A summer
cold?
Achoo!
Joy, from‘Diary of a (retired) teacher,’ mentioned that she was suffering from hay fever,
and it made me think about this affliction. Barry used to get hay fever every
summer and was tested for all sorts of allergies. One year, he gave up drinking
milk and his hay fever abated and has never returned – so far . . .
Hay fever
is the body’s overreaction to pollen, the immune system mistaking it for a virus.
My father
had a ‘summer cold’ every year. I realised some years ago that it must have
been hay fever and wondered when the term came into being. I was surprised to learn
that it was first used in the early 19th century. John Bostock (1772-1846)
wrote a paper on ‘summer catarrh’, described as ‘Case of a periodical affection
of the eyes and chest.’ This eventually became known as hay fever and was considered
an illness.
He had used his own experience as a case
study, recording that in June each year, from around the age of 8, he suffered, ‘a sensation of heat and
fullness in the eyes, first along the edges of the lids, and especially in the
inner angles, but after some time over the whole of the eyeball; a slight
degree of redness in the eyes and a discharge of tears; worsening of this state
until there was intense itching and smarting, inflammation, and discharge of a
very copious thick mucous fluid. To these symptoms were added sneezing,
tightness of the chest and difficulty in breathing, with irritation of the
fauces (the opening at the back of the mouth leading to the pharynx) and trachea.’
The true cause of hay fever was diagnosed in 1859
by another afflicted British scientist, Charles Blackley (1820-1900). Popular
theories suggested that it was the smell of new-mown hay and excessive summer
heat that gave rise to the condition, but Blackley conducted many experiments, finally
narrowing the culprit down to grass pollens.
The season starts in March when tree pollens are released
and ends in late summer, with the wild flowers, but the most common form of hay
fever, or allergic rhinitis, is caused by an allergy to grass pollens. Grass pollens
are most prevalent from the middle of May to July and affect 90% of sufferers.
Hay fever was not common before the 19th
century and the start of the Industrial Revolution. In UK now, 1 in 4 people suffer
from it. Obsessive hygiene, destroying our bodies’ abilities to build up
immunity, and excessive use of antibiotics, are thought to be two of the major
contributors.
One last, happy thought – hay fever can start at
any age, and there is no cure, though there are plenty of natural remedies,
some more effective than others. A daily teaspoon of locally produced honey may
help, as may probiotics in foods like sauerkraut and kimchi. Quercetin, an
antioxidant found in onions, apples, berries and capers, acts as a natural
antihistamine. Finally, a herbal tea, like chamomile, can soothe sore throats.
If you add your daily honey to it, it might be even more efficacious.
😉
