Eczema Free Forever™ Eczema Free Forever™

50% more people have hay fever this year

I think you’ll all agree, this year has been an incredible summer so far. I love England in the sun, it’s like being on holiday and the feeling of the sun warming the skin is one of my favourite things. But if that warm, dry weather brings with it clouds of pollen, spring and summer can be miserable for those who have hay fever.

I’ve noticed that just in my circle of friends and allergy community many of us have seen a worsening in symptoms, terrible hay fever and also loads of people getting it for either the first time or the first time in years.

A recent study revealed that there has indeed been quite a staggering rise.

Read ‘Spike in summer hay fever cases’,

The article begins by stating that, “Hay fever cases in England have reached their highest level so far this year, and are just under 50% higher compared to this time in 2016, the latest weekly figures from the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Research and Surveillance Centre show.”

That’s a 230% increase… but what’s the reason?

  1. Warmer drier weather for the seasons means more pollen
  2. Hay fever seasons seem to be extending, trees pollinate more for longer
  3. Very little rain to soak up the pollen – so it’s dry and stays on the surface to blow around
  4. More city landscaping, trapping pollen on hard surfaces
  5. Trends toward more decking and hard floors in gardens – pollen is absorbed into soil
  6. Council planting strategies favour high pollen trees over fruiting (less mess to clear up)
  7. Five year trends do see spikes in symptom cycles like this
  8. And I could go on…

I plan to produce a blog about why this is happening shortly, the article above, whilst intetesting, doesn’t offer any insight into why this phenomon is occuring. If you’re like me, you want answers, you want to understand why, so you can at least reassure yourself you’re not to blame. Your super immune system is just over reacting again in a quite spectacular way. It’s being quite clever really so do be proud of your body. It’s trying to help you out, it’s just failing rather miserably to do so…

I learnt loads about this last year when I was on Country File Diaries in a hay fever special. You can read the top 20 things I learnt here in 20 things you can do to reduce your hay fever...

So there could be many factors, leaving us still with no real cure or treatment. Anti histamines and sprays and eye drops do help but they only take the edge off the symptoms.

For more help, tips and ideas to help you reduce your symptoms, please read my other hay fever blogs here.
For those who crave an active outdoor lifestyle it’s time to man up and get out there. Go prepared and take whatever precautions you can because this super pollen is nasty and it’s out to get you!

Please also listen to me on 5 Live talking to Sam Walker and Chris Warburton on Sunday Breakfast about this very phenomenon.

Has your hay fever been worse? or have you or your child just got it for the first time this year?

talkhealth Blog

What is Super Pollen and Thunder Fever?

Super Pollen and Thunder Fever on Radio 5 Live

Super Pollen and Thunder Fever on Radio 5 Live

Hayfever is a worry for many people around spring and summer time but what if I told you that things could be about to get much, much worse.

Think pollen on steroids.
Imagine all those pollen particles splitting and doubling their misery… it sounds like something from a hayfever horror story.

And it’s real!

I got a phone call yesterday while sitting on the beach in Bournemouth from an unknown number. Ignored it. I’m on holiday so I don’t have to answer and it was probably a sales call. But they phoned again, so I relented, just in case, and it turned out to be a researcher for BBC Radio 5 Live asking me to be on their early morning programme the following day to talk about ‘super pollen’ and ‘thunder fever’.

Super pollen and thunder fever

Super pollen and thunder fever

All I had to write on was this tiny salt packet but of course I said yes, yes yes. I’d love to help out. When they said early they meant early – tune into 5Live and listen back to about 6.38am. I was on the Sunday Breakfast show with Sam Walker and Eleanor Oldroyd – resulting in the usual surnsame banter 🙂 I hope I didn’t sound like I had just been woken up by my phone ringing, because of course they decided they’d like to get me on air EVEN EARLIER so they called me before the first alarm had even gone off (yes I set three alarms just be safe)

So back to the important subject of hay fever.

I am well aware of the conditions that make pollen worse, being one of the approximately 10 million people in England who are thought to have hayfever, but why might we get super pollen and what on earth is Thunder fever?

Why are we getting super pollen and thunder fever?

Recent very dry weather have created something of a pollen breeding ground. The lack of rain has meant that fallen pollen is not absorbed so easily into moist soil and hasn’t been washed away. All those tiny billions of pollen particles are sitting around on patios, pathways and parklands waiting for the warm and balmy weather which will give them a new lease of life.

Thunder and lightening, forcast soon across England due to the humid weather, splits the pollen particles so the problem becomes much worse. Warmer weather coupled with blustery winds will blow those particles up into the air ready to settle in your airways. Are you ready?

What can I do stay safe?

You can never totally escape the pollen, but if you keep up-to-date with any nasal sprays and anti-histamines you usually take and make sure your asthma is well controlled you should be well equipped to weather this storm. But as we all know, there isn’t a widely available cure to hay fever, unless you can afford de-sensitisation treatment.

