Hey guys welcome to this week's video we are talking about hay fever or allergies whatever you
want to call it it's spring it's summer the birds are singing the bees are flying around everywhere
and the pollen levels are really really high and i'm sure a lot of people will be suffering from
these allergies or hay fever whatever you want to name it so in this video we're going to talk
about hay fever it's treatment what you can do to help with symptoms and what you can do to help
prevent those symptoms so let's begin so welcome to my channel if you haven't been here before
here on the channel we talk about everything healthcare and medical related my name is Abraham
i'm an advanced clinical medical practitioner working in general practice however today i'm not
filming a general practice i'm out here in croatia doing some filming so i thought let's make a few
episodes as well all of the information that we give on the channel is scientifically backed in
evidence based so you know you can trust all of the information on here and please don't forget
if you learned something new today if you found anything useful please don't forget to click
that like button because it's going to help me and it's going to help the video grow to a much larger
audience so let's start okay so let's begin with the basics what is hay fever it's also known as
allergic rhinitis or allergies whatever you want to call it the classic symptoms runny nose itchy
eyes runny eyes what else do you get sometimes you get a bit of a cough you get a bit of sinus pain
as well these are the very common symptoms of hay fever it's different to a cold it's not caused by
a virus so the next question is what causes hay fever well it's very simple pollen pollen in the
air certain times of the year we have different types of pollen which increase it flies around
in the air we can't really see it we breathe it in and it causes this autoimmune reaction
it basically causes our immune system to fight it thinks it's his foreign body it's attacking
our body and this fighting causes all of these symptoms okay so now let's begin with treatments
hay fever or allergy treatments whatever you want to call it can be a bit of a minefield because
there are many different treatments out there so i thought to myself that the best way to give this
information on a youtube video is to go through each body part all the different types of symptoms
and then discuss the treatments for those kinds of symptoms so let's say for example if you're having
itchy eyes you're going to know what the best thing for that is i'm not going to give you as a
general sort of treatment we're going to go through each specific bit each specific symptom
really and look at its treatments i thought that's the best way but again please remember it's all
going to be chaptered in the description below so if you want to find that specific symptom click on
the chapter below okay so let's first begin with oral treatment this is going to be our foundation
treatment so when it comes to hay fever allergies we need our oil treatment as our foundation and
then we can build on it okay so the foundation oil treatment is what we call antihistamines okay
antihistamines for example we have cetirizine we have loratidine we have hexafenidine
notice how they all end in dean okay so they're all antihistamines and the way they work is they
sort of work against histamine production and the release of histamine really histamine is
what's causing that allergy it's causing those symptoms so by stopping over these we're gonna
stop those symptoms now when it comes to choosing an antihistamine there are many different ones
which i've already named a few there's what we call first generation antihistamines which are
the older ones which cause drowsiness really which a lot of patients don't want and then there's the
ones that we call the second generation one so for example satirizing the rest of the infection
all three of them are second generation and generally speaking they don't cause drowsiness
however some patients do get drugs with them so please bear that in mind as well in terms of which
one i think is the best i do find cetirizine being particularly good for more skin type allergies
i feel like loratidine is is also good but it's not as good for skin stuff but if you're having
a sinus stuff itchy eyes the rastine can be quite good but my favorite one of all
of them is flex affinity okay so before well a few years ago sex affinity in here in the uk
you couldn't buy it over the counter from the chemist it was prescription only
but i think recently it has become a prescription only so sorry not prescriptionally it has become
a p-medicine which basically means that you can buy it over-the-counter chemist i'm not
sure about what it's like in other countries so remember those three names cetirizine loratadine
and the best one effects offending if you can get flexophenidine it's once a day really easy to take
and it works really well for both skin conditions and the upper sort of symptoms that we're talking
about itchy eyes runny eyes run your nose that's what it does effects offending is my go-to if you
can get it now please do remember though when it comes to any medication always always always one
speak to a healthcare professional so they can check it out they can speak to you about it they
can check what other medicines you're taking to make sure there's no interactions and two always
always read the information leaflet that comes with any medication just so you can make sure
