What is hayfever?
You have just seen the weather forecast. The pollen count is rising again. Oh dear another bad day ahead, when will the hayfever season ever stop? You don’t like taking all those medicines that try to beat the symptoms. You have tried everything. Nothing seems to work satisfactorily. Yesterday you almost fell asleep whilst driving - those antihistamines!
Just supposing there was a way to relieve the problem, you would certainly try anything that is safe. If only you could enjoy the summer like non-sufferers do... because of the widespread nature of hayfever I decided to research into the various remedies. This is what I found...
|
 |
Hayfever - Allergic Rhinitis
Despite its name, hayfever has nothing to do with hay or fever. A 19th century physician called it this because he began sneezing every time he entered a hay barn! In a fresh countryside atmosphere the air contains many irritants, which are either natural or man-made. Pollens which cause hay fever. Animal fur and house dust mites are among the many allergens floating about in the air causing considerable misery to those who are sensitive to them.
Hayfever is an allergic reaction to pollen, pollutants and dust mite etc. in the air. It affects 15% to 20% of the population in Britain, and it is on the increase. It is a problem in all western industrialized countries, although the levels of affliction vary widely. The non-sufferers regard it as unimportant. For sufferers it varies from minor irritation to severe incapacity. You may be unable to work or drive. School and exam performances are worse in young people with untreated hayfever. Exams usually take place at the peak of the hayfever season.
Old and dated treatments still widely used treat the symptoms. But have negative side effects, including drowsiness, which can badly affect driving and exam performance. The common symptoms are:- sneezing, runny or blocked nose, itching in the nose and throat, and headache due to sinusitis caused by swelling in the nose. It also causes eyes to water, become reddened and itchy, and even swelling of the whites of the eyes.
There are many modern treatments. They are available via prescription or over the counter. If you are a sufferer, you should always see your GP to decide which treatment suits you best.
Hayfever treatments
The objective of all current hayfever treatments is to try to enable you, despite the occurrence of the symptoms, to lead a normal lifestyle by management of these symptoms. The strength of the treatment depends on how bad your symptoms are, and what you really need to do whilst taking the treatment.
I found many treatments available together with many do’s and don’ts - and the number 1 recommendation is avoidance.
1.
|
 |
Avoid pollen, pet hair, dust mites and central heating
|
|
2.
|
|
Don’t sleep with the windows open
|
|
3.
|
|
Don’t drive a car with the windows open
|
|
4.
|
|
Avoid flowers in the house
|
|
5.
|
|
Don’t cut the grass on hot sunny days
|
|
6.
|
|
Don’t live next door to a neighbour who cuts grass on hot sunny days
|
|
7.
|
|
Wear goggles to protect your eyes from pollen
|
|
8.
|
|
Wear a face mask to stop you breathing in pollutants
|
|
9.
|
|
Don’t keep pets indoors
|
|
10.
|
|
Put Vaseline on the lining of the nose
|
Get a life! walk around with a gold fish bowl over your head!!
Most of us cannot live our lives not doing some of these things, or we don’t want to, why should we? We want to lead a normal life too.
Lets look at the many treatments currently available. I looked at the regularly recommended ones; I found eight varying treatments that are available. Here is a summary...
1.
|
|
Antihistamine tablets, capsules, or liquid medicines: The commonest treatment, these help the symptoms of hayfever, the latest ones having excellent safety. But they may not treat all of your symptoms well enough on their own, and all have side effects to some degree.
|
|
2.
|
|
Antiallergenic nasal sprays or eye drops: A bit confusing as other medicines also act against allergy. These are used for people who do not want to use steroid sprays and drops. They work and have very good safety. However they only help the nose and eyes.
|
|
3.
|
|
Antihistamine sprays or drops: They work about as well as the antiallergenic drugs. Like them they only help the nose or eyes where they are applied.
|
|
4.
|
|
Steroid sprays or drops: Very effective and safe for the nose only. Steroid eye drops are very effective but can have serious side effects.
|
|
5.
|
|
Decongestant sprays: Can help a lot for a few days, prolonged use can worsen symptoms.
|
|
6.
|
|
Decongestant tablets: They help blockage of the nose, but have side effects, especially in people with high blood pressure or other medical conditions. Some antihistamine tablets or capsules have a decongestant in them too. Always read the labels carefully.
|
|
7.
|
|
Steroid tablets or injections: These work well but have side effects, they should only be used for short periods.
|
|
8.
|
|
Desensitising injections: Widely used through out the world but they have been almost stopped being used in Britain.
|
Wow! That’s a lot of treatments. Don’t take them all at once! If your hayfever is really that bad then you should see a recognised allergy expert or specialist.
Pros and Cons of hayfever treatments
Lets take look at these treatments in a bit more detail. The main thing I found out about all of them is that they only treat the symptoms of hayfever. None treat the causes. They don't work for every allergy. Being medicines, all have some side effects, with varying degrees of intensity.
