What is the best hay fever solution?

I am suffering with hay fever like many of you out there. I want to know what is the best product on the market or if you have any "Grandma's recipes" that you swear by

Thanks

The best way to minimize hayfever, is to eat some of the local honey.
It's this pollen that the local bees make their honey from, so just like a flu jab, it should provide some immunization, providing it's the local honey from local bees.
Don't stray too far out of your region though because it won't work with other pollinated flowers.

I'm 40 years old and tried the "shots" route when I was in my early teens. Didn't work. The good news is that Clariden is now available over the counter and the Wal-mart Equate version (10 mm) is just under $5.00 for a 30 day supply. Works for me!

Good luck-

I got Levocetirizine (xyzal) 5mg from my doctor. One a day.

Benadryl! Beats Grandma's recipes every time lol

Firstly only about 50% of hay fever sufferers get total relief from antihistamines. The rest have to use local treatments often in conjunction, to treat their eyes, nose or chest.

Antihistamines divide into 2 basic groups:

1) Very old, 2-3 times a day, potent, sedative and very cheap.
2) Newer, once daily, less potent, less sedative (these still cause some sedation!) and more expensive.

There are a dozen in the second group, there is little to choose between them but mizolastine is said to decrease the number of patients who need local preparations.

I always put in my answer before I look at the other answers. I might be tempted to guess that among them there is likely to be at least one suggestion about using homeopathy and at least one advocating this weeks urban myth of local honey. Neither of these work, they are however harmless so you are welcome to test them out for yourself.

Both some eye and nasal preparations are available over the counter. They are however the older and milder managements and the pack sizes are very small for the price you pay. There is often an argument for seeing your GP, if only to save money.

I don't think there is a 'best product' - everyone is different, and different solutions work best for different people. So it's a bit of trial and error.

However, I believe that either a herbalist or a homoeopath could be helpful - I have personally had many successes treating people with this approach, despite the scepticism of some.

Do find a properly qualified and experienced practitioner if you decide to ask for their help. Locally produced honey can also be helpful, as someone else has suggested - give it a try!

i totally sympathise. I have suffered since I was 11. Nothing works so I just end up staying in. Even planned my wedding around hay-fever season. People who don't suffer, don't understand. They leave windows open, they slam doors not realising that they kick all the dust up, they spray deodorant etc. The only thing that ever worked was prednisone, a corticosteroid. I was prescribed it for ulcerative colitis and it stopped the hay-fever in its tracks. I felt like I was reborn!! I Have just ordered a 'Salt-pipe'. might as well give it a go.

drinking lots of water helps

At the first sign of a sneeze, sniffle, or tickle, turn to Triple Guard Echinacea. It's the best echinacea you can buy. It has more immune-boosting echinacea than Shaklee鈥?Defend & Resist Complex.

A5986 is the product to search for
http://cgirish.qhealthbeauty.com/product...

Try taking antihistamines or other allergy medicines (e.g. if you suffer with itchy eyes you may find antihistamines don't help and so you could use allergy eye drops as well).

There are also other things you can do to reduce your exposure to pollen. There's more pollen around in the morning and evening as the earth is warming or cooling...reducing your time outside during these times can help. Wearing wrap around sunglasses whilst outside can also reduce the amount of pollen that reaches your eyes.

When you get in, changing your clothes and taking a shower can help ease your symptoms as it stops pollen that you've picked up on your clothes or hair from affecting you later on. It's also good to avoid drying clothes or bed sheets outside on days when the pollen count is high.

I've also heard, but not tried it, that putting a little vaseline just inside your nostrils helps reduce the amount of pollen that you inhale. As I said though, I've not tried this so can't say first hand whether this works or not.

Allergies are immune responses that are a bit too much of a good thing, so KoolAid's theory is bass-ackwards. It'll do you no good to ask others, because you'll simply have to try different antihistamines to see which work best for you.
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is quite sedating, so you may want to restrict its use to evening/night-time. Other classic "sedating" antihistamines like chlorpheniramine cause little more sedation than the new "non-sedating" antihistamines. Loratidine (Claritin) was found in its dose-ranging studies to be non-sedating at 10 mg per day, the recommended dose, but not very effective, and one guy at FDA lost his job by insisting that a larger, and mildly sedating, dose be used. Whatever antihistamine you decide to try first, though, you should plan on trying a dose not just once or twice, but regularly over a period of a couple of weeks, before you decide whether it works for you. And eventually you may find that smaller doses of two chemical classes will work better than a larger dose of one antihistamine. You'll need advice from your pharmacist on this, of course, to know which are of which class.
And avoidance of allergens is important. Simple things like wearing a mask when mowing the grass or vacuuming the carpet may be of great help.