Summer is fast approaching and it means more fun in the sun and longer days. But, for many of us, it also means the hay fever season is here.
Hay fever is a common allergic condition that affects up to one in five people at some point in their life, says the NHS. The symptoms of hay fever are caused when we have an allergic reaction to pollen. This fine powder contains proteins that can cause the nose, eyes, throat and sinuses (small air-filled cavities behind your cheekbones and forehead) to become swollen, irritated and inflamed.
Hay fever is one of the most common allergic conditions. It is estimated that there are more than 10 million people with hay fever in England. The NHS says hay fever usually begins in childhood or during the teenage years, but it can occur any age although it is more common in boys than in girls. In adults, men and women are equally affected.
And how do these sufferers get by? They take antihistamines and other drugs to ease the problem. If the problem is more severe there is immunotherapy, which slowly introduces small amounts of pollen to your system to build up resistance.
The treatment can be given as an injection or a tablet that dissolves under your tongue, but is reserved for severe cases and can take months to have any effect.
Hypnotherapy, too, could help. The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) is the leading not-for-profit association for hypnotherapy in the UK with 1800 qualified and registered therapists on its directory.
Among them is Russell Davis who works in London and Cornwall and has found that cognitive hypnotherapy can ease the symptoms of hay fever. He used an NLP visualisation technique along with a more generic immune system healing visualisation to relieve his own hay fever.
On his website, he states: “I did a combination of both of these visualisations for about 10 minutes twice a day and very quickly started seeing the results. A lot of people get results from the NLP technique from just one sitting. It may be easier to have someone talk you through it but I found I was able to take myself through it, but it maybe because I am used to visualisations”.
In recent years, a team of Swiss researchers found that that hay fever sufferers reported fewer symptoms after they were taught hypnotherapy. The subjects were told to close their eyes, take deep breaths, let go of their tension and to ignore the tickle in their noses.
After a year, during which one section of the volunteers were taught to practise self-hypnosis, it was found that they had fewer symptoms than the volunteers who had not practiced self-hypnosis.
If you are troubled by hay fever, look up an NCH therapist near you by clicking here and you could enjoy a better summer this year!