Details
Story
- 14 year old Ahmed gets very troublesome hay fever every summer.
- He takes his antihistamines regularly and even uses nose sprays and eye drops.
- Despite this he can’t go out and play with his friends in summer because of his symptoms. He is not sleeping well and his parents are worried that it is affecting his school work and may impact on his GCSE exam results.
Medical review
- The history suggested troublesome grass-pollen associated hay fever.
- Allergy tests confirmed that he was allergic to grass, but not to tree pollen.
- His quality of life score was checked in clinic. He was provided with our written information leaflet about hay fever. He was told to use the medicines regularly rather than intermittently and his technique of applying the nasal spray and eye drops were reviewed.
- Although better, he was still quite symptomatic and therefore started the next winter on grass pollen tablets to help desensitise him to this allergy. He will need to take them regularly for the next 3 years.
Learning point
- hay fever can be quite disabling in some children, affecting their education and activities
- most children can be managed with regular use of oral antihistamines, nasal sprays and eye drops
- for those that are still symptomatic despite compliance with standard meds, immunotherapy can sometimes be helpful
Case Studies Details
- 27 Apr 2017
- CASE STUDIES