Do you have a constant, or seasonal runny nose and/or watery eyes? Do you suffer from sneezing at certain times? Do you get itching eyes, nose or mouth? If so, then you are showing the symptoms of a person who is allergic to something in the air we call an "allergen". An allergen is any substance that will provoke an allergy. We call hay fever, "allergic rhinitis" which is a more accurate term. The seasonal hay fever reaction can occur one or two days after exposure, particularly after rain - the rain water causing the bursting of pollen grains. The pollen grains being the "trigger". Similarly, pollen grains encountering the moist surface of the inside of the nose, will rapidly burst to discharge their allergy-causing proteins right on the spot.
If you also have asthma, this can also be caused by the same allergens that cause your hayfever. If your asthma is due to pollen it tends to begin later in the pollen season than hayfever.
You should suspect hayfever in its broader sense, if you tend to sneeze or get a runny nose in the presence of a pet animal, when near dried leaves or rotting wood, feathers or in dusty areas or near specific substances, particularly chemicals.
WHAT IS HAY FEVER?
Hay fever in its strictest meaning is confined to pollen allergy. However, in popular understanding it is taken to mean a runny nose due to allergy. There are a number of allergies that will cause a runny nose (allergic rhinitis) and pollen is only one of these. Hayfever triggers include not only grass, flower and tree pollens, but also animal fur, dust mite, chemical fumes, microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses and molds as well as some foods. It is the most common form of allergy and has reached alarming proportions in the community, now affecting almost one in every two individuals at some time. Once symptoms to hayfever have emerged they tend
