Those who suffer from hay fever, it has very difficult in the beautiful spring – because just because the pollen fly reinforced. What helps against itching and sneezing?
What is hay fever?
Millions of Germans suffer from hay fever. That is, they respond to plant pollen (smallest pollen particles of grasses, trees and herbs in the air) with cold-like symptoms such as run cold. Peak season for pollen is from April to August, but earlier or later outbreaks are possible.
What are the symptoms of hay fever?
Many sufferers consider the symptoms of hay fever before the diagnosis initially for a cold. The following symptoms can cause hay fever:
- Strong sneezing
- Congested nose or runny nose (rhinitis)
- Itching and / or burning in the throat
- Bleeding and burning eyes
- Swelling of the mucous membranes, z. B. in the nose
- to cough
- Aggravation of skin diseases like eczema
Hay fever can also affect the lower respiratory tract like rhinitis and cause respiratory distress. In addition, hay fever patients are at an increased risk for allergic asthma because the allergy can also accumulate in the bronchi.
Hayfever: The pollen allergy does not itch me!
Unfortunately yes. Already every seventh is pollen allergy sufferers, nevertheless hay fever is still underestimated. How do you recognize it – and what can you do about it?
“My nose keeps running, is that a sign of hay fever or just a little cold?”
“If your eyes are itchy, there is some evidence of an allergy,” says Dr. Jörg Kleine-Tebbe, Member of the Board of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology. In his Berlin practice, he also has the experience that people who permanently need nose drops are often unknowingly allergic to pollen and Co. are.
Dr. Christa Wilcke, ENT doctor with allergological focus such. For example, hay fever in Hamburg, advises: “Anyone who has more than 14 days runny nose, should be at least let’s examine.Sometimes, the doctor can already recognize the mucous membranes, if there is an allergy or behind the chronic cold something else is like a chronic sinusitis. ”
Incidentally, even if 80 percent of allergies break out before the age of 30, it can also start in older adults with the pollen-induced hay fever and a cross-allergy . Experts even assume that these late first manifestations are currently increasing.
“I went to the doctor, but the allergy test did not produce any results, and now?”
Allergy tests, such as the forearm prick test or the detection of IgE antibodies in the blood, merely show a sensitization, a readiness for a pollen allergy, as it were. From an allergy such as hay fever one speaks only if it also complaints fit. “The education of an allergy takes time,” explains Kleine-Tebbe. “And the conversation with the patient plays a decisive role: What kind of complaints does he have, when do they occur, are there other allergies in the family, etc.”
If the tests do not work, it just means that there is no allergy to the tested substances. But the list of possible triggers is long, so it can become a detective work, including finding the “wrongdoers”. So it does not always have to be hay fever. “The problem is that this effort is not cost-covering for the doctor,” says Kleine-Tebbe. “Unfortunately it happens again and again that allergy sufferers are dealt with too quickly.” Dr. Wilcke then advises to agree with the doctor that after an inconclusive test further investigations are made at least in the next accounting quarter. Helpful to quickly encircle the allergen: log your symptoms before you go to the doctor.
Allergic rhinitis: “I get along well with funds from the pharmacy, but can I really take those permanently?”
“For all medications that you take over longer periods of time, you should think about the relationship between effect and side effect,” says Wilcke. And although the antihistamines of the second generation (z. B. with the drug ceterizine) no longer do so sleepy as older drugs, occur fatigueand dizziness just at the counter tablets still frequently.
Because hay fever often makes itself limp, it gets really annoying. “But there are certainly means that make less tired,” says Wilcke. “In addition, the drugs each have a different focus.” In one, the eyes are particularly affected, in the other, it itches in the ears – and accordingly, different remedies help best. Another argument for an appointment with the specialist: He knows the range of medicines and can advise accordingly to find the right one. “As a patient, I would not want to try everything myself,” says the ENT doctor.
“Does a pollen allergy like hay fever become more allergic over time?”
Not necessarily, but the risk exists. Among other things, so-called cross-allergies are responsible: the antibodies that have been formed against a specific allergen also jump to other proteins with a similar structure. Birch pollen allergy sufferers usually also develop reactions to other tree pollen and two-thirds of them to certain foods such as apples, other stone fruit, carrots, nuts.
Noticeable is the itching, tingling or swelling in the mouth. In the past, cross-allergies were even more rare. “Today they are the main reason for food allergies in adulthood,” said Kleine-Tebbe. And even through the change of floors can be from an allergy more allergy, in the sense of more severe complaints, to permanent damage to the respiratory tract.
“Is there a chance my hay fever will go away by itself?”
That happens, but only in phases in which the hormone balance and thus the immune system of our body change over: during puberty, during pregnancy or during menopause. However, there is also the risk that it is the first time that allergic symptoms occur. “It is certainly not the case that allergies grow more and more, the older you get,” says Wilcke.
“Could hyposensitization against hay fever make sense to me?”
When immunotherapy is the only causal therapy because the immune system through regular confrontation with the allergen thus for. B. the pollen – with weekly injections or the daily intake of drops or tablets – gradually learns to tolerate this. According to a survey, 70 percent are satisfied with the result of hyposensitization: on average, the need for medication and symptoms of hay fever and Co. are reduced by half, the risk of asthma is reduced or existing asthma can be alleviated. Unfortunately, hyposensitization does not work for a nickel allergy .
In addition, allergies do not spread so much afterwards. “Hyposensitization stabilizes the immune system so that it develops a general tolerance,” says ENT specialist Wilcke. The guidelines recommend immunotherapy with allergens for moderate to severe symptoms of hay fever and other allergies. It is already possible with children and there is an upper age limit, unlike earlier, today no more. “Experience has shown that treatment works better if the number of allergens is manageable,” says Kleine-Tebbe. Always required: the willingness to consistently continue the treatment over three years. “Nothing is as bad as a canceled hyposensitization,” says Wilcke.