Saturday 22 June 2024

June Is Peak Hay Fever Season

If you suffer from Hay fever then you may want to close your watery eyes at this post because in the UK late June is the worst month for the ailment and with the Met Office warning the pollen count will be very high in Britain for the next five days as Mother Nature has decided to fling a bit of summer our way.
The NHS website advises to not hanging your washing outdoors, shower when you've been outside, keep windows and doors closed, vacuuming and wipe down surfaces regularly and take antihistamines.
The National Asthma Society suggest certain times of the day can trigger hay fever symptoms or make them worse and pollen levels tend to be highest first thing in the morning and at the end of the day so if you have to go outside, it’s best to do so during the middle of the day but being ill in the summertime is no fun at all. While everyone else is sitting outside with a cool drink, you’re trapped indoors with itchy eyes, a pouring nose, a tickly throat.
Although it isn't great, you should be thankful that you’re experiencing your symptoms in the present day when antihistamines are a thing, in the 17th Century a 'cure' was to rub a little grease into the temples of your head, gargle with vinegar and to put a hot brick where the pain was.
Another was to boil snails in a little water and then drink the liquid or drip it into your eyes and where would we be today with doctors plumping for some good old fashioned bloodletting and a good purge to stimulate the bowels and induce vomiting.
June is the peak hay fever season due to a combination of the end of the tree pollen and the start of the grass and weed pollen seasons combining and it is the grass pollen which affects most people until late July when you can relax as hay fever season is over so throw open the windows and breathe in the fresh air and head outside with zero worries about snotty noses and itchy eyes, just in time for the British Summer to turn into torrential rain.

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