This summer, the red wet-look is back - red eyes, red nose, explosive sneezing and streaming nostrils. Nice. That's hay fever for you and for a good proportion of the nine million UK sufferers, June and July will be made unbearable by the rampant releases of grass pollen.
The lucky three out of four who don't have a reaction to reproducing greenery will no doubt think that hay fever is simply a case of the sniffles, but the reality of sore red eyes, blurry vision, disturbed sleep and 'foggy brain' can make life quite miserable.
Imagine trying to look your best for Ascot when you can't apply your eye make-up to puffy lids or trying to conduct a coherent job interview in between bouts of sneezing?
Hay fever is only partly to do with hay and nothing to do with a fever - I suspect it got its name from amorous farmhands who romped in hay bales during the harvest and developed the tell-tale symptoms. Whatever the story, it is caused by the body's faulty immune response where it mistakes proteins in the pollen grains for disease causing invaders. The resulting antibodies then produce a substance called histamine and it is this which causes the irritation and swelling in the nose, throat and sinuses.
That brings us to the various remedies, most of which act as anti-histamines or administer a mild dose of steroids to reduce swelling. Fending off pollen attack is a war on many fronts depending on which is your worst symptom - runny nose, itchy eyes or repetitive violent sneezing. You can take an oral treatment, eye drops and/or nasal sprays. Most people find they use at least two of these options.
As a final word of advice, do make sure that what you have is actually hay fever and your GP can help you determine that. One way of being fairly sure is that if a parent has the condition, it is very likely you have inherited the allergy. Otherwise it's a case of knowing your allergen. Climate change means pollination starts earlier and finishes later so you could have problems from March to September depending on whether tree pollen gets you going in the Spring, grass sets you off in the Summer or flowers like chrysanthemums cause you bother in the autumn.
If you experience symptoms outside of this time period, particularly in the nose, it is more likely you have perennial allergic rhinitis which may have a different trigger such as dust mites or mould spores.
HAY FEVER SURVIVAL TIPS - Always prepare in advance for an attack, remedies tend to work better if you get on top of it. - Try to avoid excessive pollen by remaining indoors when pollen counts are high. Working in an air-conditioned environment helps the condition enormously at peak times. - Wear dark glasses as this prevents too much pollen reaching the eyes and can be quite soothing during an attack. - Contact lenses may also act as pollen barriers, but remember to keep glasses on standby in case you need to use eyedrops, as most aren't compatible with lenses. - If you have been out in the country with the soft top down make sure you wash your hair to remove any pollen caught in it to avoid an attack once the treatment has worn off. * Some good news is that you can grow out of it. Often the problem arises in childhood but the symptoms start to lessen by the age of 30 or 40. Dr Richard Newland is a GP at the Newhall Medical Practice - Birmingham's first private GP service. It offers a traditional GP service with unhurried consultations and no need to register. For a same-day appointment, contact the Practice Manager Linda Hamilton on 0121 236 6633. | 
