Best of luck - but hay fever can not only be unpleasant but also dangerous affecting your concentration and a growing problem for adults getting it recently - I am like you a recent sufferer.

yep a visit to the doc is also the suggested remedy out in the Twitterverse (forum posts go in to our Twitter stream - have we ever mentioned that?)couple of people say that's what sorted them lazyusername… you've got possibly my favourite username on the whole site btw

Bugger taking tablets everyday, i've had hayfever since i can remember, used to keep my indoors most summers or went out cycling with an "old school" mask on to cover the mouth and nose and then some kind of sunglasses that were more like swimming googles

But now i just get a Kenalog injection every year around March and have no symptoms for the rest of the year, if your hayfever is that bad, go to your Doc and check it out, some Doc's will NOT give you it because its not ment for hayfever anymore, but i'll tell you it works a treat, but as with everything there are risks, if you get more than 2 a year over a number of years it can "rot" you hip and other things

The same thing happened to me. I also started to sneeze and have a runny nose near my cat. I have had the cat for 15 years! Longer than the wife! I started taking hay fever tablets and after a few days it clears up. The tablets never quickly and they have to build up in your system.

I tend towards double-dosing on the once-a-day tablets.

Another good one is local honey (has to be local). Eat it before a ride (either on toast or off a spoon) or bake it into some ride snacks.