Any top tips how to help hayfever eyes ? My daughter is so fed up

[CassandraWebb]

We have antihistamine, prescription nose spray, some eye drops.
She can barely open her eyes, she doesn't want to miss school but she can't really function at all.

I'd love any tips on how to help her !

Last time I spoke to GP he prescribed the nose spray and this is the first big flare since then so yes I will go back to him. She's also under the care of allergy clinic so if the GPs are difficult they often can help

Lots of great things to try already, but just another idea to try is to look at making sure she’s not eating lots of high histamine foods too eg citrus, tomatoes, fermented foods, cured meats. Just to try and reduce the load a bit that way.

Are there nasal sprays suitable for 13 year olds?
I can just about keep my (previously horrendous) hayfever under control with fexofenadine and flixonase from March but my son is also starting to suffer more.
He can take the fexofenadine but could a dr prescribe be flixonase or similar?

DD has had Amarys (I think it’s called) to take with her fexodenadine for years (she’s 15 now).

Avamys, sorry @Shortjeans

www.theindependentpharmacy.co.uk/hay-fever/avamys-nasal-spray

Thanks @Ddakji . I’ll take him to GP. He’s got a few years before GCSEs but seems to be getting worse so it would be good to get something in place before then.
I remember my nose just flowing into my maths paper and my eyes were so bad the teachers thought I was crying about the exam!

I'm 53 and my hayfever has always been off the scale for me...gives me seasonal asthma. I used to get a kenalog injection which stopped the hayfever totally until they deemed it dangerous. Fenofexadine (telfast) doesn't touch mine on bad days....but I still take it , eye drops and nasal spray I always have to hand. If I touch my eyes and it goes uncontrollable then it's as simple as a damp flannel does wonders for me.

People saying shower. Don't. It washes the pollen out of your hair and straight into your eyes. I use the hand held bit of the shower to wash from armpits downwards. Then wash hair by hanging over the side of the bath and using a jug, so it misses your face and eyes.

Hi, I’m a medic. I’m not sure how old your daughter is but for >16 years old, we advise a twice daily antihistamine. Fexofenadine / cetirizine / loratadine are long-acting.
A combination nasal spray (ie an antihistamine and steroid) e.g Ryaltris / Dymista to be used twice daily. Regular Saline nasal douches (eg Sterimar) can help clear the nose of pollen.
Also GP could prescribe antihistamine eye drops such as olopatadine to be used during pollen season.
An annual asthma review is helpful.

You can also ask the Allergy clinic if she could be a candidate for tree/ grass pollen immunotherapy if she doesn’t respond to prescribed meds and symptoms are having a significant impact on her quality of life. It doesn’t cure hay fever but lessens the need for medication in future.
Hope that helps.

Eyedrops-wise.... as a child and into adulthood I used eyedrops called Otrivine Anthistin. They were hands down better than the other ones. Then they disappeared...like discontinued. I was very sad. Well...this week I saw them on the chemist shelf! So happy! They are better than the ones with chromoglicate Just a heads up for anyone who also missed them.

DS used to have fexofenadine, montelukast, beconase nasal spray and murine drops. The first 3 we started at the beginning of March each year

None if his laundry was washed outside and he showered after getting home from school and again if he had evening clubs.

This year, age 17 he’s hardly suffered at all

These. They are bog cheap, cooling, soothing. They also make a spray for your face which works well and balm to go round your nostrils, like haymax but cheaper. Sunglasses when out.

Do you sufferers think it's particularly bad this year? I've never had hay fever before, but this year I have had very itchy eyes and some mornings I haven't been able to open my eyes they have been so gummed up

You can get stronger antihistamines from the GP (fexofenadine at a higher dose than available over the counter) not sure if they are suitable for your daughter/a child. My DH has horrendous hay fever. Causes loads of symptoms including eczema and hives, swollen eyes etc etc. He really suffers.

This year I made him get an appointment BEFORE hay fever season as this is key, if you leave it until symptoms start then it’s too late. . So he started high dose fexofenadine 2/3 weeks before grass pollen season and the difference has been remarkable. About 90% better than normal. Still had some itchy eyes, slightly swollen so I told him to go to the chemist and get the strongest drops they had and he came back with some herbal eye spray. I was really annoyed - he said he’d asked cf them for the strongest they had but everywhere was out of stock of steroid eye drops (hay fever season!), he went to a few places and the last place sold him this spray. I checked the ingredients and said “are you aware this is just herbal?” And he wasn’t! I said these aren’t going to work!

Anyhow he tried it - you can direct multiple times a day, and it’s actually been really effective! So I had to eat my words. He had pretty much immediate relief, and you could visibly see reduced redness and swelling with a couple of days his eyes looked normal. He’s using it 3/4 times a day.

I’ll find the bottle in a sec a post what it is below.

Good luck. Hay fever is horrible.

I am 33 now and have had it all my life, this year has been the absolute worst. I found moving to fexofenadine (Allevia) and the likes helped over any other antihistamine. On particularly bad days, my Vitality GP advised taking more than one, however please check suitability with your GP. I am only speaking from experience that going to a fexofenadine based hayfever tablet worked like nothing ever before.

Yes my wife is saying the same, just hope my son doesn’t follow me and have it

Sodium Chromoglycate eye drops (Opticrom or Optrex hayfever) are way better than tablets.

Keep vials of sterile saline in the fridge - you can flush the eyes directly or soak a couple of wads of gauze to make compresses. Lay with head on a towel and a tissue to hand as you need to get them really wet.

https://amzn.eu/d/bl2qTQR

https://amzn.eu/d/fnHvIQ8

Finally invest in two or three ice masks that can be chilled or frozen (fabric covered if the latter).

You say that but for those of us who suffer with severe hayfever, even top strength fexofenadine doesn't stop it completely, and we still have to 'bother' with the 'faff'

The OP doesn’t know if Fexofenadine wilL do the trick as it has with many others because she hasn’t yet tried it.

My point is that she should try it first.

Your point is irrelevant as that hasn’t happened yet.

I see 🙄

DS2 has awful hayfever. Fexofenadine helps, but he also uses nose spray, hayfever wipes and a hayfever balm. He can't tolerate the eye drops unfortunately. He still suffers but not as badly.

Saw a locum GP this morning. He suggested to take fexofenadine twice a day - in the morning and 12 hours later. Also been prescribed a steroid nasal spray.