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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Hay Fever is the most inappropriately named condition there is...

60 replies

TheoriginalLEM · 13/06/2015 20:32

Apart from the fact that actually, im not even allergic to hay anyway

"hay fever" sounds pretty innocuous - it sounds like i might sneeze a little and get the sniffles if i stand in a field full of hay or have to clean the rabbit out.

What actually happens is for me (for others its actually longer and worse) is that for pretty much the whole of june/july I walk around in a haze. Sore throat, sore eyes, streaming nose, aching like i have the flu, looking like something out of Shaun of the Dead. I feel really really unwell, and the anti-histamines don't really help they just make my head even more foggy than it already is.

I had to make my excuses on a night out tonight - I can imagine my friends faces look because my reason was hay fever!!!

Please can someone think of a more appropriate name?

Seasonal allergic rhinitis just sounds like a grow a huge nose once a year and its not just my nose, its my eyes, my throat, my joints and everything.........

OP posts:

MrsMook · 13/06/2015 22:45

DH's summers have been written off for the last few years, but this year he's bought an air filter, and his symptoms have been much better (as have mine).

pasbeaucoupdegendarme · 13/06/2015 22:50

To answer your question, OP, I think "morning" sickness is up there with "hay" fever as an inappropriately named condition...

Both are crap, and both names minimise the suffering to the people involved.

bayrans · 13/06/2015 22:52

I had a 2 year hiatus with pregnancy and breast feeding and was feeling rather smug....

Until yesterday.

My face looked like swollen caricature, I wanted to gouge out my own eyes with a spoon and I wheezed like an emphysemic in a burning building.

I'm fucked if I'm getting pregnant again though.

firefly78 · 13/06/2015 23:00

its awful isnt it. i really suffered the beginning of the week. been rubbing my eyes raw :(

cakedup · 13/06/2015 23:02

Every year around this time I get an itchy nose/face, slight sore throat, tired eyes - all which are mild symptoms that are easy to live with, but I also feel absolutely knackered, needing much more sleep than usual.

Yet I've been told it can't be hayfever because I don't sneeze or get itchy eyes. But I get this every year around time everyone else gets hayfever.

DS gets hayfever really bad, none of the over counter stuff have worked for him this year so seeing the docs next week. BrokenBananaTantrum does the Neoclaratine make your dd drowsy? I'm worried about that as DS is a bit of an insomniac anyway.

Anyway, YANBU. Obviously you can't just give it another name but how about calling it severe hayfever, or a hayfever attack.

taxi4ballet · 13/06/2015 23:51

cakedup - sounds like you've got hay fever to me. People with it tend to get a variety of symptoms anyhow.

Folks who've never suffered from it think we're making a fuss about a few sneezes and a bit of a sniffle; and people who do get the full-blown thing will often tell you that you're making a fuss as your symptoms can't possibly be as bad as theirs!

reynoldsnumber · 14/06/2015 00:00

The worst thing is hay fever combined with a weak pelvic floor.... Uncontrollable sneezing and coughing and walking through london parks with work colleagues to meetings, and well you can guess the rest. I'm ok now I've been on antihistaminea for a few weeks, but it was murder before that.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 14/06/2015 00:06

Avamys on prescription is fab. It's change my life.

Original poster

TheoriginalLEM · 14/06/2015 10:35

Ghoulwithadragontatoo - i could actually kiss you!!!! I can't believe i have forgotten about this, i will be making a doctors appointment first thing in the morning :)

OP posts:

TheTravellingLemon · 14/06/2015 10:46

"morning" sickness is up there with "hay" fever as an inappropriately named condition...

I have both at the moment . I just want to stay in bed. I haven't been able to sleep the last few nights and the wheezing has got quite bad. I hate taking any medication at all in pregnancy so I'm trying to brave it but I might have to admit defeat and see the doctor

I also get itchy skin, especially on my face and neck.

Original poster

TheoriginalLEM · 14/06/2015 11:15

ooh, you poor thing - i was really lucky and didnt get any symptoms when i was pregnant, then for a few years afterwards i was fine. This year has been the worst ever - i feel like i have flu :(

OP posts:

TheTravellingLemon · 14/06/2015 11:22

I didn't suffer at all when I was pregnant last time, even though it was the same time of year.

BrokenBananaTantrum · 14/06/2015 11:27

Cakedup the Neoclaritin didn't make DD drousy. Her only complaint is that it tastes horrible. Its only 2.5 ml a day and seems to work really well for her.

FrizzyPig · 14/06/2015 11:50

I was saying to a friend yesterday how my hayfever is awful at the moment.

But the worst thing about it was how I keep getting flashbacks to sitting exams at school. It's not fair that this time of year we were expected to take our GCSEs and A-Levels with these horrible symptoms.

