Hay fever symptoms: what are symptoms and what are underlying reasons why you may experience worse symptoms?
Spring is coming, pollen is in the air and hay fever symptoms are reappearing. For some people, hay fever symptoms can start as early as December. This is due to the mild winter we are having.
What is hay fever?
It is a seasonal allergy of your mucous membranes. Everything from your mouth to your butt (digestive tract) is made up of mucous membranes. These mucous membranes become irritated or overactive which takes a lot of energy for your body. In hay fever, there is an overactive immune system causing histamine secretion through the nose and eye mucosa.
Typical hay fever symptoms include:
- Snotting
- Tear Eyes
- Itch
- Sneeze
- Cough
The immune system reacts through an allergic reaction to substances that are normally not "foreign" to the body. Histamine is released. This is normally an essential substance found in the body but also in food.
But why do more and more people have hay fever symptoms?
About 3 million Dutch suffer from hay fever. Every year more and more people are affected. This could possibly be because our immune system is constantly (over)active. But our gut health also plays an important role in this, we find 80% of our immune system in our intestines, so the better your gut health the better your immune system can work. Intestinal imbalances can include:
- Processed food/unhealthy diet
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Stress
- Antibiotic use
- Medication
So it is essential to take good care of your gut. You can read more about this in this blog .
In addition, supplements can support you during this period. It is important that a therapist consults with you. This can be done through an online or telephone supplement consultation.