Hay fever is a collective term for an allergic reaction to pollen - sadly, it is not confined to pollen from grasses.. My hay fever starts with the early tree blossom - Horse chestnut trees are the worst and it follows on with other types of flora throughout the spring and summer. I've suffered since I was about 15 and it really is debilitating - at the worst times the symptoms are more like asthma, my eyes are irritated, I sneeze prolifically and my nose runs constantly, I'm lethargic - pure misery. I could never get along with Piriton - it just puts me to sleep - and I live with a daily dose of Loratadine during the hay fever season (in my case basically most of spring and summer). On its own it provides some relief but it's not a complete cure. However, since I've been eating my own honey, alongside the tablets, I've found the symptoms are noticeably reduced. I've experimented - leaving out the honey - it gets worse, leaving out the Loratadine - it also gets worse, leaving both out and I can barely function on some days.
I don't know whether it's a placebo effect - I could try some control experiments and get my wife to substitute Tesco own label honey and a sugar pill in place of the anti histamines as a blind test - Can I be bothered ? It works for me, I see the benefits and I'm happy to accept that the combination of the two makes my life with hay fever liveable.
I have a lot of customers who are convinced that my local honey has an effect on their hay fever - when I am asked I tell people that it works for a lot of people and the only way to find out is to try it and see - but there's no guarantee.
There is no cure for hay fever - but in the worst cases immunotherapy is possible - where small quantities of pollen are injected into the person on a regular basis - building up immunity to some degree and perhaps the pollen found in local honey is having a similar effect - who knows ? There's apparently no appetite for any formal medical testing .. and probably never will be.
