How do I fight hay fever?

The most important things in brief

• One in five Swiss people suffer from hay fever or a pollen allergy.
• If the symptoms are severe, they can thoroughly spoil the joy of the warm seasons.
• There are two ways to reduce suffering.
• Either you fight the symptoms with medication and everyday helpers - or you undergo a special immunotherapy.

Allergic reactions to pollen, i.e. hay fever and its symptoms, are a problem for around 20 percent of the population in all European countries. This also applies to Switzerland. Seven out of ten allergy sufferers show symptoms, some of which are severe, when pollen comes from the plants to which they are allergic. But hay fever can be fought – in the short term and in the long term.

Effective medication for hay fever

The symptoms are the same for all allergy sufferers, only the severity varies from person to person. Runny nose, sneezing, itchy skin, eyes that water, burn or itch, difficulty breathing. There are a number of medications you can take to help relieve these symptoms or make them tolerable, such as nasal sprays and eye drops, drops and pills.

These drugs are divided into two groups of active ingredients. Corticosteroids are hormones that the body also makes. They serve to inhibit the production of so-called inflammatory messengers that takes place in the cells. On the other hand, there are antihistamines, which – to put it simply – suppress the body's allergic reactions.

Get the organism used to the pollen with immunotherapy

For children from the age of 5, adolescents and adults, there is the option of carrying out desensitization, which usually lasts three years and more. With this immunotherapy, the patients are regularly injected with the pollen, with the dose being increased step by step.

The aim of this method is that your body slowly gets used to the allergy-causing pathogens and later shows no more immune reactions. There is usually no improvement during this treatment, and you can continue to combat the symptoms with antihistamines or corticosteroids.

What else you can do

As an allergy sufferer, it's always good to be prepared. There are a lot of apps where you can call up pollen count reports, forecasts and weather forecasts at the same time. Because when it rains, the load drops significantly. With heat, wind and sunshine - and especially when these factors occur simultaneously - the pollen count increases exorbitantly. If you don't have to, you often don't leave the house. And if you do have to go outside, you shouldn't underestimate the beneficial effect of sunglasses. The protection from bright light alone helps your eyes and nose and relieves the discomfort.

But even if you stay at home a lot, you are not protected from hay fever. If you air a lot, for example, you let pollen in through the open windows and doors. Drafts in particular are counterproductive. It is best to only air intermittently. What always helps is taking a shower before going to bed, which literally washes the pollen off of you. Washing your hair thoroughly is particularly helpful. And if you are outside during the day, flower pollen can also get into your four walls through your clothing. So you shouldn't keep these clothes in the bedroom overnight.