As summer rolls around again so do those unwanted hay fever symptoms like runny nose
itchy eyes, congestion and sneezing now you may have one of these or all of these
and if you do then you picked the right video because I'm gonna make you a hay fever pro
now before we begin with treatments let's first check that it is
actually a hay fever as I know that many patients are always unsure is it a cold?
is it hay fever? so how do you know well remember this question how long have you had your symptoms for?
look at these symptoms if you've had them for about a
week or two and they're gone it's probably most likely a cold but if it
persists it's probably most likely hay fever so hay fever is caused by the body
reacting to pollen as if it was something harmful that was bad for our
body and this reaction causes certain chemicals to be released and one of
which is histamine now the histamine causes inflammation and it also causes
the unpleasant side effects well the symptoms that we know so well as hay
fever now that was a super simplified version but I hope you've got a basic
understanding of it all because it's really gonna help us when we talk about
treatments so now let's begin okay so we have three types of treatments and I
feel like it's best if we break them down into what they're treating so we
first have general hay fever symptoms and you may have a mild version of all
or just one of these now these are the only symptoms that you're experiencing
then I see so many patients who find just an antihistamine on its own enough
to keep their symptoms under control and the way it works is in the name
antihistamine so you know what histamine does and it basically blocks the action
of histamine now you're probably thinking well which antihistamine should I take?
generally speaking loratadine and cetirizine are both quite good for
general hay fever symptoms there what we call second-generation antihistamines so
they're less likely to make you drowsy and it have a long duration of action so
it's only once a day you need to take it treatment number two nasal symptoms now
you may or may not have these general hay fever symptoms but your nasal
symptoms are giving you real trouble you've got a runny nose
you're sneezing all the time and the chances are you've probably blown your
nose so much it's gone all red and sore around your nose which isn't very nice now
my go-to for these kinds of symptoms is a steroid nasal
for example Beclometasone nasal spray it reduces the inflammatory response and
it also helps control the allergic symptoms that are associated with hay fever
now please remember though you will have to use this a couple of weeks before hay
fever season starts for best results it can also be used with the antihistamine
that I've just spoke about for general hay fever treatment ok let's
pause for one second now you may be thinking to yourself but Abraham i've
used a nasal spray and it didn't really help me well first of all please
double-check that it was a steroid nasal spray because there's many different
nasal sprays out there in the market that claim to help with hay fever and
allergies and a lot of them don't actually contain this so firstly check this and
second of all are you using your nasal spray right because if you're not you're
probably not going to get the right amount of medicine in the right spot and
it's not going to be working as well so I did make a video not long ago about
how to use a nasal spray I will leave a link up here and in the description
below please check it out at the end of this video and I guarantee you it will
make a massive difference treatment number three eye symptoms now you may or
may not have any of these general hay fever symptoms but your eyes they're red
they're watery they're itchy it's just not nice so
remember the histamine that we spoke about at the start of the video well
these are contained in cells called mast cells and what we're going to do is
we're going to hit these with a mast cell stabilizer called sodium cromoglicate
which is available as an eye drop so by stabilizing the mast cells it's not
going to release the histamine so we shouldn't get the allergic hay fever
symptoms that were used to in the eye also sodium cromoglicate can be used with the
antihistamines I spoke about at the start now once again you may be thinking
to yourself put Abraham I've already used an eye drop and it didn't really
help me well firstly I'd probably say please read the ingredients and
double-check does that eye drop contain sodium cromoglicate because chances
are it may not because there's a lot of different treatments out there that don't
actually have this ingredient in them so please double check and also secondly
are you using your eye drop properly because trust me a lot of people don't
use them properly and thankfully not long ago I made a video on how to use an
eye drop properly which I will leave a link up here and in the description below now
trust me if you use an eye drop properly I guarantee you, you will see a
significant improvement and a significant improvement in results
and please remember that with all medication always read the information leaflet to
make sure that you're safe and suitable to take it and always speak to your
pharmacist first so they can advise you what to take and again so they can check
that you're safe and suitable to take it that's the most important thing also there are
things that you can do lifestyle things that you can do that can help with hay fever
as well so let's quickly run through that tip number one
pollen count now pollen is usually higher in the morning and at nighttime
so try and keep your doors shut try and keep your windows shut try and keep them
closed for as much as you can tip number two petroleum jelly
try and get a tiny amount and rub it around your nostrils I'd only recommend
this in adults and not really in children and what it's going to do is it's going to
trap that pollen and help prevent it from getting into your system it might
also be useful for you when you've got a sore nose because you've been blowing it
so much and tip number three once you've been outside and you've come back home go
for a shower and get your clothes washed so it washes off all that excess pollen
that may have stuck to you I really hope my tips help you I've also
left loads more information in the description below which have advised
everyone to read also if you've got any of your own tips leave a comment below
too because I'd love to read it and I'm sure everyone else would too always
remember that you're awesome enjoy the summer and I will see you next week
now if this is you I see (Phone rings) hello there
teleportation scene
really I'm like filming and sweating so hot in here right now (Laughs)
hey guys thanks for watching this week's video
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