What you can do is take note of the perfect conditions for this kind of super pollen storm. It’s been dry so lots of pollen is lying around. Very little, if any, rain so none of those particles have been absorbed and washed away. The weather forcasts predict some lovely humid, warm and sunny weather and we are all looking forward to that, but those of you with hay fever should take care.

Thunder and lightening followed by dry and windy conditions could mean we are in for a real pea soup of pollen over the coming weeks.

Further reading

You can read more about this phenomenon here:

Super pollen to hit UK, according to allergy expert

Super pollen warning as stormy weather sends levels soaring and covers UK in sheets of dust

How has your hay fever been this year? How are you coping?

talkhealth Blog

Infant Fever | Infant Fever Rash

Infant fever, often, tends to be more concerning than when it affects adults. The ailment can be nothing but uncomfortable for adults, unless it shows a reading of 103 degree F in the thermometer. However, when it affects kids, especially infants, it is usually a certain indication of a serious infection. However, it has to be known that the degree of the fever must not be taken as an indicator for the seriousness of the underlying problem. This is due to the fact that high fever can be the result of a minor medical condition, while a serious illness can manifest itself in the form of low grade fever. Also, many people may not be aware of the fact that fever is one of the body’s natural responses which help it to fight off a number of infections. More on infant fever has been incorporated in the following segments.Infant Fever Symptoms
Due to obvious reasons, infants would not be able to convey to their parents about how they are feeling. So, it is the parents who have to keep a close watch on any abnormal or unusual symptoms they might notice in their babies. So some of the common symptoms which might indicate infant fever include difficulty in feeding, crying during a diaper change or even when moved, unusual lethargy and more irritable than normally is. The concern becomes more serious if the infant is younger than 3 months of age or has a fever of 101 degree F (38.3 degree C). Also, in case of a new born baby, if the temperature shows lower than 97 degree F (36.1 degree C), then even this might be a symptom of something severely amiss in the body. This is due to the reason because very young babies do not have the ability to regulate their body temperature and instead of becoming warm, they become cold. Infant fever after shots may also be a common symptom.There are other symptoms of fever which occur in adults, but may also show up as toddler fever symptoms too. These include sweating, headache, body ache, muscle aches, poor appetite, loss of taste, and shivering. Dehydration, general weakness, and severe symptoms like hallucinations, confusion, irritability and even convulsions may accompany the fever in adults and sometimes in infants and older children, as well. What I did not mention in the above segment was regarding infant fever and rash. Commonly, a condition known as baby measles causes rash which is followed by high fever. Even this could be a severe symptom, which must be brought to medical attention. Reading these articles on fever in children – when to worry and high fever in toddlers would help you know more about the symptoms.How to Treat Infant Fever?Infant fever treatment is not something which must be done at home with the help of a few home remedies. You never know how their bodies would react to the use of non-prescribed medications. So what best can parents do, is to take a note of the symptoms such as the ones described above and make way for a pediatrician at the earliest. Until medical help arrives, parents can treat infants with oral rehydartion solution such as Pedialyte, which is one of the severe complications of fever. Also, keeping infants in lightweight clothing help in reducing their discomfort. Avoid any visitors and ensure that your baby gets enough sleep throughout the day. Keeping the room temperature cool, also helps in keeping the body temperature from rising. Giving your baby a sponge bath using lukewarm water is helpful for combating with high temperature. However, if the bath causes any shivering, then immediately stop the bath and pat dry your child.So this was it for the symptoms which can help parents to diagnose infant fever. As I have mentioned, when it comes to babies, the best choice for the treatment is to make an immediate appointment with a pediatrician, without any second thought. However, when immediate medical help isn’t available, parents can follow the few measures mentioned above. Fever is, perhaps, the most common of all health conditions diagnosed. Fever is also the first sign that the body sends out to signal an infection or a disease that’s coming on. It is the body’s thermoregulatory set-point that rises to deal with a faulty mechanism occurring in the body. A fever is generally characterized by bouts of cold, and an increase in shivering, heart rate and muscle tone. A low grade fever ranges from 100.4oF to 102.2oF. Low grade fever is persistent in nature. ontagious and life-threatening bacteria called Salmonella enterica serovar typhi causes Typhoid Fever which can be transmitted from one person to the other by contaminated a food and water or also by contact to the infected person. The bacteria have the potential to multiply very fast in the blood stream of the patient and are absorbed by the human digestive tract within no time. It is serious problem in the developing countries though not much in the industrialized countries. It is commonly treated with the help of antibiotics and very few people die of typhoid fever now though at point in time it was an epidemic. There are vaccines also that are available for the treatment of typhoid fever.As stated earlier bacteria called Salmonella enterica serovar typhi cause the disease and though this is the cause of the disease, there are other ways the main cause results in wreaking such havoc in the human body. The bacteria take the fecal oral route to enter the human body. Often the disease is spread either by contaminated food or water or by contact to the person who is infected already. Poor sanitation and contaminated water are the main causes of Typhoid fever and people in the developing countries are more prone to the diseases since they lack in proper

http://infantfever.blogspot.com/