I have a friend that hides every time flowers are in bloom because he is allergic to so many types of flowers and pollen (e.g. dogwood flowers and azaleas). I always feel bad for him because while most everyone else is outside taking a walk to point out flowers and talking about how lovely the leaves look this year, my friend's eyes are swollen red and watering even while he's wearing a face mask/sneezing and reaching for the allergy meds. He's often most miserable during the flowering seasons such as spring (although recently, the seasons have been kind of unusual where I am) and he takes every opportunity to remove the flower-bearing trees around his house and neighboring houses after the trees bend or fall over during some storms and hurricanes, by insisting that the trees are now hazards. ^^0

Does anyone else have this issue as well (are you allergic to any flowers or pollen) and is there something you can recommend that would help my friend to alleviate his symptoms aside from taking drugs like Zyrtec, Claritin or NyQuil? (One huge problem he has with taking those meds is that he tends to get drowsy even with the non-drowsy ones and that's worrisome considering his line of work.) Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

In America, it is extremely pricey (at least for me, I can't say the same for others), but I get allergy shots. It will take awhile to work. Downsides is that you have to get them weekly and then you would get them every other week once you get to the point (I am not at that point), and then it'd be expanded to every 3 weeks and much like that. Before allergy shots, I wanted to burn down everything green or blooming or was a pollen death trap. I still do, but to lesser extent. I am not nearly as bad as your friend though, but I do get extremely itchy, my allergist cleared my sinuses once and they filled up within 10 seconds and all the fun stuff that comes with allergies, but I'm hoping that eventually when I get to every other week, I'll be feeling much better and then it'll alleviate some of my financial burden too. Hope I helped a bit. I never really used medication for them because they just felt like money out a window for me.

I usually wind up with hay fever a couple times a year, but nothing terribly severe. Something that I've read and heard in many different places and from many doctors is that eating local, raw honey helps you build up a tolerance for pollen and lessens allergic reaction. You can almost always find local, raw honey for sale by Amish or Mennonite farms, so if you can find any near you, that would be something to try. In most cases, natural is better.

I'm allergic to pollen as well, and i heard (BUT IT'S NOT PROVED YET) that eating a sow bug will help it for a year. It didn't seem to work, but they indeed contain something that helps being outside, though there are pollen in the air. Well, that's what i heard.

Yeah...I am but to pollen and grass sadly. I can't sit down on the grass to smell the air on it. Since that will get me sneezing and don't forget the pollen that always flies around in the wind during the summer time. Unless I take medicines for it to be able to smell them nicely I can't do that on my own without med or I'll end up sneezing non stop. :/

I'm in the same boat as your friend... I get terrible allergies no matter what time of year. I'm constantly susceptible to hay fever. On the bright side, though, I've found a solution that's been working pretty consistently for me. It's nasal spray. Nasacort, Flonase, etc.  The gist of it is that you use it once a day for about a week or two until your allergies are no more. The drawbacks are that it's kind of unpleasant to spray up your nose and that the results aren't always immediate. It takes time to get working but once it does, it's like a fog (or in my case, a migraine) has been lifted. Best wishes to your friend!

I am slightly allergic to flowers and pollen. Once blowers start blooming, and trees give off tons of pollen, I get really bad allergies for a week straight, and on random days afterward. It's not the worst, but it IS annoying. Allergy medicine helps, but I'd like to take pills as few and as rarely as possible.

The pollen allergy is the only one I have left. Had some allergis for food, but I grew out of them. But I only need to double my dose of allergy tablets when the summer starts. But when its high season that don't even help and I get a running nose and tears from my eyes.

Hi. I have been allergic to most of the local flowers and pollen for my whole life. There are some things, which can slightly help (yet, not entirely remove) to cope with it. For example, carrying mint drops/candies with you or having a mint essence to sniff sometimes. Also I am using some sort of nose spray, which I take it before going out (I can go check out the name if you really want me to). Before that I used to take in anti histamines each week, luckily don't need to do it anymore, because I got that spray. Also every day, in the evening and in the morning it is recommended to clean your nose with some saline.

I am not allergic to pollen or any type of flower (or anything really). I must be somewhat lucky considering the amount of people here with these allergies on this board.

As a kid, my allergies were about as bad as what you described of your friend. I would have to take 4 different allergy medication pills, as well as 2 different kinds of inhalant medicine. I think the list was along the lines of Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegra-D, another pill I don't remember the name of, Flonase, and another form of nasal inhalation-based liquid. And it was bad too. I literally had to blow my nose every 3-5 minutes, if not more on some days. That, or just constantly sniff it back in and swallow it, which is not fun by any means. Luckily in school I at least got along with everyone well enough that they never made fun of me or anything, at least to my face XD

Needless to say I was a borderline zombie the first half of every day lol (I would always take all of it first thing in the morning). Even after taking all that, during the spring and fall, my nose would still pour out mucus non-stop, and I would constantly have itchy, puffy eyes. The medicine literally made almost no difference at all when I really needed it to, so I just stopped taking it altogether. I was lucky enough to grow out of said allergies for the most part by the time I turned 20, though on really bad days I still get a little congested or maybe some slight sniffles. It didn't happen all at once, and was an extremely gradual process.

I don't really have any recommendations since the problem kind of solved itself for me. I'm really sorry I can't help much, since I wouldn't wish that kind of suffering on anyone.

Although (suprinsingly) it has not been as bad in the past few years, I do get seasonal allergies and it can get pretty violent. As it I need to empty one quarter of a tissue box because I nose is always running. I do get to use Allegra or its generic brand, but in the US (I am from Canada) it only exists in 24-hour formula and the box, even at Wal-Mart, can cost from 15 to 20 dollars (more than one dollar per pill).

Wow! Thank you all so much for all of your suggestions! I'm sure my friend has never thought of trying some of these alternatives (e.g. allergy shots) so again, thank you all for being so kind! (I know some people don't like to reveal that they are allergic to anything, so I'm really grateful that you were willing to share your personal stories.) *Hugs everyone* I'll tell my friend about your suggestions, and hopefully he'll find one that's suitable/works for him. Thank you all again for sharing such thoughtful responses!