When you want to sleep on the grass during the summer months to enjoy the weather, you may get sneezing, runny nose and itchy eyes. These are all hay fever symptoms which can be reduced and cured by home remedies easily. Hay fever is also called allergic rhinitis.
Interestingly as you grow older your symptoms gradually reduce and maybe you are able to handle the summer months without any symptoms of hay fever after many years of suffering from it every summer.
There is currently no cure for hay fever in medical science as yet. You can try some of the natural hay fever remedies to feel relief from the symptoms.
If these measures do not work then you will need to meet your doctor who may give you some prescribed medicine to stop symptoms or may go for a treatment called immunotherapy which usually takes months and years before showing result.
Hay fever is one of the most common allergic conditions affecting hundreds of millions of people around the world. It begins to affect from childhood. Teenage boys get more affected by hay fever than the girls. However in the adult group both men and women are equally affected.
What Causes Hay Fever ?
Hay fever has similar symptoms as the common cold, but the big difference is that the common cold is caused by virus and hay fever is caused by allergic reactions. So before you begin to treat it you must differentiate between hay fever and the common cold.
Hay fever is an allergic response of your body to outdoor or indoor allergens. There are a large number of allergens such as pollen and dust mites responsible for the misery caused by hay fever.
Pet dander including tiny flecks of skin and saliva shed by cats, dogs and other animals with fur or feathers also causes hay fever.
Once you know that certain items cause you allergic reaction, you must try to stay away from those allergens.It may not always be possible to stay away from these allergens if you live or work in such areas, but if you are conscious about your body's allergic reactions then you would be able to avoid the exposure to allergens wherever possible.
If your parents or siblings are prone to hay fever then you are also likely to get it often. If you have other allergies, asthma or atopic dermatitis also popularly known as eczema, then also you are more likely to suffer from it.
Interestingly, if your mother was a chain smoker during the first year of your life then your chances of getting hay fever significantly increases as compared to the children of non smoking mothers.
Hay fever not only makes you miserable, it can also affect your performance at work or school. But you don't have to live with annoying symptoms. You can learn to avoid triggers and use the right home remedies to get rid of it fast.
Symptoms of Hay Fever
Hay fever symptoms mimic many of the common cold symptoms. (Some of the common cold remedies will also work for hay fever.) The most common signs and symptoms of hay fever include
- Runny nose
- Itchy nose
- Nasal congestion
- Sneezing
- Cough
- Postnasal drip
- Itchy and watery red eyes (allergic conjunctivitis)
- Fatigue
Hay fever is mostly seasonal although caused by other allergens such as dander and environmental polluting chemicals and dust mites can affect you any time of the year.
If your immunity is weak then in the early spring time you may get tree pollen allergies to cause hay fever. Later during the summer months the grass pollen may affect you. Fall season may get you ragweed pollen allergy.
Symptoms of hay fever caused by indoor allergens may worsen during the winter season as the air keep recirculating inside the room as the doors remain closed most of the time. Same closed door conditions in the air-conditioned environment also worsen hay fever symptoms.
Hay Fever or Common cold?
Since the signs and symptoms of the common cold and hay fever can be similar, it becomes difficult to find out the difference. You can best guess it as common cold if there are no indoors or outdoor allergens.
Luckily home treatments for both are very similar so you can begin treating it without being sure of what is it between the two. If it is hay fever due to allergies then it will cure faster. Common cold caused by a virus may take at-least 7-10 days before getting better.
Home Remedies for Hay Fever
It all starts with some precautions and self help. You need to avoid the source of allergy. Do not go out if the weather conditions are not conducive. If you have to go out then take shower as soon as you come back from outside and change your clothes.
Wear wrap around sunglasses. This is the best protection against hay fever. Since your eye area will not be exposed, you will not get the itch. Although it doesn't do much to help your sneezing but at-least you have protected your eyes.
If you are a smoker then stop smoking as no smoking will increase your immunity. Smoking is an additional irritant so its absence will help.
1. Ginger Lemon Fruit Drink
Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine . They are your effective natural remedies for hay fever. You can take 1000mg of Vitamin C supplement every day. Oranges are a great source of vitamin C and bioflavonoids.
Eat oranges or drink orange juice 2-3 times daily. The bioflavonoids are anti allergic. A combination of antihistamine and anti-allergy gives great relief from hay fever.
If you want to put in a little more effort than just simply eating an orange, then you will get even more benefits. Prepare a drink with more ingredients. This remedy for hay fever is not only effective but also very tasty drink.
You will love it. The objective for this remedy is to make a drink with natural ingredients by combining anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory properties of various herbs and fruits. The vitamin C plays a vital role.
We are going to use pineapple, lemon, grapefruit, grapes, ginger, and mint. All are full of vitamin C to minimize the immune system's response to allergens.
- 1 Inch Piece of Ginger
- 1/2 Organic Lemon with Skin
- 1/2 Grapefruit
- 100gm Grapes
- 1/2 cup Chopped Pineapple
- 30 Mint Leaves removed from the stem
Add all the ingredients in the blender grinder to make juice. Make sure that the organic lemon is used with its skin and grapefruit without skin. Strain the juice and slowly sip it to enjoy.
You can drink this juice daily morning during the summer months ranging from March to September to improve your immune response to allergens to prevent hay fever.
The vitamin C and antioxidants in these ingredients do the trick.
If you have already got hay fever then increase the quantities to 2-3 times a day with slight variation. The first drink in the early morning hours should have all the ingredients, but the subsequent drinks should be without the grapefruit. Too much of grapefruit is not good for your liver.
2. Honey
Honey is one of the sweetest remedies for hay fever since ancient times. Its effectiveness is debatable as it gives mixed results. Some people really benefit from licking of 1 teaspoon of honey everyday during the summer months.
3. Deep Breathing
Deep breathing can be your best remedy for hay fever. This may sound counter intuitive, but the fact is that it helps a lot. Once you are back home take shower, change your cloths and sit down in a comfortable position and do deep breathing for 15 minutes. Keep your focus on breathing.
Slowly but surely you will feel relief from hay fever immediately. Your symptoms will reduce significantly. Make it a habit to do deep breathing 2-3 times daily.
If these measures don't help then get over the counter antihistamine tablets from the pharmacy and if that also doesn't help then see your GP.