What is respiratory allergy?
An allergy can be described as: “A specific response of the body’s immune system to normally harmless substances”. The ‘foreign substances’ some people react to are called allergens. Examples of allergens are tree pollen, grass pollen, house dust mites and animal dander. People who are sensitive to these allergens react with allergic symptoms such as hives, eczema, stuffiness, a runny nose, sneezing, and/or watery eyes after being in contact with this/these particular allergen(s).

Hay fever is one of the most common allergies. The symptoms mentioned above occurred often at the end of the summer, during the ‘make hay’. In this the name “hay fever” finds its origin. Hay fever is caused by pollen from grasses and/or trees and not, as the name suggests, by hay. There are many other allergies in addition to hay fever which can cause a stuffy nose. Therefore “allergic rhinitis” is a better alternative to be used instead of the term hay fever. Allergic rhinitis means allergic reaction of the nose.

Symptoms in relation to respiratory allergy
There are two groups of people who suffer from allergic rhinitis symptoms, the ‘runners’ and ‘blockers’. The runners often suffer from a watery runny nose, sneezing and sometimes itchy and/or watery eyes. The blockers mainly suffer from a blocked, stuffy nose and sometimes a runny nose.