Hay fever affects the nose, eyes or both
The warm weather in the North West will raise the pollen count and increase the suffering for many with hay fever.
Advice:
- try and stay inside, particularly in the early evening with the windows closed if you are suffering badly.
- Take your prescribed hay fever medication regularly.
- If you don’t have any prescribed medicines, see your chemist in the first instance for advice.
- Don’t use Piriton, but rather one of the newer longer-acting antihistamines such as loratidine, cetirizine, desloratidine or fexofenadine.
- You can take more than one dose of these antihistamines each day if needed.
- If coming in from outside, wash your face and hands and change your clothes.
- See our information leaflet on the Resources page for more information.
- If you are still suffering despite this advice, seek help from your GP.
There are three types of medicine your child can take depending on the type of symptoms. Medicines should be taken regularly throughout the hay fever season. The nose sprays and eye drops don’t work well if just taken now and again. If symptoms are intermittent, an oral anti-histamine might be the better option. If your child has symptoms that are moderate to severe and persist throughout the pollen season, a combination of regular oral antihistamine, steroid nasal spray and non-steroid eye drops are likely to be most effective.
Both nose and eye
Nose only
Eye only
If the combination of antihistamine, nasal spray and eye drops taken REGULARLY are not effective, then ask your doctor to refer to a specialist for review and possible immunotherapy.