I'm not quite sure how to broach this
I get v severe hayfever, always have done, but I haven't been to a doctor for decades about it. I can get almost all the treatment I need over the counter.
Last year, I paid to see a private allergy consultant in London just to double check what I was allergic to as my allergy 'felt' like it was getting worse.
He was a v nice man (v well thought of in his field) and did the tests (which came up with nothing new - it's grass pollen and black mould) but even I felt he was slightly patronising as in, well you're not dying so what's the problem.
Thing is, the last week, my one eye swelled closed and my throat and lips swelled. It never gets so bad that it completely closes. It's a swelling in my larynx rather than my throat which is bloody annoying as no doctor can 'see' it - you can just hear it as it sounds like wheezing but isn't coming from my chest.
I know how to treat it (I stay indoors, take antihistamines etc.) but tbh, once it has got to the stridor stage, the antihistamines generally don't work.
It normally only lasts a few days (if I'm lucky) and then goes away. But for me to get it now, right at the start of the grass pollen season is unusual and I'm worried about what will happen over the next 6 weeks.
What I'd really like is the GP to give me a prescription for prednisolone now - that I could take when I know it's getting bad. But I'm almost 99% sure they won't do it. I don't want to have to wait until I'm already suffering badly to get the steroids. BUt no-one seems to believe it is this bad because I haven't been to the GP with it in years.
Do you think it's worth a try or shall I leave it until I'm suffering?