UKC

I've suffered from hayfever pretty much all my life - from early June to mid July with grass and cereal pollen. I get really itchy eyes rather than congestion/ runny nose. For years now I've been taking New Era tissue salts - you could pop as many as you wanted as they were non drowsy and natural. Nothing else has come close to working so well for me.

Now they are no longer available because the EU wanted them to be licenced - at £20,000 a year. So they have stopped production because it is no longer financially available. I'm now looking at a miserable 4-6 weeks .

Anyone got any alternatives? Or where I could get hold of a stash of New Era?

Cheers,
Davie

In reply to DR: I used them tablets for years. They were great!
Now I'm on prescription lorratidin, a nasal spray and eye drops! They aren't as good as the New Era tabs. I have been using locally sourced honey. This helped but I moved last year and am having trouble find some now.

In reply to DR:
Going cow-free works for me, but you need to be strict about it. No dairy and nothing that contains even a bit of cow fat - biscuits and chocolate are out. Milk and cheese from goats or sheep are fine.

After one week on this diet, I went from sandpaper eyes and rivers of snot to minor symptoms. After ten days, zero symptoms - and that was after wading shoulder high through grass in a deciduous wood. The pollen was so thick you could see clouds of it.

When there's no pollen around, I can eat what I want.

Apparently, it doesn't work for everyone, but it's free and it's easy, so you might as well give it a go. But stare at every single piece of food and think, 'Could this have cow in it?'

In reply to DR:

Not much good for you if you don't suffer with congestion but Otrivine nasal spray is the daddy for unblocking noses, although it says in the instructions not to use for a prolonged period (more than 3 days I think)so save it for odd days when I know I don't want to be blocked up.

For the eyes, sadly only eases symptoms rather than preventing them but tea helps stop the itching. Brew some tea and let it go cold and then use the tea bag to apply to the eyes. Forget what it is but there is something in tea that stops the itching (would always recommend letting it go cold first though!)

In reply to DR: I too have suffered from hay fever all my life (Itchy red eyes needing eye drops, endless sneezing fits and a runny nose that never stopped when I was younger). I suffer less so each year but still pretty irritating if left alone.

I take a Benadryl one a day tablet (once a day) and that seems to, not stop the symptoms completely, but help ALOT! They might make you feel a bit drowsy/hyperactive the first time (I seem to get hyper after the first one of the season) but once your body gets used to them (a couple of days with me), they work great for me. Might be worth a try if your still struggling

In reply to DR:

I generally tend to suffer from hayfever throughout most of the season, i.e. April - September. I always get Loratadine on prescription. Loratadine needs to be taken every single day for the duration of the season in order for it to work properly, so I tend take that for about 6 months a year. This is sufficient on most days, but on really bad days I might also use some nose spray.

I've considered giving up dairy, but I don't really want to have to go without cow's milk, chocolate, etc. for 5-6 months a year.

In reply to DR:

i've suffered the same all my life. And also eczema. Dairy and wheat free works for me most of the time. However my chiropracter who is also a wellness practioner mentioned to me 6mths ago that a lot of these issues aren't helped by 'leaky gut' syndrome. Basically these things stem from what you consume and the effect spreads out from the stomach to skin, eyes membrane linings like the nasal passage. He said to take a daily probiotic. Not a yakult but a proper tablet form. I take 2 a day which contain 5 billion bacteria. Prior to taking them my hands were raw from eczema for about 4 months during a bad flare up within several weeks they'd totally healed. To date I have had no hayfever and I'm still wearing contact lens for sport. Last year I had 5months not being able to get near my eyes. £10 per month!! Optibac daily probiotic tablets.
La Sham

In reply to DR:

I'm genuinely intrigued as to how a mixture of a acidity regulator, salt and sand can improve the symptoms of hay-fever. It's probably worth pointing out that other things that are entirely natural include lions, and dog poo. Neither of which are particularly good for you.


I found Telfast (fexofenadine) to be the only medication that sorted out my hay-fever. It doesn't need to be topped up with a nasal spray or eye drops, so one tablet a day and I'm good to go out and not sneeze and snot over the general population.

In reply to DR:

steroid nasal sprays (beconase, pollenase, supermarket equiv.) work pretty well, but I've still had some problems if I've been out in the early evening. just realised I've forgotten to use it for a week so thank you. had noticed my eyes watering a lot but felt too generally bad to work out why.

In reply to DR:
Cheers for all the replies. I might try the probiotic tablets first and see how they go. I try and avoid prescription drugs if I can possibly help it.

Davie