Fecking hayfever!! Natural cures please...

[GraceUnderPresure]

Hayfever is kicking my arse this spring, my whole face is itching, I can't stop sneezing + my eyes look like I've been punched.
I take loratadine and use a saline nasal spray, which all helped last year but it's worse this year for some reason, please can you lovely people hit me with natural cures I can try?

Horseradish. If you can handle it, eat a spoonful. It really helps.
Or you can take it in tablet form.

Petroleum jelly around the nose, nasal irrigation, air purifiers at home, wrap around sunglasses.

Ooh OK, I'll see what I can find - thanks!

Are there any you can recommend?

thank you!

I know you said natural remedies...but if you are feeling really wretched, I would use Fexofenadine ( you can get it otc or prescribed), up to 180mg/day. Definitely better than the older antihistamines. Good luck, Hay Fever, when bad, can ruin life for months of the year and make you feel like you're walking through treacle.

windows closed and get clothing of in the house and put to wash - keep home clothing ready to pop on, shower when you come in to get hair and face cleaned off.

use glasses, Vaseline, etc as other have said

think about swapping your tablets to Cetirizine if you can are able to take this one - but take at around 3pm -4pm each day rather than the morning

Thanks, I'll give it a go. Just existing is exhausting at the moment...

Fexofenadine, its good and non drowsy but not as effective as cetirizine - which works faster but does make you sleepy.

GP told me I could cut a fexofenadine in half and take 180 if I needed - whether that correct or not is not for me to say - ask your own gp

Different antihistamines target different symptoms so have a go at changing the active ingredients. My DD and I have different symptoms so use different ones, and at different strengths.

I use one a day certirizine for gritty and runny eyes and slight itchiness. I find loritine absolutely useless.
DD2 uses 3 x a day chlorphenamine malate for itchy eyes, horrendous sneezing, lack of appetite and generally feeling very unwell. Sometimes she needs to use Beconzase nasal spray but not every year.

However when my lupus flares up and I get a rash then only fexofenadine will work for the insane skin itching. These come in different strengths and the lower strength is sold at chemists now, the higher one is prescription only.

Edit - DD tried fexofenadine but it made her feel awful.

I’m very much in the kill or cure camp so my current hayfever regime is 180mg fexofenadine (get the 120mg ones from B&M and take one and a half tablets a day), sterimar nasal spray and eye drops during the day then a piriton tablet at night. Doesn’t completely get rid of all symptoms but makes them manageable.

What I find really strange is this April 25 im fine as long as a take my tablets 180 fex daily

last April 24 I spend the month in rural France, amongst the trees and in the countryside - yet didn't take anything - don't have hayfever
Came back to Uk mid May and it was terrible, differed badly unless I took tablets and even then it wasn't great

Ive booked myself to go away at easter and will not be coming back until the end of May. I realise that not everyone can do that

my conclusion is its the pollution that is exacerbating the pollen

Try Allevia. The active ingredient is fexofenadine BUT put an alarm on your phone to take it at 3am. Before pollen starts to drop. If you take after pollen has kicked in, usually tablets don't work. Also what works one year doesn't seem to work the follow year.
Then try taking local honey which builds up resistance to pollen. Ideally this should be taken before the start of the Hay-fever season but start taking about half spoon everyday.

Another vote for getting rid of the loratadine and replacing with Fexofenadine, sterimar rinse, and, when possible, showering when you come in from outside. It's available by prescription in 180 mg and over the counter (Allevia) in 120. You can break them in half and take 180. It's by far the most effective thing we've tried. The key thing is to take it every day during the season.

If eye symptoms bother you, I swear by ketotifen eyedrops.
I've just started quercetin supplements and nigella seed oil supplements too but haven't taken them long enough to give any feedback if I notice a difference or not.

Birch is the main culprit in April in the UK.
Wonder whether it was that, that was missing in your part of France?

Thanks everyone, I've got some fexofenadine + going to take one before dinner tonight as it's worst in the mornings. Mine is definitely tree pollen, hoping the season ends soon!!

@senseofdevelopment Have you had any luck with the supplements you have started taking yet?

I seem to have constantly runny and itchy nose all year round and it is only better laying down at night so no idea what i am allergic to.

Strong nettle tea - really. Steep two bags for 15 mins or so before drinking. Do this twice a day, but not in the evening as it's also diuretic. It really works but I can't remember if it's more or less immediately or if it takes a few days. Oh and vitamin C.

I haven't needed it for years as I take 500mg quercetin twice a day, but I hesitate to recommend that as I've recently heard that quercetin interferes with B1 and I need to look into that.

How about injections at a local beauty aesthetician? Ask around locally.

Local honey! Seriously! Hair of the dog that bit you, etc. Can hugely hugely help with sensitisation.

I recommend Fexofenadine (Allevia) too!

Tried loratadine which wasn’t very good, Cetirizine sent me to sleep and didn’t work, Acrivastine (3 a day) which treats symptoms rather than Loratadine/Cetirizine where you build up resilience worked better and in really bad times I used a nasal spray alongside acrivastine. But since Fexofenadine became over the counter and trying it last year life has become so much easier in hayfever time- I couldn’t recommend it more! I take one a day usually went I sense a reaction and within an hour or so it’s working.

All of a sudden last Wednesday it seemed hayfever hit badly which is several weeks earlier than usual for grass pollen 😒, let’s hope the season finishes earlier too!

i found this article interesting and useful

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/10/hay-fever-misery-20-tips-doctors-allergy-experts

@stanspan oak pollen got going last week, Met Office alerts have its levels as very high this week, at least in the south east. Unfortunately grass pollen hasn’t got going yet 😖.

OP I would say try fexonfenadine, my daughter was recommended it by the GP as a step up from loratidine/cetrizine. I am never convinced by the recommendation to eat local honey as the pollen that typically causes hayfever - tree and grass pollen - is wind borne and not picked up by bees but others seem to swear by it. I also use a steroid nasal spray and eye drops (with sodium cromoglicate in) to reduce symptoms on top of tablets. Oh and Vaseline around the nose to trap pollen before it gets into your nose (although if you’re blowing your nose lots, it soon rubs off…).