Hay fever, also called allergic rhinitis, causes cold-like signs and symptoms, such as a runny nose, itchy eyes, congestion, sneezing and sinus pressure. For many people, the hay fever season disrupts their everyday life and impacts on what activities they can do. Hey fever in children can impact on school and we have experienced this first hand with being sent home from school on bad days and even missing sports day.
How Hay fever season can affect children
Dylan has really suffered with hayfever since he was a tiny tot and considering it is Allergy Week UK (25th April – 1 st May) it seems timely to share how much hay fever season affects him. The early part of the season is the worst for him and over the years we have tried many things. Dylan is under a dermatologist consultant because not only does he sneeze, have a runny nose and terribly itchy eyes he develops a more serious skin condition where he gets cold sores on eyelids and this blisters around his eyes.
The cold sore blisters are often triggered by the bright sun and are related to the cold sore virus. However, these blisters often get infected and turn to cellulitis where he requires antibiotics to clear the infection.
In the past 12 months, he has tried a new regime and this is proving successful and although it has not stopped him from getting the outbreaks the severity has been greatly reduced.
With the number of allergy sufferers increasing by 5% each year eliminating embedded dirt and house dust mites from your mattress and upholstery has never been more important. Did you know that on average a mattress can harbour up to 10 million house dust mites?
Top Tips to Tackle Hay fever Season
- Medication, there are so many different medications that can help alleviate the symptoms and there are new ones being developed each year. Therefore if you really suffer speak to a pharmacist or visit the GP to get the most appropriate treatment. Dylan has worked his way through a number of medications and we regularly need to change the dosage or the brand because his body becomes resistant to a type after a while. Therefore each season we mix it up a bit with our GP.
- Wash hands regularly. Like really regularly. Dylan’s eyes are always itching and this makes him rub them. He was then becoming itchier. After each school break, he now knows to wash his hands as soon as he comes back in and these little measures have a positive outcome.
- Wearing sunglasses and a cap also helps during hey fever seasonwhen the sun is bright and the pollen is high.
- I change his bedding every few days and he has no pillows or soft toys on his bed that trap pollen. The Kally pillow also helps as they have a range of anti-allergy bedding.
- He showers as soon as he is home from school and completely changes clothes which get rid of the pollen.
- Keeping windows shut in the morning and early evening when levels are at their highest.
Following these tips to reduce the amount of pollen in tour home and on the child themselves can really help with hayver in children. Over time you can also spot which part of the hay fever season affetcs them the most which helps you identfy the type of pollen. For my son he has always struggled most in the early part of the hay fever season.
Why does my son get hayfever in February?
Grass pollen is the most common allergen (May to July), but tree (February to June) and weed (June to September) pollens can also cause the allergic reaction we know as hay fever. For most people and children the Hay fever is usually worse between late March and September, especially when it’s warm, humid and windy. This is when the pollen count is at its highest.
Living with hayfever is challenging especially when it restricts activities but there are steps that can be taken to minimise the impact on daily living.
