I keep log of my health and looking back through it I only realised
last year that I get a massive attack of sneezing and runny nose and
feeling generally unwell each year about the 3rd weekend of May. My
doctor recognised this as hay fever and prescribed Cetirizine which
cured it. (Dose this prove the diagnosis?)

Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Michael Bell

PS. I live in Newcastle on tyne, and this hay fever continues to my
yearly visit to Swaledale.

--

What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Sounds like tree pollen. I believe oak pollen is prevalent at the moment.

Al.

In message , Michael
Bell writes
I keep log of my health and looking back through it I only realised
last year that I get a massive attack of sneezing and runny nose and
feeling generally unwell each year about the 3rd weekend of May. My
doctor recognised this as hay fever and prescribed Cetirizine which
cured it. (Dose this prove the diagnosis?)

Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Michael Bell

PS. I live in Newcastle on tyne, and this hay fever continues to my
yearly visit to Swaledale.


The third weekend of May might be about right for the onset of grass
pollen hay fever season. The season has been getting earlier over the
years, but I'm now hit at the end of May rather than the beginning of
June.

Grass is already flowering here, but perhaps not yet in Tyneside and
Swaledale.

But spring hay fever is usually caused by tree pollen, rather than grass
pollen. Oak and beech would seem to be plausible candidates for this
time of year.

Seeking confirmation in Google finds an article in the Grauniad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...thandwellbeing
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

In message , Michael
Bell writes
I keep log of my health and looking back through it I only realised
last year that I get a massive attack of sneezing and runny nose and
feeling generally unwell each year about the 3rd weekend of May. My
doctor recognised this as hay fever and prescribed Cetirizine which
cured it. (Dose this prove the diagnosis?)

Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Michael Bell

PS. I live in Newcastle on tyne, and this hay fever continues to my
yearly visit to Swaledale.


The third weekend of May might be about right for the onset of grass
pollen hay fever season. The season has been getting earlier over the
years, but I'm now hit at the end of May rather than the beginning of
June.

Grass is already flowering here, but perhaps not yet in Tyneside and
Swaledale.

But spring hay fever is usually caused by tree pollen, rather than grass
pollen. Oak and beech would seem to be plausible candidates for this
time of year.

Seeking confirmation in Google finds an article in the Grauniad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...thandwellbeing

Thank you for these suggestions.

The road I was going along last night when I had my first attack had
sycamore along it, and the place I go to in Swaledale has sycamore all
round it, so maybe sycamore is high on the suspect list. But the hay
fever lasts the rest of the summer, if I stop the Cetirizine, it comes
on again, so sycamore can't be the only cause Or can it?


Michael Bell
--

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:08:35 +0100
Michael Bell wrote:

snip
Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?


It's probably a tree pollen, but might be a fungus spore allergy
although that's usually something for the autumn.
If you disturbed some dust yesterday, you might get symptoms, but they
won't last. Pollen and spores can survive in dust for centuries.

R.

On 2009-05-11 07:08:35 +0100, Michael Bell said:

I keep log of my health and looking back through it I only realised
last year that I get a massive attack of sneezing and runny nose and
feeling generally unwell each year about the 3rd weekend of May. My
doctor recognised this as hay fever and prescribed Cetirizine which
cured it. (Dose this prove the diagnosis?)

Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Michael Bell

PS. I live in Newcastle on tyne, and this hay fever continues to my
yearly visit to Swaledale.

I suffered my first ever attack of hay fever last year. With me,
there's a very slight sore throat sometimes, too. But the streaming
eyes and general feeling I'm about to get a cold that never
materialises, seem to be the indications pollen's about. According to
my stepson when I said I was fed up with itchy eyes and so forth, there
is a lot of oak pollen about now. And a couple of weeks ago our pine
tree, Pinus patula, was giving off great clouds of pollen whenever
anyone brushed past it. That was about the time my eyes started itching
etc.
--
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...


Thank you for these suggestions.

The road I was going along last night when I had my first attack had
sycamore along it, and the place I go to in Swaledale has sycamore all
round it, so maybe sycamore is high on the suspect list. But the hay
fever lasts the rest of the summer, if I stop the Cetirizine, it comes
on again, so sycamore can't be the only cause Or can it?


Michael Bell


It is entirely possible to have multiple allergies.

"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...

The road I was going along last night when I had my first attack had
sycamore along it, and the place I go to in Swaledale has sycamore all
round it, so maybe sycamore is high on the suspect list. But the hay
fever lasts the rest of the summer, if I stop the Cetirizine, it comes
on again, so sycamore can't be the only cause Or can it?


Michael Bell

Maples and sycamores are pollinated by bees. The one near my house is aloud
with bees on warm days. I think (I may be wrong) that only plants pollinated
by the wind are significant to hay fever sufferers so I would suspect that
the culprits for your attack are other trees in flower now such as Oak and
Beech. It is too late for Willow which gets my hay fever started every year.

R.

Ragnar wrote:
"Michael Bell" wrote in message
. uk...
The road I was going along last night when I had my first attack had
sycamore along it, and the place I go to in Swaledale has sycamore all
round it, so maybe sycamore is high on the suspect list. But the hay
fever lasts the rest of the summer, if I stop the Cetirizine, it comes
on again, so sycamore can't be the only cause Or can it?


