According to recent studies, over 49% of people in the United Kingdom suffer from seasonal allergies today. Studies also show that more than 10 million adults in the UK suffer from more than one seasonal allergy. These allergies, which often come with the spring season, include sneezing, congestion, itchy eyes, a runny nose, and many more.
Also known as hay fever and allergic rhinitis, seasonal allergies can always be weakling. To avoid them, especially when going for your preferred artificial turf and plastic flowers, you need to use the best practices. Read on to discover a few reliable approaches to deal with hay fever quickly.
1. Reduce your exposure to allergens
One effective approach to dealing with hay fever is by reducing your exposure to allergens. To do this, you need to first understand the factors that cause your seasonal allergies.
- Going outdoors during dry, windy days can expose you to certain allergens. As such, for you to reduce your allergen exposure, you should always consider staying indoors during dry, windy days. Rain helps to eliminate pollen in the air. This explains why it’s best to go outdoors after a good rain.
- Gardening tasks, such as lawn mowing and weed pulling can always expose you to different types of allergies. As such, if possible, ensure to avoid these tasks, including camping and playing in grassy areas.
- Wraparound sunglasses are very effective for preventing pollen from entering your eyes. So, always consider wearing these sunglasses when going outdoors. Face masks are also effective for trapping pollen.
- To remove any pollen trapped on your body and hair, it’s important to take off your clothes, shower, and put on another clean cloth.
- Always keep your vehicle’s windows closed at all times. In addition, you can always consider buying a pollen filter for your car’s air vents.
- Avoid hanging your laundry outside, especially during the spring season. That’s so because pollen can easily get trapped inside your towel.
2. Extra precautions are important when pollen counts are high
One factor that worsens seasonal allergy symptoms is “too much pollen in the air.” Once you notice there is a lot of pollen in the air, you need to use the following precautionary measures:
- Always watch local TV, listen to local radio stations, or read local newspapers, to get updated news about pollen forecasts and expected levels.
- You should consider taking allergy medications as soon as your seasonal allergy symptoms appear, especially when experts predict high pollen.
- It’s not safe to go outdoors early in the morning, especially when pollen counts are at their highest level.
3. Ensure your indoor air is always clean
In addition to the measures mentioned above, another effective way to deal with seasonal allergies is by working on your indoor air. You need to do all you can to achieve clean air quality at all times. Here are a few reliable steps for improving your indoor air quality:
- First, you need perfectly working air conditioning in your home and inside your vehicle.
- Consider using the best dehumidifier to keep your home’s indoor air dry.
- High-efficiency filters are advised if your home has forced air cooling/heating. Of course, for the best results, you need to focus on regular maintenance schedules.
- A portable, effective, and affordable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is advised to keep your room’s air free of any airborne particles, including dust, pollen, mould and bacteria.
- You should consider using a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to clean your indoor floors at all times.
4. Over-the-counter medications for seasonal allergies
Do you know that certain over-the-counter medications are effective for treating seasonal allergies? Ashcroft Pharmacy is one of the best pharmaceutical stores you can visit today to buy allergy medications, such as Fexofenadine, Loratadine, Nasonex, Rhinolast, Beconase, Triamcinolone, Claritin-D, and many more.
Let’s look at the different types of hay fever medications and their functions below:
- If what you want are spray medications, you can go for nasal corticosteroid sprays. These medications are very effective in alleviating nasal symptoms. Some reliable nasal corticosteroid spray products you can go for include Fluticasone propionate or Flonase Allergy Relief, Budesonide or Rhinocort Allergy, and Triamcinolone. You need to consult your doctor for advice on how to use these hay fever medications.
- Apart from nasal corticosteroids, another hay fever spray medication you can go for is cromolyn sodium nasal spray. This spray product can help seasonal allergies by restricting the release of immune system agents that cause these allergies. For the best results, this product should be sprayed 4 to 6 times per day.
- If what you’re looking for are oral medications, antihistamines are very effective for relieving certain seasonal allergy symptoms, such as sneezing, itching, a stuffy or runny nose, and watery eyes. Some good examples of antihistamines include fexofenadineor Allegra Allergy, loratadine, and Cetirizine or Zyrtec Allergy.
- Another effective oral medication for seasonal allergies is decongestants. These hay fever medications are only effective for providing you with temporary relief from nasal stiffness. Some good examples of decongestants are Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), fexofenadine-pseudoephedrine (Allegra-D 12 Hour Allergy and Congestion), Cetirizine-pseudoephedrine (Zyrtec-D 12 Hour), and loratadine-pseudoephedrine. Your doctor’s advice is important before using any of the products mentioned here.
5. Try nasal irrigation
Seasonal allergies and sinus infection, or sinusitis are two conditions that can cause nasal inflammation and a stuffy nose. To address this issue, you can always consider going for nasal irrigation. This process (nasal irrigation) involves using the right saline solution to rinse your nasal passages. Apart from being affordable, this process is pretty quick and effective for treating nasal congestion.
With nasal irrigation, the saline solution helps to flush out mucus and allergens from your nose. This solution is available as water-additive kits. For the best results, you can always make your saline solution by using bottled water.
For your homemade saline solution, here are the items you need:
- 1 quart (1 liter) of water
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of baking soda
- Nasal irrigation device
- 5 teaspoons (7.5 ml) of canning salt
Ensure to always rinse your irrigation device with clean water after use. After cleaning, leave the device open in a clean place to air dry.
6. Alternative therapies
Apart from the treatment options mentioned above, you can also use alternative therapies to treat your seasonal allergies. According to a few studies, some effective natural remedies for hay fever treatment are shrub butternut extracts and spirulina.
Since there’s currently insufficient evidence to demonstrate the safety of these natural remedies, you should always consult your doctor before using them.
When home remedies are insufficient
All the above-mentioned treatment options are effective for hay fever. However, if you find them ineffective for treating your seasonal allergies, the best thing to do is visit your doctor for other treatment options. You will most likely need to do certain tests to be sure of the exact allergens that are triggering your seasonal allergy symptoms.
By identifying the exact immune system agents causing the agents, you can easily find the right treatment options to address your hay fever.
Allergen immunotherapy (involves using injection) and tablets taken under the tongue are two effective treatment options to address your allergy reactions.
