Is there an effective natural alternative to Piriton for hayfever?

[MaggieW]

DS, 5, suffering badly - runny nose, congested, itchy eyes etc. I've been using Opticrom drops up til now as only his eyes have been affected. However, following a school visit to a farm, he's now in a real state but I'm loathe to give drugs. However, can't let him suffer like this, so is there a natural alternative that works to treat hayfever?

Will watch this thread with interest, as I'd like to know too.

persocally if a 5 year old was relaly suffering with hayfever i would give him piriton...

I suffer terribly, (much worse when i was a young child).

It will prob make him drousy so best to give it near bed time

(even now and adult dose well and truley knocks me out!)

Also make sure you give hima good bath and thoruoughly wash hishair to get all traces of pollen etc away from him!

I think is possible to desensitize a person to pollen. My mother and sisters had hayfever sooo badly that they spent from March to August being a total mess (flu like symptoms). And then one day, a guy knocked at the door selling honey and some dry pollen sort of pellets. My mother got the pollen pellets because she had heard they were good for your health in general and, because she wanted to help the guy who seemed to be very poor. Surprisingly, after several days of having a teaspoon of pellets the hayfever was gone, they cured her allergy, and my sisters', and even my cousins'. They have not had more hayfever since 8-9 years ago.

However, the pollen was aparently made at home by this guy, who didn't label the jars. So... no way to trace what was in it or how to get it. So I'm mentioning it just in case you want to search for something like this.

I've heard that honey is effective, but it has to be made by bees local to the area, in order for the pollen effects to be minimised.

I second the honey idea, I used to suffer really badly every year. 14 years ago I started using local honey, since then I've had a few bouts but nowhere near as severe as it used to be.

If a kid is suffering, I would give him drugs. It's what they are for.
Obviously asking the pharmacist first.

Like Maggie's DS, I suffered badly with hayfever with eyes so red people asked my mother if I was an Albino. Was horrid.
Give him the drugs, do it now.

I now have to use an inhaler during the worst of the pollen season. If I met the bloke who invented Piritin, I'd name my kid after him.

I've tried honey, indeed I like it in coffee and get through 1/2 a jar per week. Zero effect. If you look at how honey is made, the idea that anything that survive that process can have subtle effects on your immune system is highly questionable.

The thing that worries me is that some "natural" remedy will be applied, and since hayfever can go away all by itself when the allergen is removed, you may make the mistake that this "treatment" did some good, when if fact it did nothing at all.
Thus when the poor kid gets it again he will suffer whilst you try this rubbish on him.
Go to the chemist first thing tomorrow.

Do not make the mistake that because something goes away after some "alternative" treatment, that it was the cure.
Did I mention that you should give him the drugs ?

I asked dh, who is a martyr to it, and he says a categorical "no".

oh gawd, give him the Piriton. Will give him relief straight away. Please give it to him (esp before he goes to sleep).

That is "no" to the question in the OP BTW.

A resounding "yes" to piriton.

if honey was really effective, smithkline becham (sp!) would have bought it all up, licensed it and be making a fortune! unfortunately, some conditions require drugs. fortunately, mosty antihistamines have been around so long that any side effects are well documented.

Definatley give teh PIriton. I am a fellow hayfever sufferer, I take Zirtek twice a day, Beconase and eye drops without my medicine I would be a mess, it truly is awful.

Give the poor guy some medicine

I would continue looking for other avenues that you can explore while giving him piriton.

I have not heard about honey helping, sorry, in our case, it was the pollen pellets that did. Now, don't expect the pollen to act as antihistamine because it won't. My theory is that by consuming a regular spoonful of it, my family became less sensitive to those things that caused the hayfever and, unless a few species had become extinct, all at the same time, in an area the size of Britain, I doubt that all the allergens disapeared at the same time making us believe it was the pollen that helped

Don't worry all - I have given him medicine although it didn't help him last night - the nights are when he seems to get so bunged up, even though I prop him up and put Karvol in the room. Does the medicine take time to build up to have an effect?

Of course I'll give it to him to stop the horrible symptoms but I don't relish it as a long term solution, so that's why I'm asking if there's anything that anyone has tried which has helped. The chemist has said he may grow out of it, but has that happened in anyone's experience?

Local honey has also been mentioned to me by a nurse. I've located some which comes from hives around 1/2 a mile away so will give that a go to.

Any other day to day practical ideas gratefully received. Am washing his hair and clothes, school jumper etc daily to rid it of pollen but any oth thoughts welcome.

Considering it is worse at night... have you thought of the possibility of him being allergic to dust/bed mites?

If this is the case, having a good dusting around the room with a wet cloth, washing any fabrics in the room at 60+ degrees or leaving them under the sun for a few hours (curtains, bedlinen, cuddly toys -you can put these in the freezer for a night if worried about their "health", etc.) And most importantly, if you have carpet, vacuum clean regularly; all this can make a HUGE difference.

Get him, if you can to wear sun specs (ordinary specs if he needs them). The more wrap-around that they are, the better. Bathe his eyes as necessary. I've suffered since I was tiny and if anyone tried to deprive me of the "drugs" I need to make life tolerable in summer I would use violence!

It's hard to see any treatment that can actually cure hayfever, since it's very basic to how an individual body works.
As I understand it, allergies don't ever go away , your body just gets better at dealing with them.

I've used OptiCrom eye drops, as recommended by my chemist.
I also found that Halls Menthol Lyptus cough sweets did some good.

if it is really bad, shower before bed and make sure none of the windows are open in the house.

my ds (8) has an ioniser in his room this really helps. we give meds as well - its really bad at the moment. i dose him up before school (clarytin is all that seems to work for him) at weekends i wait till he shows symptoms before i give it. ioniser was ten quid from a lloyds pharmacey last year.

actually i saw ionisers in aldi this week think they were 30 quid looked fancy ones.

Honey can work really well, my husband swears by it.

The only reason Big Pharma hasn't cashed in on it is because they can't not because it doesn't work.

Yes. We have an ioniser in our bedroom.