Hayfever, allergies and pregnancy II.

The post on "Hayfever and pregnancy" had quite a good response. Hayfever seems to be a big complication to pregnancy for many women. I have decided to post en entry summarizing the comments I received on how people copes with hay fever and allergies, specially when they are pregnant and they cannot take tablets. Thank you everyone (Laura, parentclass admin, anonymous, A.K.&A.) for sharing your ways of coping with allergy:

Outdoors:

• Use sunglasses and put Vaseline in your nostrils. Pollen will get stuck to the Vaseline outside your airways rather than getting inside.
  
• Use a cap with a peak. It will some of the pollen get to your face and nose.
  
• Cover your hair. Your hair collects a lot of pollen that you take back to home.
  
• When you get home change your clothes and wash them. Have a shower if you can.

Indoors:

• Clean the place quite often. When you come from outside you bring pollen with you. If you sit still for about half an our the pollen will drop from the air. If you can vacuum clean then you will remove a lot of it.
• Keep the clothes you ware outdoors somewhere "sealed" from you (do not have them in the bedroom if you can) and wash them quite often (ideally one should wash them every time they have been worn).
  
• Keep doors and windows shut.
  
• You can use HEPA filters to remove pollen and dust from the air.
  
• People have also reported that homemade soaps help reducing the skin itching.

Whatever precautions you take you still get allergy and your airways get congested. Here are some tips people have suggested to open them:

• Use heat pads on your chest and back.
• Use Vicks Vaporub on your chest at night. I searched a bit on the Internet to see if this product is recommended for pregnant women. They say that "There is no safety information available on the use of this medicine in human pregnancy and breastfeeding. However, it has been widely used for many years without ill consequence. Seek medical advice from your doctor". Read it yourself here.
  

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