you're safe and suitable to take it that is the most important thing because your health is the
most important thing okay so now that we're done with the foundation stuff let's begin with the
body parts let's start with the eyes if you've got itchy runny eyes whatever symptoms like that hay
fever type symptoms remember that itching them or rubbing them is only going to make it worse okay
pollen is microscopic so it'll be on your hands it'll be on your clothes and if you're rubbing
your eyes constantly you're not washing them it's just gonna make it worse and you're gonna get this
feedback loop that's just making things worse and you're constantly doing it so please please please
try not to rub those eyes that's one of the most important things
but now let's talk about those treatments okay so step number one the first thing you need to
do if your eyes are really really itchy okay and they're really making you annoyed okay is
you need to do a cold compress now you can buy eye masks that you put in the fridge but that's
a bit difficult if you don't have it because i'm sure you want to do something straight away
another easy option is to get some cucumbers cucumbers you probably keep it in the fridge
cut them up like you see in the movies lie down close your eyes and put them on top of your eyes
okay this is just going to give us that immediate relief straight away so that cold compress effect
but without having to buy something now another home remedy type of things that you can do
straight away is putting some vaseline underneath the eyes okay what is this going to do well first
of all it's going to pick up those little pollens of microscopic that we can't see they're going to
stick to the vaseline so it's less likely for it to grow in your eyes so that's a good thing
and secondly it's probably gonna deter you from rubbing your eyes all the time okay which like
i said it's just gonna make things worse so those are two quick things that everyone can do at home
okay so when it comes to treatment for the eyes my go-to eye drop is sodium chromoglycae i think it's
quite inexpensive to buy it's always available from most chemists and it works really really well
at stabilizing the mast cells that are in the eyes that release the histamine and make things worse
now one thing to bear in mind if you've got runny eyes and you're producing lots and lots of water
they're constantly flowing okay if you're gonna put an eye drop in it's probably not gonna work
very well because it's gonna get flushed out okay so my top tip if you're going to use the eye drops
is make sure you're doing a punctual hold okay punctual hold is basically holding this bit here
of the eye so it stops it from draining so when you put your eye drop in and you close your eyes
you need to do a punctual hold okay just so it gives it time for it to absorb and stick to
those mast cells and prevent them from releasing that histamine now if you want more information
on how to use eye drop i do have a few videos on it i've got a really good video on actually that
i'll leave up here and in the description below so please please please make sure you watch that
video because you need to know how to use eyedrops properly to get the most out of because if you're
not using it properly it's pretty worthless and you're going to be very disappointed from the
effects okay so next up i want to talk to you about the nose okay otherwise known as allergic
rhinitis probably one of the most common symptoms that you get with hay fever allergies whatever you
want to call it that runny nose constantly having to blow your nose okay and that is basically very
very common because we're always breathing in and the pollen goes in which then causes that
reaction that we spoke about which is causing those symptoms for us so the next question is
what should you do about it well step one we're gonna go back to vaseline now a good friend okay
it's cheap it's inexpensive easy to use and i'm sure a lot of you will have some vaseline at home
first thing you need to do is just rub some vaseline around the nose you can put it inside
a little bit as well completely fine obviously make sure it's on adults not children but this
is just going to help catch that pollen to help reduce it going in as much which is causing those
symptoms for us so this is a really quick hack that everyone can do so that's the first hack but
what about treatments okay we can look at nasal sprays next okay nasal sprays can be broken into
different categories so they work in different ways first of all we've got steroid nasal sprays
steroid nasal sprays are really really good for allergic rhinitis and hay fever symptoms however
you need to bear in mind that they take about two to three weeks for their full effect okay so what
does this mean well this means if you've got hay fever right now it's not gonna be that effective
for you okay you need to give it a bit of time for it to become fully effective so don't become
disheartened if you just start using it and you're like it's not giving me the immediate relief okay
so preferable thing is if you know your hay fever you know it gets worse let's say in july you know
um for a month or two you need to start using it you know a month before your season starts okay
that way you're gonna get the most benefit out of your steroid nasal spray now another type of nasal
spray which can be quite useful especially like drying up the nose and just helping with those
runny nose symptoms is a decongestant nasal spray now the problem with decongestant nasal spray is
yes it works quickly but it can interact with a lot of medicines it can sort of not be appropriate