Antihistamine tablets, capsules or liquid medicines
These are the commonest treatments for hayfever. Their great advantage is that taking one tablet every day will treat the symptoms in the nose, eyes, ears and throat. There are two main kinds of antihistamine taken by mouth.
A
|
|
Older antihistamines, which cause drowsiness
|
|
B
|
|
Newer antihistamines, which cause little or no sleepiness
|
I would not take older antihistamines, which cause sleepiness, unless your GP prescribes it for you. They maybe cheaper but there is clear evidence that they may cause road accidents and affect learning in children at school. How do we know? There has been lots of research, which shows this, but two experiments are especially interesting.
In one set of experiments, drivers had to drive in straight lines, at a steady speed along a motorway for 70 miles, with a video camera on the roof. The videotape showed those drivers who took older antihistamines wobbled more during driving. Sometimes to such a dangerous extent, that the test had to be stopped. Old antihistamines are dangerous! Newer antihistamines caused no increase in wobbling compared to the dummy tablets.
In a second set of experiments schoolchildren with hayfever were sat in front of computers with a program. This taught them about farming in the desert. When they had finished learning they played a computer game. Guess what the game was about - farming in the desert. Depending on how well they did they each have a score.
Here are the results. The children whose hayfever was treated with the old antihistamines did WORSE than those children who took the dummy tablets. And those who took newer antihistamines did better than those who took the dummy tablets. This shows how hayfever itself harms learning. Treating the hayfever undoes this harm, providing it does not make the children sleepy.
Both sets of experiments were done by a team under the supervision of Professor O'Hanlon, of Holland. Many other experiments have shown similar results. The older antihistamines have these harmful effects even in people who do not notice sleepiness from the tablets.
The new low-sedatory antihistamines are at least as effective for hayfever, but they cost more. These treatments differ in a number of ways, the size of tablets, length of time they act, how effective they are. The extent to which they cause drowsiness, and of course the price!
Older antihistamines, which do cause drowsiness, are still on sale without prescription. If they are cheaper - sleepiness in today's fast paced environment is not an acceptable side effect.
Although usually mild, rare and temporary, all medicines have side effects. Nausea, vomiting, difficulty sleeping, palpitations, and headaches are possible. Even with new products. Always read the label carefully.
Much research has been done to check the safety of the commonly used antihistamines in pregnancy. This found no evidence of harm to unborn babies. In cases of the newer versions systematic research is still to do. Most have been used a lot. It is reasonable to assume that they are safe during pregnancy.
Antiallergenic nasal sprays or eye drops
All the main medicines work and have good safety. Like antihistamine sprays or drops they are used when people do not want to use steroid sprays or drops, which cause serious side effects.
Eye drops sting if your eyes are inflamed. The reason for this is the germ killing antiseptic, the stinging soon stops. You need to use eye drops continually for some days for them to become effective. If you can’t stand the stinging - eye drops are not for you. Nose sprays may sting as well. It is not especially a problem with antiallergenic nose sprays.
Antihistamine sprays or drops for noses or eyes
These work about as well as the antiallergenic sprays and drops. They have the same advantages and disadvantages. They only work in your nose or eyes. If they work then that is great. You get a good result without taking tablets, which get into your body.
Steroid sprays or drops
This spray is very effective in the nose. Steroid sprays seem to work particularly well against blockages in your nose. However a steroid nasal spray is a watery liquid. This is not the easiest of treatments to deliver up the nose. It can easily run down the back of your throat or run out of your nose.
Sticky steroid sprays are formulated to stick to the lining of your nose. This stops it running out or trickling down the throat. You need to take them continuously. Miss a dose and they do not work instantly. Steroid sprays are safe because the dose is low. You spray them where you want them. You don't need to use much as far the body is concerned. Secondly they are biodegradable. They break down very quickly in the body. They don't cause side effects. Except for stinging in the nose for some people.
Nose bleeds are uncommon and are often of a temporary nature. They are not serious. If you have delicate blood vessels in your nose you should get rid of them first by cauterisation.
Steroid eye drops are very effective but can lead to serious side effects such as glaucoma, cataracts, damage to the cornea and possibly blindness. If you want to take steroid sprays or drops, please consult your doctor.
Decongestant sprays
These can help over a short period of a few days. But can cause more trouble than you started with, if it is used for longer. They give excellent relief of the blockage in the nose. The only problem is that when they wear off. Soon afterwards, the nose is blocked again. If anything it is worse than before. This goes on and on. You end up with a worse blocked nose than before.
Decongestant tablets
They can help, but the risks are considered serious by some authorities. They definitely help blockage of the nose, there is evidence that on rare occasions they may have devastating side effects. They can cause trouble especially in people with high blood pressure and difficulties in sleeping. If you do wish to take decongestants by mouth, consult your doctor first.
