Prevention is better than cure with allergies - here's how to keep them at bay before symptoms appear
Get ready for hayfever season by stocking up on antihistamines.
Finding out exactly what pollen or grass seed causes your allergy, then keeping a close eye on the pollen count is the best way to control your condition. When it's peak season for your particular allergen, take a daily dose of antihistamine to prevent yourself becoming a sufferer.
That's the advice of Dr Adrian Morris of the Surrey Allergy Clinic.
Dosing yourself up with an antihistamine such as Benadryl (Zest top tip: look out for two for the price of one offers at Tesco) is the best way to keep debilitating symptoms at bay.
Taking an antihistamine before you experience the symptoms of an allergy is also recommended if you're sensitive to other allergens such as dust mite and pet hair. So if you're allergic to cats and plan to spend the weekend at the house of a friends who has cats, pop an antihistamine before you set off.
Health forecasters at the Met Office advise that trees such as birch and oak - which affect about 25% of hay fever sufferers - release their pollen from late March through to mid-May. The grass pollen season takes off in late May - bad news for around 95% of hay fever sufferers.
You can get a daily pollen forecast from the free Benadryl Allergy app - download it from the Apple store - so you know when to be on red alert.
If you suffer the symptoms of an allergy - sneezing, wheezing, rashes - but aren't sure what is causing it, specific allergy testing can track down the cause. If pollen is the culprit, you'll then be able to find out when peak season occurs for your trigger, and make sure you take your antihistamines in good time.