for certain patients and also you can't use it long term okay you shouldn't really use a nasal
decongestant for more than seven days maximum okay because it can cause something called rebound
congestion so basically it makes you congested if you use it for longer than that so make sure
you speak to your healthcare professional about it if you're interested in it but out of the two
i would always go for the steroid nasal spray now moving on to the next type of nasal spray barrier
nasal sprays okay these are relatively new to the market and they work in a similar way to how the
vaseline works okay they're causing that barrier and they're gonna stop the pollen from going again
they can be quite effective but out the three so far that we spoke about if i was to rate them if
you want immediate relief decongestant ones can be really good but if you're going to use it properly
the steroid nasal spray i would always go for that one first and this barrier one i would
probably put it third or even fourth okay let's move to the next nasal spray so the next nasal
spray is something called a saline nasal spray saline basically means salt water okay so it's
a saltwater nasal sprain that basically cleans the nasal cavities and it's going to help sort
of re-stabilize the cells there really so we're not reacting as much to pollen but it also cleans
the area from the pollen these can be quite effective but obviously not that effective
compared to the other sprays that we spoke about but also if you don't want to buy a nasal spray
which is a saline one you can make one very easily okay you can do some nasal douching which i spoke
about in quite a few of the videos but it's very easy just boil the kettle let it cool
get a teaspoon of salt put a cup pour your water in mix it in obviously make sure it's not too hot
let it cool and then basically stand over a sink because it can be very messy and sort of suck
it in and then just let it pour out okay don't skin too much but if it does down you back your
throat and it goes into your stomach it's not an issue either but try not to do it as much this
is recommended for adults obviously but it can be really good at sort of helping stabilize ourselves
and to clean the area so you're not getting as much symptoms because remember it's that
buildup of pollen that's causing these problems now i think one of the most important things when
it comes to a nasal spray is using it correctly just like the eye drops when i said if you're not
using these correctly you're not going to get the benefit from it so i do have a video on how to use
a nail spray properly which i will leave a link to up here and in the description below so please
please please if you haven't seen it please watch it because i think it'll be really really helpful
for those of you who haven't used the nasal spray or aren't very confident about using a nasal spray
okay so i feel like we're really starting to get somewhere now next up let's talk about
those throat symptoms okay sometimes with hay fever or allergies you can get a bit of a cough
this is usually due to something called a post nasal drip okay so from the back of the throat
because of those symptoms from the nose that we're talking about you get a drip okay and that drips
off irritates the back of the throat and makes you cough so let's talk about what you can do to help
with this okay so first of all one of the easiest things you can do to help with this is soaking on
a hard-boiled sweet or a lozenge whatever you want to call it okay it doesn't have to be medicated or
anything like that it can just be a honey one or a flavored one whatever okay but this is just gonna
help stimulate saliva production so it can help get rid of that pollen as well that's causing that
irritation at the same time now if you don't have any hard-boiled sweets or lozenges you can also
try gargling salt water okay we did speak about a little earlier about making it for nasal douching
so it's the exact same process how to make it and basically stand over a sink and gargle garlic
water spit it out make sure you're not swallowing it if you accidentally swallow some it's not the
end of the world and this is recommended for adults you can do it as often as you want okay
there's absolutely no problem doing it three four five times a day okay so it's completely safe and
that's the same with the nasal douching as well by the way now when it comes to the cough one of the
best things that you can do for it is actually fixing and reducing the post nasal grip so if
you look at the stuff that we discussed in the nasal section because you might not have nasal
symptoms but you might have a little cough okay it might be the postnasal drip that's actually
causing it so you might actually benefit from the nasal section treatments as well okay so next up
we're gonna talk about the skin symptoms okay so skin conditions usually with hay fever usually it
goes red and itchy it usually happens after direct contact with pollen let's say if you've been lying
on some grass let's say if you've been trimming those hedges okay so this direct contact can cause
some irritation for some people so let's talk about what you can do to help with it so the first
thing i would recommend is just cooling down the area okay just a cold compress okay it's probably
not wise to use a cucumber on it like we said about the eyes just open up your freezer get a bag
of frozen peas or anything like that wrap it in a tea towel always make sure you wrap in a tea towel
