Hay fever sufferers in Nottingham are facing a week of coughing and sneezing as the pollen count reaches its highest-possible level.
The Met Office says the count will be at ‘very high’ until at least Thursday afternoon (June 22).
Doctors say they have already seen a rise in the number of people coming forward with the typical symptoms of runny noses, itchy eyes and persistent sneezing.
Dr Andrew Foster, a GP at Parkside Medical Practice, Bulwell, said: “I’ve done my clinic this morning (Monday) and I think I’ve had about two or three of 15 people coming in complaining of hay fever symptoms.
“We’ve seen much more hay fever over probably the last two or three weeks than we have done for most of the summer and it does seem particularly bad this year, thinking back across the last few years.
“In particular we’re seeing people who perhaps don’t normally have problems with hay fever, they’ve perhaps had it when they were younger or as a child, but are developing symptoms because of the very high pollen levels.
“They are not quite sure whether they can get hay fever back or what’s going on so they are coming in to consult with us.”
Hay fever is an allergy to pollen that affects around one in four people in the UK.
Pollen is a fine powder released by plants, including grass and trees, as part of their reproductive cycle.
It contains proteins that can cause the nose, eyes, throat and sinuses to become swollen, irritated and inflamed.
Most sufferers will either have an allergy to tree pollen, released during the spring, or grass pollen released, in later spring and early summer.
“At this time of the year we’re getting lots of grasses flowering, and they are producing large quantitites of wind-dispersed pollen,” said Dr Chris Terrell Nield, a lecturer in bio-science at Nottingham Trent University.
“This is what causes the problems in terms of what we call pollinosis, which is hay fever.”
Sufferers can buy antihistamine drops, tablets or nasal sprays to relieve symptoms, and the NHS also has practical advice on avoiding the worst of the problems, such as using Vaseline around nostrils to trap pollen.
