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I don’t know about you, but the seasonal allergies flying around so far this year are affecting me more severely than they have done in recent years! Itching throat, eyes, nose… You name it, I’ve had it!
As a Paramedic with almost 10 years of experience, you would think I’d be more on top of my hay fever. Alas, sadly not, and with one of my favourite pastimes including pottering around my garden, I hardly help myself. It’s a bit like choosing to volunteer at an animal shelter when you know you’re allergic to cats!
Hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, causes symptoms similar to colds; runny nose, itchy throat or eyes, sinus-congestion, and sneezing. Unfortunately, the peak of these symptoms are when those affected are wanting to spend as much time outside as possible: summer.
I think back to when I was working frontline and dispatched to a patient who had phoned 999 because of breathing difficulties. Upon arrival on Southsea Common, we saw in the distance a group of maybe 6 people, frantically waving their arms at us. Having had limited information from control as to what is happening, we decided to take the majority of the kit with us: primary bag (10-15kg), our monitor/defib (7kg), our secondary oxygen bag (4kg,) drugs bag (4kg) and our wheelchair. It doesn’t sound too heavy-a-kit to cart 200m, however when your uniform on a hot day leaves you feeling as though you’re trapped inside a builder’s bag and you’ve just gotten out of an ambulance that only seems to have working air con during winter, you’re aware of every extra kilo.
For a high priority job such as a breathing difficulty, however, you don’t take it lightly, and it’s best to have what you need by your side at the first time of asking (unless you are fit enough and/or enjoy trying to run 400m-200m back to the ambulance and then back to the patient – in under 20 seconds, without falling over and needing another ambulance crew for yourself!). Probably more out of breath than our caller, we found the patient to be counting-aloud back-to-back sneezes – the latest episode around the 25-mark when we arrived to them – and telling us that they couldn’t catch their breath. Once quickly establishing that they were not in a life-threatening situation and were in fact a hay fever sufferer, we decided that the best treatment would be to coax them out of the beautifully decorated flower beds they were laying in – their beer impressively still in hand!
So, to my fellow hay feverers, I wish you good luck.
Hopefully, with the right treatment and a bit of Pompey stoicism, your symptoms will be kept at bay enough for you to enjoy more time outdoors over the coming weeks.
One piece of advice, though: do not lie in flower beds.
Posted in: Health & Fitness
