Whilst the subject title wasn’t intended to generate mirth, does anybody have any recommendations of nasal sprays that work well for hayfever? I don’t really want to go to my local boots as it’s packed with people and they’re generally not that helpful in there at the best of times.

I take quite a lot of anti-histamines, prescription strength as directed by the Dr, but even on those the inside of my nose and airways to the back of the throat feel irritated and sore every summer. I don’t really get any other symptoms of it as the anti histamine keeps that under control but it doesn’t stop that. I also don’t really want to bother the Dr at the moment as they’re understandably pretty busy!

Was just wondering what works for people off the shelf.

Cheers

white powder columbian style?

tbh I find anti-histamines useless, if someone can come up with a suggestion that doesn’t have me feeling like cutting my head off and sticking it in the washing machine for a rinse cycle it will be wonderful……

Beconase for me.

Takes a few days of use to start working, but has made a big difference to my symptoms.

Beconase is the most widely available. It’s non prescription. works pretty well I find

Have you tried putting Vaseline around your nostrils? Its meant to trap the pollen before it gets into your nose. There are specific waxes like Haymax that do the same thing.

Beconase here too, works for me.

Pirinase works better for me than Beconase, also alongside prescription antihistamines (Fexofenadine 120mg).

Although,this is my third year without dairy, and my hayfever has been nowhere near as bad despite pollen counts being high. Go figure..

IANAD but i think the nasal sprays need to be used daily to build up tolerance. They don’t reactively relieve discomfort.

IANAD but i think the nasal sprays need to be used daily to build up tolerance.

This is true. They are a preventer not a treatment. I start taking mine a couple of weeks before the tree pollen season starts.

I’m on Fexofenadine as well, currently on 720mg a day but that’s because I occasionally get hives and they stop that happening. Pretty good at keeping a lid on hayfever but I don’t really get it that bad, it’s just my nose feels sore all the time. And no I don’t have anything wrong with me!

Thanks for the recommendations. I had seen both the Pirinase and Beconase so will check the former out.

I get similar problems, Benadryl sorts out the sneezing and the itchy eyes but I still have a dry crusty half blocked nose most of the time.

I’ll give Beconase a try

A pencil up each nostil.

Or Beconase.

On fexofenadine and a prescription only nasal spray. Salt water nasal rinse before the spray and later in the day if the pollen is really high.

Generic ‘Beconase’ for me – beclomethasone dipropionate. So much cheaper than branded if you can find a local chemist that stocks it.
I do need to keep using it regularly and am guaranteed a bad time if I forget or a few days.

A very different answer but my wife uses naseptin cream which isn’t a hayfever treatment but she finds that it is the best product for her.

I find taking the hayfever tablets the night before most effective because you then don’t wake up with symptoms that take ages to clear. Waitrose own brand (ooh la la) combined with beconase nasal sprays is working for me this year

I think a bit of trial and error (or sniff and sneeze) is useful.
Different people seem to react better/worse to different anti-histamines.
That said Beconaise worked for me last night…

Lotaradine tablets and Beconase nose spray just about keep it bearable for me. As above, it needs consistent use over several days to be effective. Cetirizine tablets made me too drowsy.

Prescription only but Fluticasone propionate works for me, same stuff that purple preventative inhalers have and it is a steroid.

AKA Nasofan aqueous or various brand names.

I use alongside fexofendaine.

Whilst the subject title wasn’t intended to generate mirth, does anybody have any recommendations of nasal sprays that work well for hayfever? I don’t really want to go to my local boots as it’s packed with people and they’re generally not that helpful in there at the best of times.

Have you been in recently? Ours is fairly back to normal now. Ask to speak to the pharmacist – they *may* be able to help, although if you are already taking various prescription level things you may be hoping for the impossible. Have you considered a mask – they seem to be quite common these days!

I also don’t really want to bother the Dr at the moment as they’re understandably pretty busy!

