Hay Fever

I have hay fever, just like 1/4 of the adult population in the UK. I have it reasonably mild, but it's still unpleasant at the height of the grass pollen season. Itchy throat and eyes, uncontrollable sneezing. The usual. It doesn't stop me from going outside, and for most of my life I just put up with it, and took an antihistamine in the morning. However, it rarely provided much relief.

This year I decided to change that and actually do some research to see what treatments are available and whether they are free via NHS Scotland.

The best treatment available, that actually treats the root cause, is called Grazax. It's a desensitisation/immunotherapy treatment where very small doses of grass pollen are taken daily over the course of a 3-year period, at which point you should see considerable improvement. However, this treatment costs the NHS £1000s per year to prescribe, so it is reserved only for the most extreme cases.

If you have mild hay fever like myself, there is a far more cost-effective treatment: nasal spray that contains an antihistamine and steroid, and eye drops. This only treats the symptoms, but is significantly less expensive than the Grazax treatment and is free on NHS Scotland and can be picked up easily at your local pharmacy.

I've been taking it for 5 days now and I can't believe I'm only using this now! It makes a significant difference. I haven't sneezed once or had an itchy throat or nose since starting the treatment.

I also found out about this after a discussion with Google Gemini. LLMs are amazing.