Mine triggers my asthma which is even more fun!

FrizzyPig · 14/06/2015 11:50

I was saying to a friend yesterday how my hayfever is awful at the moment.

Mine triggers my asthma which is even more fun!

TempsPerdu · 14/06/2015 11:56

I very much empathise OP, I have chronic sinusitis and perennial allergic rhinitis - basically I'm allergic to all types of pollen and fungi, but not on an 'acute' level. I don't suffer as much as others with the typical sneezing/soreeyes, although these can get bad in summer - for me it's mainly a constant sinus headache, fuzzy head, dry mouth and throat and pressure under my eyes and across the top of my nose. It gets really annoying, as most of my symptoms are invisible, so many people (including doctors) think you're making a fuss over nothing.

What's weird as I never had any allergies at all until I lived in a very dry part of Spain for a while during uni - as soon as I came back it hit me in a big way - literally couldn't breathe at all and was completely laid up for a couple of weeks. According to my GP I'd lost my immunity to 'our' pollen. Apparently British pollen is the most potent in the world, and this combined with our damp, mild climate makes hay fever symptoms particularly bad. He says the only true solution is to emigrate, which isn't exactly practical!

Anti-histamines barely touch the sides and only make me more fuzzy-headed. I now use a neti pot to flush out my sinuses and a steroid nasal spray, which does take the edge off things. Worst thing for me is the wooziness - when it's bad it feels like I'm underwater and my brain isn't functioning properly. I've just finished an MA and am trying to write a novel, and it's been quite debilitating at times. So yes - 'hay fever' is a massive understatement!

TempsPerdu · 14/06/2015 12:07

And yes bantamgirl - I get awful fatigue too. Used to teach primary, and it was all I could do not to disappear into the stock cupboard for an afternoon nap! Some days it's an effort to even climb a flight of stairs, which seems ridiculous as I'm otherwise totally fit. Miserable condition.

DragonMamma · 14/06/2015 12:12

Yanbu

I get your bog standard hay fever that's sorted with an OTC tablet.

My DH on the other hand suffers terribly. He takes fexofenadene and that's not even working at the moment. He has some eye drops prescribed but they don't help either. He's truly miserable but thankfully it's only 2 months of the year usually.

DefinitelyMaybeNo · 14/06/2015 12:31

My Hayfever starts at the end of January. The amount of people who argue with me that hayfever is only for summer months!! I'm ill from January till October, although for me the worst is over by May as that's when the tree pollen eases up. I also suffer with OAS which is caused by my hayfever and end up hospitalised at least once a year because of it. I take, steroid sprays, fexofenadine (then piriton on top of that!), medicated eye drops and when I'm really bad oral steroids.

oabiti · 14/06/2015 12:41

This thread really is an eye-opener for me. I never realised that it affected people quite like this.

I feel really ignorant now.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 14/06/2015 13:00

OP - glad I reminded you of Avamys. My doctor prescribed it for me two years ago and my symptoms, which were like many on this thread, have all but disappeared. Honestly it's great.

ursuslemonade · 14/06/2015 13:08

It is hell on Earth...
I got pregnant in May a few years back and I decided not to take anything for hayfever (for me it starts in April and lasts for 6 months beacuse of various other allergens and mould etc...)
Ended up with sinusitis and bronchitis while I could not take much time off work.
My dr put me on steroids last month and it actually worked for blocked airways (for about a month) but now it's back with a vengeance.
Daily routine of rinsing my nose helped a bit.

The5DayChicken · 14/06/2015 13:47

This morning was the first time this year that my eyes have been glued shut when I woke up. Bloody miserable. Despite 4x supposedly 1 a day tablets, my eyes and nose are still streaming, I have a headache and all my energy has been sucked out of me.

I was another who was unfortunate enough to only develop hay fever in my GCSE year. People hated my snivelling during the exams but I had no clue how to get it under control. The only summer I had a break was while I was pregnant and I suffered the fresh hell that is morning sickness instead.

Original poster

TheoriginalLEM · 14/06/2015 16:17

Why don't people suffer from hayfever when they are pregnant? I was so scared of suffering but i was fine and i was pregnant all through june and most of july.

There is a PhD thesis waiting to happen there! Hormonal treatment for hayfever and possibly other allergies?

OP posts:

Original poster

TheoriginalLEM · 14/06/2015 16:23

I have just gone out and bought some pirinase - which is fluticasone just like avamys but according to the pharmacist not so good as the avamys but i couldn't wait until tomorrow. I have to say, despite being £10 the poorer I do feel some relief but my joints are HURTING, Really bloody hurting. Not like how your muscles ache in flu, i think a visit to the dr might be in order. Even my fecking toes hurt :( Fuck you "hay fever" fuck you to hell.

OP posts:

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