I’m not sure they are – everyone has stopped wasting there time with trivia so they are actually not that busy as I understand it. They also can potentially deal with this as a video call rather than needing an appointment. Although the pharmacist may will be the best person to deal with it in normal times anyway – if the one in Boots is crap, go to another pharmacy. They’ve spent 5+ years just learning about the drugs, rather than a doctor who had to learn about diagnosis, surgery, etc too…

Was just wondering what works for people off the shelf.

if the doctor is prescribing Rx only stuff, why do you think some over the counter stuff will work better?

I’ve used Boots Hayfever Relief nasal spray for years. Beclometasone Dipropionate is the active ingredient.

Strangely this year I have hardly had any symptoms for the first time in memory.

Beconase for me.

I asked Alexa to put this on my shopping list the other day and she somewhat predictably added “baconnaise.”

Beconase for me.

Takes a few days of use to start working, but has made a big difference to my symptoms.

+1    I take 2-3 Beneadryl a day and Beconase on top of that.

Beconase is a topical steroid applied up the nose. The part you swallow gets metabolised before it can enter the circulation. We ran studies to test flutocasone (the next generation) in the Vienna Challenge Chamber. Basically volunteers with hayfever sit in a sealed room and have allergen pumped in through the ventialtion. Then we measured symptoms – everything up to and including tissue weight (I am not making this up). Normally. we’d have them take the steroid for a week before challenge.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1472-9733.2012.01164.x

Before this torture chamber, we used to run “walk in the park” studies. Guess how they were run. The VCC reduces variability.

Whatever 1 a day is cheapest… tend to use one of the saline nasal (Sterimar?) sprays after a ride to blast out any pollen I’ve hoovered up.

Sounds daft – but old fashioned smelling salts have worked for me. Probably distraction therapy! 🙂

I’ll second the suggestion of vaseline, won’t completely eradicate it but will bring down to a manageable leavel.

Pirinase is OTC fluticasone propionate, which used to be Rx only (how I used to get it), and as has been said, is next gen compared to beclametasone.

The good news is that they fever does diminish as you get older.

In your fifties.

I’ve also been on a fluticasone nasal spray this year and it has been by far the most effective thing I’ve tried in over 20 years of this shit. It’s so good it even stopped me snoring as much while I was taking it. This is the one I got on prescription from the GP, I’m definitely getting more next year:

https://www.dymista.co.uk/en-gb/dymista-allergy-nasal-spray

I’ve also been on a fluticasone nasal spray this year and it has been by far the most effective thing I’ve tried in over 20 years of this shit.

Same here, I get Avamys on prescription and it’s the dogs.

Avamys is fluticasone furoate. That’s the generation after fluticasone propionate which is the generation after Beclamethasone. The newer generations are more potent and work in tissues for longer. FF is a POM only. FP is OTC now. My son uses pirinase too. I helped develop FF some time ago and yes we did use the VCC to test it.

Disclosure: I work for GSK R&D. But I’ve seen my sister and son suffer badly with allergic rhinitis for years.

I’ve been using nasacourt over the last few yrs. prescription only in the large bottles but otc in the smaller bottles. Take it a few weeks before and it seems to work on my usually blocked and runny nose.

Thumbs up @TiRed….

Beconase for me – or whatever generic equivalent is available.

Also Vaseline really does work – I occasionally do this when it’s really bad at night and it’s surprising how effective it is. It’s a bit messy and feels strange though so I wouldn’t use it in the daytime when out and about.

Beconase and saline nasal irrigation for me – especially post ride to wash all the cack out.

Surprised no one has suggested frozen sausages yet.

Beconase nasal spray works well and also opticrom hayfever eye drops for when the eyes start itching.

Grass pollen allergy & Loratadine here. Whatever I take has to be non-drowsy. Tried Beconase years ago, but spraying it made me sneeze uncontrollably.

Whether Loratadine actually has any effect I don’t know, I daren’t not take it though.

But this year my symptoms started very early (mid May, whereas it’s usually late June/early July) and were very mild. I only remember one day this year where I needed to lie down with a cold wet flannel over my eyes.