and then slap it on the area that's itchy and warm to touch okay this is going to help straight away
just to calm down those symptoms now another good idea is using a cool moisturizer okay so if you've
got any sort of moisturizer you use on the skin slap it in the fridge let it get cold and then
you can apply it on the area okay some people like menthol moisturizers as well you can get these to
have a bit of menthol in them it just cools down the skin faster okay and it's probably a lot more
effective but if you don't have this that's fine as well just use the fridge technique it will
be just as effective now for those areas that are very red and itchy okay first of all always speak
to your healthcare professional about these well if they do say this is hate over time symptoms
or an allergy type symptoms one thing that can be very effective for these is using a steroid cream
um one of one that isn't that potent for example is hydrocortisone cream it can be very effective
i usually like to go for ointment only because the ointments contain less additives and other
stuff in them that might actually sort of make the skin a bit more itchy because the ointment is
usually there's obviously a lot less ingredients in there so it's usually easier on the skin and
it also sticks on a lot better so it stays there for longer the only downside to an ointment is
that it's very sticky and greasy so as long as it's not in an area that's too difficult
for you i would always go for ointment but if you really want something that's a bit easier to use
creams are just as effective as well so hydrocarbons are gonna be very good you need
to use it very sparingly so that means a little sort of pea sized amount well not a piece as well
but a little tiny line up to your first finger it should cover two palms in area okay so we're using
it very sparingly and we don't want to use it for too long probably no longer in the seven days okay
and always pizza health care profession before you try any of these sort of creams okay so that's the
treatments done you can use a lot of these in combination by the way so please please please
speak to your healthcare professional about which ones they recommend that you use in combination
okay you can't use all of them either okay so the moral of the story is you now know the different
treatments you now know what to do for different types of symptoms and now speak to your healthcare
professional get their ideas and see which ones you can use in combination a combination approach
is usually far more effective when it comes to treating hay fever symptoms okay so now that we've
done with treatments i just want to run through a few quick tips that are going to help with hay
fever as well especially in preparations tip number one first thing you need to do
is when your hair fever is worse have a look on google and just give it a quick search to see
in your area what the highest pollen count is at the moment okay that will give you the ability to
kind of find out what sort of pollen makes your symptoms worse and by knowing that the next year
or whenever you're going to know for example in july for the next month i am going to have some
pretty bad hay fever symptoms okay then you can prepare and start the treatments let's say for
example if you have nasal symptoms you can start a nasal steroid spray earlier so you're ready for
it you can have your antihistamines ready and you can do all the things that we've discussed
in preparation if you're gonna wait and then you get symptoms it's a lot harder to control
moving on to tip number two keep an eye out on the pollen count okay if you're looking at the
pollen count check the weather okay and if you've seen that the pollen count is really high that day
and you're working from home let's say for example try and keep your doors closed your windows closed
just to prevent as much pollen coming into the house this is a quick and easy way to reduce those
symptoms moving on to tip number three tip number three is making sure you can get shower every day
potentially especially when your hay fever's worse the reason i'm saying this is because pollen is
microscopic it sticks everywhere on your clothes on your skin okay so by reducing the amount of
pollen that's on you and on your clothes as well so make sure you're getting them washed as well
it's gonna help with those symptoms and tip number four a quick physical barrier such as
wearing sunglasses especially if you're having no soft eye symptoms that physical barrier can
really help sort of reduce the pollen hitting the surface of the eye which then causes that
immune system issue that we spoke about earlier so this is just a quick little hack that everyone can
do okay so it looks like we've come to the end of this week's video thank you for watching i really
hope that you find this information helpful please please remember always speak to your healthcare
professional about the different combinations of treatments that we spoke about in this video
and if you're not getting a relief again you need to speak to healthcare professionals to find out
what's going on because it might not be hateful it might be something else so please remember that i
really do hope you find this information helpful if you have any of your own tips please leave a
comment below because i'd love to read it and i'm sure everyone else watching this video would love
to read it to you as i always say at the end of every single week's video always remember
you're awesome and i'll see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
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