For most of us, the summer months are met with smiles but for anyone who suffers with hay fever, this time of year can be a nightmare. Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, affects approximately 10-12 per cent of the Irish population. In Ireland, we also have one of the highest rates of asthma prevalence in the world and according to the Asthma Society of Ireland, 80 per cent of people with asthma also have hay fever. Given that hay fever goes hand-in-hand with the summer months, what exactly do we need to know about this condition? We spoke with Dr Jean Emberlin, an hay fever expert for Opticrom Allergy Eye Drops (€11.22, available from pharmacies nationwide).

So first things first, what exactly is hay fever?

“Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen and spores. For some people, it’s just pollen. For some people, it’s just spores and for some people it’s both. What happens is that the body’s immune defences don’t recognise these small particles as being harmless, but reacts as if they are invading the body. A very complicated chemical reaction takes place,” says Dr Emberlin.

The chemical reaction occurs when pollen or spores land in the nose. When they’re in the nose, our mucus causes them to dissolve, meaning the allergens are offloaded into our noses. This causes a chain reaction, which makes our bodies release histamine.

“The histamine is what causes the sneezing, the itching, the runny nose, the itchy nose and all the other main symptoms you can get with hay fever,” says Dr Emberlin.

“It’s always caused by pollen and spores from fungi. So in the summer and the spring, it’s mostly pollen and then in the summer through to autumn, fungal spores take a lot of the blame for triggering the hay fever symptoms. It’s very seasonal.”

Although seasonal it may be, Dr Emberlin is quick to clarify that there are some people who suffer from hay fever all year round.

“There is some pollen or fungal spores in the year in most months and people who are very sensitive to these could react.”

But how exactly do you find out what type of allergen is giving you trouble?

“There are two ways you can do it. You can keep a symptom calendar. Write down every day what your symptoms are and what time of day they occur. Then look on the Met Office website and you’ll find pollen calendars. Do a search for UK and Ireland pollen calendar and you’ll see what time of the year different trees are usually in flower. Bear in mind these average times may shift a bit according to the weather, but it gives you a good idea.”

It’s important to note that you can develop hay fever if you’ve never suffered from it before.

“People who have never had hay fever can suddenly develop it, even in middle age or old age. Perhaps they might have moved to a new area or something might have happened in their life to increase their stress, because your immune system reacts to stress making you more prone to things like hay fever,” says Dr Emberlin.

And if you’re an asthmatic, it’s absolutely essential that you look after yourself, as hay fever can make your asthma worse.

“If you have asthma and hay fever you have to be very careful because in the pollen season, if your asthma reacts to allergies and is sensitive to hay fever, it could trigger an asthma attack,” says Dr Emberlin.

“Also if you have hay fever that’s not controlled, it could develop into asthma. This is why it’s important to always take adequate medication or treatment and not just think, ‘Oh it’s something trivial. It’ll go away in a couple of weeks.’ You have to treat it seriously.”

The good news is that in terms of treatment, there are a lot of things out there to try.

“The first thing is to go and talk to a doctor or to a pharmacist and discuss with them your particular circumstances, any other health issues you have and get some advice about what sort of treatment or medication is suitable for you.

“There are all sorts of things which can help people. Different circumstances depending on what [a person’s] medical profile is. If they’re otherwise very healthy, the pharmacist may advise them just to take antihistamines and there are lots of different ones of those. If one doesn’t work, try another one because there are slight differences between them.”

For more hay fever treatment tips log on to www.opticrom.co.uk/about-hayfever. For advice on managing asthma during hay fever season, log on to www.asthma.ie