Battling hay fever: How to deal with allergy season...
It's that time of the year when not everyone can stop and smell the roses because it’s causing a blocked nose, stuffy head and sniffles.
Picture: Pixabay
Lester Kiewit speaks to Doctor Candice Royal, an experienced paediatrician and allergy specialist from the South African Allergy and Clinical Immunology Foundation.
Spring in South Africa triggers seasonal allergies and hay fever.
It's best to try and prevent rather than treat allergies, says Royal. "It's really hard to reset and go back to baseline once allergies flare up."
Not everyone is allergic to the same pollen so a simple test could determine which pollen/s might trigger you.
For example, grass pollen is a common allergy for Capetonians and is long-lasting in the Western Cape, from Spring to Autumn.
If you experience seasonal hay fever, the doctor recommends:
- Identify which pollen triggers you because there are different seasonal variations in pollen count from various plants, weeds, flowers and grass in bloom.
- Follow The Real Pollen Count which predicts when pollen will peak. On days it is set to peak, take preventative allergy medication.
The most common hayfever symptoms are:
- Blocked/runny nose or both
- Itchy throat
- Post-nasal drip
- Itchy/swollen eyes
Let's talk treatment...
"Hayfever is probably one of those conditions that's self-treated because people might feel like it's annoying but not a troublesome condition... but actually it has quite a profound impact on your sleep, ability to concentrate and money spent on getting over the counter medication."
- Candice Royal, South African Allergy and Clinical Immunology Foundation
"We've got very effective preventative therapy people should be using like nasal steroids which can be used chronically without adverse effects and help prevent you from getting symptoms, give you better quality of sleep, better concentration... and help to avoid using other medications which can become problematic if you become dependent on them."
- Candice Royal, South African Allergy and Clinical Immunology Foundation
Overall, the three main things to do if you have a seasonal allergy are:
- Chat with your healthcare provider about treatment targeted for your specific allergy.
- Understand which allergy/allergies trigger you.
- Monitor pollen counts to deal with the environment around you.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the full conversation.