Steroid tablets or injections
They work well but have side effects too. They should be used for only short periods. Why inject if taking other treatments work just as well? Steroid injections can cause ‘fat atrophy’ making a small dent in your buttock. This may look odd if you wear a swimsuit. Rarely they can cause an abscess. Though rare this is an extremely unpleasant side effect. Consult your GP before administering any injections.
Desensitizing injections
Hardly used much in Britain anymore. You should have advice from an allergy specialist. It is time consuming and expensive, especially the way it is done in Britain. There is a risk of death from the treatment. Not recommended.
In Summary
All these treatments worked to a greater or lesser degree on the symptoms of hayfever rather than the causes. To understand we need to look at the causes of hayfever.
The Allergic Reaction
In allergic reactions, special allergy cells in the body release a chemical called histamine. Histamine causes the rashes, sneezing, itching, and running noses. The features of allergic ailments. It does this by causing blood vessels to widen and leak. Nerves to itch. Secretions to pour from the lining of your nose and lungs, and in a variety of other ways.
If we can stop histamines working we can help allergies. This is what antihistamines do. (This is why so many drugs are called antihistamines, they work against histamines). They are chemicals, which look enough like histamines to fool the cells of the body. But not enough like histamines to make the cells of the body do nasty things, which cause allergic symptoms Antihistamines, stop histamines from working in the body following an allergic event. In technical jargon they block histamine receptors.
This is the key, they work to combat the allergic reaction after the event; it is not a preventative measure. You can take these treatments regularly before the allergic reaction begins. But for how long. Why take medicines regularly for no need?
Also histamine is not just involved in allergies. It plays a vital role in the brain keeping us attentive, alert, awake, and therefore alive! So if we stopped all the histamine in the body from working, we would get rid of our allergy troubles, but also fall asleep or at least become inattentive.
This would make us dangerous drivers, lethal airline pilots, deadly train drivers, bad students, in attentive mothers, and generally poor at all our daily tasks. This is exactly what happens when you take old antihistamines. They should not be used anymore, unless prescribed by your GP, for situations where sleepiness is an advantage i.e. recuperation in bed.
Newer antihistamines help allergies with little or no effects on the brain. They are amongst the safest medicines there are but they are still medicines. All have side effects, but some have very few, mostly mild, whilst others have a lot, mostly serious.
All of these treatments are medicines that treat the symptoms of allergic reaction to inhaled pollutants, pollen, dust mites, pet hair etc. As a result all work to varying degrees with varying benefits and side effects.
But what if there was a remedy to act before the allergic reaction impacts the body? One that would stop the allergens getting into the nose in the first place. Why can't we filter out all the allergens to stop the allergic reaction? Just like non-sufferers do, who lead normal lives no matter what the season or environment.
This would require a filter to be placed in front of the nose to absorb all the pollutants, like a mask. This is what some cyclists do nowadays in city centres. This is very cumbersome little embarrassing and not very dignified. We need is to improve the filtration system inside the nose. We need to understand how the normal filtering process works. This is carried out in the nasal tract behind the nose.
The Nasal Tract
People who suffer from hayfever are known to have relatively dry nasal tracts, there is a lack of good quality mucus in the nose. An adequate supply of mucus is vitally important, this material most readily absorbs any dust, pollen, etc. out of the air stream on its way through the nasal tract in to the lungs.
Under normal conditions the nasal tract is a very efficient filter. It is easily capable of providing clean, allergen free air to the lungs, the possibility of any allergic reaction-taking place is virtually eliminated. The prevalence of hayfever is due in part to the natural air cleaning system in the nasal tract becoming over loaded. Warm dry houses, plus atmospheric pollution’s a modern scenario. It didn’t exist only a few generations ago.
The nasal tract becomes more and more unable to cope with every day eventualities. It becomes overloaded and ceases to filter out pollutants efficiently. Drugs and medicines do nothing to clear the polluted air as it is inhaled through the nasal tract to the lungs. The nasal tract, which mainly conveys the air, is thought to have two main systems to provide clean air to the lungs.
Precipitation of the heavier particles take place in the outer nose area due to the drop in air pressure In the inner nasal tract the very finest particles are separated out in the same manner that a ‘smoke ring’ is formed. This clear air in the middle goes on into the lungs. The ‘ring’ containing the germs, pollen etc. is thus impinged on the mucus membranes. Mucus has a very low surface tension. Anything, which touches it, is immediately absorbed.
Under normal conditions, and in non-sufferers, virtually all the allergens are eliminated by the time the inhaled air reaches the lungs, through this absorption process. What is needed is a solution to do this. One that improves this natural filtration up to the levels equivalent to non-sufferers, in all environmental conditions. You need an effective, natural, biodegradable treatment. One that could be used whenever needed, but with no side effects.
|
|
|
|
|