Michael Bell

Maples and sycamores are pollinated by bees. The one near my house is aloud
with bees on warm days. I think (I may be wrong) that only plants pollinated
by the wind are significant to hay fever sufferers so I would suspect that
the culprits for your attack are other trees in flower now such as Oak and
Beech. It is too late for Willow which gets my hay fever started every year.

R.


Michael,
Your GP should be able to arrange for an allergy test for you. Quite
painless! and will tell you what you are allergic to. Depending on your
health authority, they should be able to offer you a bespoke course of
desensitisation injections which are timed to end just as your
particular allergens become active. I had these for grass pollen years
ago and now I can cut the grass with a flymo and not get sneezing fits.
My course of injections was 13 weeks long so allowing for manufacture
etc, start the dialogue with your GP in the autumn.
I'm now being affected by tree pollens quite badly over the last few
years and so need to get a fix for them in time for next season.

HTH

Bob

In message , Michael
Bell writes
In message
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:

In message , Michael
Bell writes
I keep log of my health and looking back through it I only realised
last year that I get a massive attack of sneezing and runny nose and
feeling generally unwell each year about the 3rd weekend of May. My
doctor recognised this as hay fever and prescribed Cetirizine which
cured it. (Dose this prove the diagnosis?)

Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Michael Bell

PS. I live in Newcastle on tyne, and this hay fever continues to my
yearly visit to Swaledale.


The third weekend of May might be about right for the onset of grass
pollen hay fever season. The season has been getting earlier over the
years, but I'm now hit at the end of May rather than the beginning of
June.

Grass is already flowering here, but perhaps not yet in Tyneside and
Swaledale.

But spring hay fever is usually caused by tree pollen, rather than grass
pollen. Oak and beech would seem to be plausible candidates for this
time of year.

Seeking confirmation in Google finds an article in the Grauniad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...thandwellbeing

Thank you for these suggestions.

The road I was going along last night when I had my first attack had
sycamore along it, and the place I go to in Swaledale has sycamore all
round it, so maybe sycamore is high on the suspect list. But the hay
fever lasts the rest of the summer, if I stop the Cetirizine, it comes
on again, so sycamore can't be the only cause Or can it?


The commonest form of hayfever is allergy to grass pollen. The season
for that is mostly June and July. If you're suffering from that now you
are highly sensitive. (I do get sometimes get some mild symptoms in May,
but I don't know whether that's due to high sensitivity to grass, or
mild sensitivity to trees.)

Allergies to wind-pollinated trees is commoner than to insect-pollinated
trees like sycamore, but I did once meet a person with an allergy to
cherry pollen. If you were to be allergic to sycamore pollen this would
be the correct time of year, but you would have to be allergic to
something else for the symptoms to persist through the summer. If your
allergy extends into August you would be looking into something else,
apart from trees and grass.


Michael Bell

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message , Al
writes
What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?

Sounds like tree pollen. I believe oak pollen is prevalent at the moment.

Al.

The three tomato plants on my bedroom window ledge set me off sneezing,
but it started outdoors a week or so ago. :-(
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

In message
TheOldFellow wrote:

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:08:35 +0100
Michael Bell wrote:

snip
Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?


It's probably a tree pollen, but might be a fungus spore allergy
although that's usually something for the autumn.
If you disturbed some dust yesterday, you might get symptoms, but they
won't last. Pollen and spores can survive in dust for centuries.

R.

I once fairly definitely did get a reaction to fungus. My house was
very damp, with streams of water on the windows in the morning and
there was "black mould" in various places. I felt unwell, though
whether it was "hay-fever" is uncertain. In the end I found a leak,
about a cupful a day, from a cold-water feed pipe under the
floorboards. I fixed it, the windows were dry in the morning, the
black fungus died and my health definitely improved.

But I don't think that can be the cause of my trouble now. I would
have thought fungus would not start so markedly at the same time in
early summer?

Michael Bell
--

In message , Michael
Bell writes
In message
TheOldFellow wrote:

On Mon, 11 May 2009 07:08:35 +0100
Michael Bell wrote:

snip
Yesterday evening I got the first attack of what felt like the same,
but it has gone this morning. What plants and their pollen are the
possible causes?


It's probably a tree pollen, but might be a fungus spore allergy
although that's usually something for the autumn.
If you disturbed some dust yesterday, you might get symptoms, but they
won't last. Pollen and spores can survive in dust for centuries.

R.

I once fairly definitely did get a reaction to fungus. My house was
very damp, with streams of water on the windows in the morning and
there was "black mould" in various places. I felt unwell, though
whether it was "hay-fever" is uncertain. In the end I found a leak,
about a cupful a day, from a cold-water feed pipe under the
floorboards. I fixed it, the windows were dry in the morning, the
black fungus died and my health definitely improved.

But I don't think that can be the cause of my trouble now. I would
have thought fungus would not start so markedly at the same time in
early summer?

Michael Bell

The season's come early this year. I had an attack of hay-fever
yesterday. I reckon that the dry and windy weather exacerbates
hay-fever, though walking through beech and oak woods may not have
helped.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Rape used to cause mine but my doctor suggested giving it up. :-)