I've always kept an open mind when it comes to remedies and I think natural products can sometimes work just as well as medicines. 'I always recommend that people visit their pharmacist. Mark Arundel, pharmacist
It's pine pollen season - that cursed time of year when the hayfever-prone among us transform
into puffy-eyed, red-nosed, sneeze machines.
And according to some Western Bay of Plenty pharmacies contacted by the Bay of Plenty Times, it's arrived early this year.
"We've had a lot of customers commenting that hayfever season started earlier than usual this year," said pharmacist Renee Belling of Life Pharmacy in Bayfair.
While demand for antihistamines and other hayfever medications began growing over the last fortnight at Life Pharmacy, Bay Health Pharmacy at Tauranga Hospital reports the seasonal sales surge began three weeks ago.
"That was pretty early for us. We would anticipate that the demand will carry right on through until the summer season," pharmacist Louise Ranson said.
Unichem Tauranga City pharmacist Garth Mitchinson suggested non-drowsy antihistamines as a good hayfever-beater.
Other weapons to fight back included decongestant sprays and drops, which relieve blocked noses and puffy eyes, and immunotherapy, where GPs inject small amounts of allergens to bolster the immune system.
For those plighted with moderate to severe hayfever, Nasal corticosteroids combated all the substances responsible for hayfever and not just histamine.
Mark Arundel of Bethlehem Pharmacy has himself even turned to acupuncture to overcome it.
"I found it was really successful.
"I've always kept an open mind when it comes to remedies and I think natural products can sometimes work just as well as medicines," he said.
"I always recommend that people visit their pharmacist and ask what's best for them."
He said while the winds were particularly heavy with pollen blown from the region's pine forests in springtime, the number of orchards in the Western Bay of Plenty posed a year-round problem for allergy sufferers.
"If you get hayfever, it's definitely not a nice place to be,"Mr Arundel said.
