Hayfever - worse in pregnancy???

[SorryMyLollipop]

Is it normal for pregnancy to make hayfever worse? I am terrible with it today, constant sneezing, eyes streaming and itching.
Severe hayfever totally blighted my childhood/teenage summers - thought I had grown out of it but it's BACK!

I was irritable and knackered enough for a netball team with PMTbefore, I'm going to be a hideous grumpy bitch now

[SorryMyLollipop]

strikethrough fail

[Livingwithmymother]

Someone has told me you can't take anything for hayfever while pregnant, my chemist told me to take loratadine(sp?) as its the safest to take and my mum told me to take children's piriton. I think I'll just wait it out as I'm on the home stretch (38 weeks4days) and I'll annoying itch my throat loudly to piss everyone off because I'm pregnant and I can.

[HeffalumpTheFlump]

I think it's two things, (iv been thinking about it coz mine has been awful) during pregnancy lots of women get stuffy noses anyway due to something to do with the mucus membranes in the nose. So when irritated by the pollen it's bound to be twice as bad. That coupled with the fact that apparenltly this year is supposed to be the worst in recent history due to the long cold winter making all the plants release their pollen at the same time, means we are really gna suffer!

At the same time as we are limited to fewer things to take for it :/ great!!

[Sparkeleigh]

Mines been bad as of last weekend so I was at a midwife appointment today (15+4) and asked her about hay fever. She went and checked with the doctor - he said I could take Piriton and wrote me out a prescription for Chlorphenamine. He also said if it gets really bad he can prescribe me a nasal spray.

It's definitely worth ringing your doctor and asking!

[StuckOnARollercoaster]

Also suffering but I think it's the combination of it being a particularly bad year and the being pg and not taking my usual tablets...
Have just posted on the other thread and I do have eye drops and nasal spray. Haven't yet tried the nettle tea and local honey combo recommended by my midwife...

[Sparkeleigh]

Oh, local honey worked really well for me last year, I haven't got any year this year tho, must go buy some..

[SorryMyLollipop]

Nettle tea ... hmmm might try it. Where is the other thread? Sorry to duplicate.

[Dildals]

It's weird, I was contemplating this the other day, because I used to have really bad hayfever, but this season it hasn't really come on yet, and I am 17 weeks pregnant. So for me it seems to be the reverse (famous last words of course -)

[bunglecat77]

There's some useful info on the NHS website about what you can take www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/935.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=129

My GP was hopeless initially - gave me old, out-of-date advice that conflicted with this. Midwife suggested I print the info from the website and go back to them with that in hand. I'm going again next week, because my due date is at the height of the grass pollen season and I don't think I could survive labour with itchy eyes and constant sneezing.

Looks like Piriton is safe but it could make the baby drowsy. So you might be better off with nasal steroids, loratadine or cetirizine. Pharmacists might be wary of selling the medication to you without a prescription, so it's probably best to check it with the GP before taking any.

There's also another page on the NHS website about hay fever remedies during breastfeeding. www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/2460.aspx

Hope that helps - when hay fever's bad it's really miserable, and the 'try not to take anything' response I got originally just made me really stressed and anxious, so I sympathise if you're suffering at the moment.

[1stTimeMomAt40]

SorryMyLollipop- glad to know I'm not alone. Haven't had hayfever since my teens (when it was excruciating) - but since being pregnant it's come back. Trying not to resort to anti-histamines, but it's tough. At least baby is due in winter!

[s098]

I have been struggling too as I work with horses so every time I use hay or straw I'm sneezing again! Usually use a steroid nasal spray but wary of using it now. Found a drug free nasal spray in asda that is safe to use although not 100% effective for me it has helped

[Rosenwyn1985]

I have asthma and seriously bad hay fever and during my first pregnancy I was told that there were three things that could happen. They'd either, get worse, get better or be about the same. Apparently in some women the way the hormones work can have different effects on their immune system etc. I'm lucky in mine improve but I know plenty of women who have the opposite effect!