The Lemon Fool

Slarti wrote:You know the smell of new mown grass? Well it seems as if whatever chemical causes that smell is the trigger

Yes, I get what you're driving at. Age might have withered my own hay fever sensitivity when it comes to grass (came on at puberty, faded sharply in my sixties), but the sweet smell of honeysuckle wafting over the garden wall can still reduce me to a red-faced coughing wreck. No need for direct pollen contact, it's just the smell that does it.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world idolises honeysuckle and can't understand the problem at all. (Well, fair enough, it's my problem, not theirs.) Freesias similarly. Can't breathe if they're in the room. Gimme strength.

BJ

Your son has my sympathy. Hay fever allergies can be miserable which is infuriating when the sun is shining and everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves.

Hopefully he will grow out of it to some extent, my wife suffered badly when she was younger but now although she still suffers it's nothing like as bad.

In my youth ( a long time ago) I was prescribed piriton for hay fever, but found the side effects of the cure worse than the disease.
As others have noted, the allergy seems to decrease with age. So I now look forward to the scent from my Azalias and Honeysuckle.

scotia wrote:In my youth ( a long time ago) I was prescribed piriton for hay fever, but found the side effects of the cure worse than the disease.
As others have noted, the allergy seems to decrease with age. So I now look forward to the scent from my Azalias and Honeysuckle.

Yep, me too. And before that it was benzodiazepines, the pink and white "bomber" capsules that would send you to sleep, and which probably cost me a fair few grades in my O level exams. I would wake up with swollen, closed-up eyes that made me look like I'd gone six rounds with Henry Cooper, and it was either the benzos or miss the exam altogether because I couldn't see the paper.

These days, one-a-day loratadine (eg Clarityn, but cheaper as a supermarket generic) is enough to head off the worst of it. Although its effect only lasts about five hours.

BJ

scotia wrote:In my youth ( a long time ago) I was prescribed piriton for hay fever, but found the side effects of the cure worse than the disease.
As others have noted, the allergy seems to decrease with age. So I now look forward to the scent from my Azalias and Honeysuckle.

bungeejumper wrote:

scotia wrote:In my youth ( a long time ago) I was prescribed piriton for hay fever, but found the side effects of the cure worse than the disease.

These days, one-a-day loratadine (eg Clarityn, but cheaper as a supermarket generic) is enough to head off the worst of it. Although its effect only lasts about five hours.

I can't remember what drugs he has, be the names of those you mention have been used at one time or another, but the Beconase nasal spray he mostly has now seems to to work most of the time, except with fresh cut grass where it only reduces the effect.

It is not as bad now as when he was at school, but still can be pretty nasty.


Slarti