If you suffer from regular colds, burning eyes and even asthma, a pollen allergy may be the cause. In this article, you will find out what actually triggers hay fever, which complaints and symptoms are typical of hay fever and how these can be treated and avoided. We have compiled the eleven best tips against hay fever for you.
Hay fever is a hypersensitivity reaction of the body to pollen from grasses, cereals, shrubs and trees. This pollen is transported from one plant to the next by insects or the wind. If the pollen flies in the wind, it can spread quickly and lead to allergic reactions. This is why hay fever is also known as a pollen allergy. This is considered the most common allergic disease. In Germany alone, around 13 million people are affected by a pollen allergy.
If the pollen gets onto the mucous membranes in the nose or eyes, this leads to an immune reaction in allergy sufferers. The following symptoms can then occur with a pollen allergy:
Pollen is particularly common from February to October. During the pollen season, allergy sufferers find it very difficult to avoid contact with allergens, as pollen from grasses and trees can fly for miles.
Take birch pollen, for example:
Allergy sufferers are particularly affected in April, but this often extends into May.
In general, particularly high concentrations of pollen can be detected in rural areas in the early morning hours between 4 am and 6 am. In contrast, the evening hours between 6 p.m. and midnight are very favorable for allergy sufferers. In urban areas, on the other hand, the pollen count is particularly high in the evening, while the concentration of pollen is comparatively low in the morning hours between 6 am and 8 am.
If you suspect that you are suffering from an allergy, you should always consult a doctor to obtain a precise diagnosis. Effective treatment can only be initiated once it has been clarified whether an allergy is really the cause of the symptoms and what triggers them. Even mild symptoms that occur repeatedly should be taken seriously. After all, an allergy can gradually worsen if no countermeasures are taken.
If allergic symptoms occur, they are usually treated with special medication. This reduces the patient's suffering and counteracts a worsening of the symptoms. However, this only achieves a short-term improvement in symptoms; medication is no substitute for causal treatment. It should therefore be clarified with the attending physician whether a therapy to treat the causes is possible for the allergy in question.
The body releases more histamine in a hay fever patient. This leads to the allergic symptoms mentioned above. Antihistamines weaken the effect of the body's own histamine or can even eliminate it completely. With these medications, the released histamine can only bind to receptors in a weakened form, which leads to a reduction in allergic symptoms.
Although antihistamines are still the most commonly administered medication for hay fever, they often have side effects. One of these side effects is tiredness or drowsiness. This side effect is particularly common with the first generation of antihistamines. Other side effects of antihistamines can include dizziness, headaches and fatigue.
If your nose is swollen, decongestant nasal sprays can provide quick relief from hay fever. However, it is important that they are used for a maximum of one week, as otherwise the nasal mucous membranes can dry out, which can lead to a worsening of the allergic reactions.
Rinsing the nose with a nasal douche can significantly alleviate allergic symptoms in some cases. Such a nasal douche is available from pharmacies or drugstores.
Cortisone is an endogenous hormone that has many functions in the human body. A key property of cortisone is its strong anti-inflammatory effect. However, due to its strong effectiveness and possible side effects, cortisone is generally only used for severe hay fever.
In the case of an allergy, the immune system overreacts when it comes into contact with certain substances, the allergens. This overreaction can be treated by hyposensitization. This is a specific immunotherapy that lasts for around three years. This therapy offers good prospects of success, especially for hay fever.
Although this does not eliminate the sensitization to the triggering allergen, the immune system learns in the course of the therapy that the respective substances do not pose a danger. This prevents excessive immune reactions, which have manifested themselves as allergic symptoms in those affected. As the allergy symptoms are less severe or no longer occur after successful hyposensitization, fewer anti-allergic medications are required.
We have summarized the best eleven tips for hay fever sufferers below. If you take these tips to heart and implement them consistently, you can significantly reduce your exposure to pollen.
To minimize the impact on your body, you should keep the doors and windows in your office, home or car closed at midday and in the afternoon. Most pollen is usually in the air during this time. Incidentally, the lower floors of a building are generally less polluted with pollen than the upper floors.
Regular air exchange in the home is best carried out between 6 and 8 a.m. in urban areas. In rural areas, however, you should wait until after 7 pm. Short bursts of ventilation are better than keeping the windows tilted for a long time.
Pollen screens fitted in front of the windows can help to prevent an excess of pollen in the home. Air conditioning systems, on the other hand, can be fitted with special pollen filters.
During the pollen season, it is best not to change your clothes in the bedroom. In this way, you avoid spreading pollen around. It is therefore best to take clothes that are contaminated with pollen out of the bedroom to minimize allergy symptoms during the night.
It is best to wash and brush your hair before going to bed. This removes pollen and prevents pollen from entering the bedroom. If possible, sleep with the windows closed during the acute pollen season.
While the pollen is really active, you should make sure you change your bed linen more often than usual. Freshly washed laundry is best dried indoors only. This will protect them from pollen grains.
As an allergy sufferer, you should also not underestimate floor hygiene. Vacuum as regularly as possible and use a vacuum cleaner with a special fine dust filter. Vacuum cleaners are now available especially for allergy sufferers. These have a sealed housing that makes it impossible for pollen to escape. You should replace the filter bag every 14 days or so.
You can find out about the current pollen count situation in daily newspapers, for example. Information on the Internet is particularly up-to-date. Various websites offer this service free of charge.
Ideally, you should spend as little time as possible outdoors when the pollen count is particularly high. In particular, you should avoid strenuous activity and sport, as more pollen will enter the airways as a result of more vigorous breathing.
When it rains and immediately after a rain shower, there are comparatively few pollen grains in the air. Now is the best time for hay fever sufferers to go for a walk.
Avoid growing plants in your garden that you are allergic to. If you are allergic to pollen, pay particular attention to birch, hazelnut and alder.
Conclusion: Unfortunately, there is still no cure for hay fever. However, there are ways and means of keeping the suffering as low as possible. We hope that our eleven tips will provide you with some relief. If nothing helps and all the advice simply doesn't work, you should always consult a doctor. There may be a prescription medication that can help you in your case.
Clean air ensures freedom from viruses and bacteria and thus protects you against infection.
We use air purifiers to combat pollutants, viruses, bacteria and allergens.
Healthy breathing air is an important basis for our health. However, as many studies have shown, indoor air is usually worse than fresh air from outside.
There are many sources of pathogens indoors. If you feel ill, you may attribute this to dry air. However, dust in the air is often the cause. It is a carrier for pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, heavy metals, soot, mineral fibers, animal hair and even mold spores. Especially in the colder seasons, these substances are stirred up by heating air. In spring and summer, on the other hand, flower pollen from outside enters the home, which in turn can be stressful for allergy sufferers. Tobacco smoke or stuffy air indoors can also affect sensitive people.
So if there is not enough fresh air coming in from outside in winter and the air is full of pollen in spring and summer, the air indoors needs to be cleaned. An air purifier based on filters, ionization and ozonization offers the best possible protection against germs such as bacteria and viruses and effectively filters fine dust from the air.
Infections with viruses and bacteria will continue to keep us busy. The best defense measure is: strengthen your immune system!
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