Has anyone ever struggled with dust/hay allergy?

SWE

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So I think I've developed a dust/hay allergy!!

Never used to be affected but after a LOT of colds and non stop sneezing recently I can only put it down to hay/and damp. I recently moved the pallets under my hay and it was slightly damp and I've obviously inhaled the mould spores and it's knocked me sideways!

So I'm looking for ways to cope! I am going to buy some builders dust masks but wondered if there was any other tips that anyone could give me?

TIA
 
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I have a slight dust allergy that gets worse as they years go on. I live on Hay fever tablets! The Sainsburies 1 a day keep me ticking over. If I have a particularly dusty bale of straw I cover my nose and mouth with a snood/buffer thing. Same if I am brushing a particularly muddy horse.
 

ILuvCowparsely

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So I think I've developed a dust/hay allergy!!

Never used to be affected but after a LOT of colds and non stop sneezing recently I can only put it down to hay/and damp. I recently moved the pallets under my hay and it was slightly damp and I've obviously inhaled the mould spores and it's knocked me sideways!

So I'm looking for ways to cope! I am going to buy some builders dust masks but wondered if there was any other tips that anyone could give me?

TIA

Yes I have a dust allergy, which started in the 80's after we had to load a barn with hay and my friend and I went through 2 boxes of tissues. My allergy makes my throat itchy but not my eyes. Another name is Perennial Allergic Rhinitis, as I suffer from it all year round but I buy anti Histamine specially for dust allergies which keeps it at bay.
 

milliepops

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Yep! Well actually I seem to be allergic to everything horse related: hay, straw, horses :eek3: hair, dust, some brands of saddle soap, you name it.

Antihistamines, keeping clothes and hands clean, not touching my face etc all help but I'm a sneezy itchy mess most days... I've got the wrong hobby :(

Haylage is fab if you can use that instead of hay, it's pretty incredible what a difference it makes to me and I've got really good hay to use up!
 

Cecile

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So I think I've developed a dust/hay allergy!!

Never used to be affected but after a LOT of colds and non stop sneezing recently I can only put it down to hay/and damp. I recently moved the pallets under my hay and it was slightly damp and I've obviously inhaled the mould spores and it's knocked me sideways!

So I'm looking for ways to cope! I am going to buy some builders dust masks but wondered if there was any other tips that anyone could give me?

TIA

Not sure if this will work but its brilliant for Hay Fever, won't cause side effects, cost a fortune or make you worse
Take local honey, must be local to you not supermarket bought, teaspoonful whenever you like during the day, don't take it one day and not another, keep at it throughout the day
 

Louby

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Yep afraid so, never used to have a problem until the last few years, then I ended up in hospital as my airways were closing up, proper scary. So now I avoid hay, I use haylage, I fine with that. During Summer I do use hay but wear a mask and sometimes goggles!! :) :) :) I itch like mad where the hay touches my arms, so I roast and try to cover up when doing nets, or shove my arms under the tap. I also take the generic Piriton when I feel bad, knocks me out but thats what the hospital advised.
 

Gloi

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Go and get it checked out at the doctors. Apart from the obvious like asthma there are other lung conditions that can develop from breathing in moulds and dust.
 

mandyroberts

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Same as others-sneezing itch eyes and any where hay touches. Fortunately horses themselves don’t have as much effect as hay straw etc. Strategy-anti histamine all year (loratadine doesn’t make me dozy). Rubber matting in stables do not vast amounts of bedding. Particle mask if doing loads of haynets. Never touch face until hands washed. Wash face and arms frequently in summer (use facial wipes). If I go to bed with horsey hair pillow then makes me sneeze (admit it who has time to wash hair after every horse encounter). On bad days take double dose of anti histamine. My friend tidies the barn as that’s a real killer! I’m actually not too bad if I follow my own advice!
 

ozpoz

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I took a homeopathic Nelson's hay fever, and it has never bothered me since. And it was miserable for years, running nose, sore eyes and itchy skin.

i don't care if it was placebo, it worked for me! (before anyone gets excited about homeopathy) : )
 

rabatsa

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Antihistamines, I played around until I found the best for me. Keep on as dust free as possible bedding and forage. Shower immediately I have finished the morning stables, having them at home helps here. Eye drops for the gritty eyes and always wash my hair before going to bed so I do not wipe my face in dust on the pillow.

I found using a face mask made things worse for me as it would trigger my asthma and goggles steamed up.
 

Midlifecrisis

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I don't have allergic reactions to things - usually - but the hay we have to buy at our yard is very dusty and if I don't wear a mask (bought at the local country store) I sneeze uncontrollably and wheeze. The mask helps considerably and now most people on the yard use them...but not in front of the person who made the hay.
 

SWE

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Thanks everyone, will take an antihistamine daily and see if that helps. It sounds a little bit different to everyone else - my eyes don't usually get effected (only watery if I sneeze loads) and I'm fine with hay touching my skin. I think it is literally just inhaling it that gets me.
I've had blood tests to check my immune system as I am forever getting colds/flu like symptoms and it drives me mad but they found nothing.

Am going to look at adding certain things to my diet to try and boost my immune system but will also add the antihistamine and mask and see if that help!

Thank you all
 

ILuvCowparsely

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Yep! Well actually I seem to be allergic to everything horse related: hay, straw, horses :eek3: hair, dust, some brands of saddle soap, you name it.

Antihistamines, keeping clothes and hands clean, not touching my face etc all help but I'm a sneezy itchy mess most days... I've got the wrong hobby :(

Haylage is fab if you can use that instead of hay, it's pretty incredible what a difference it makes to me and I've got really good hay to use up!

Does your throat get itchy so you have to use your back of throat to itch. ? Mine get's really sore if I am subjected to it for to long.
 

Sprout

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During the winter when my horses are in and I am mucking out, doing haynets etc, I develope a cough and get quite wheezy, so my previous GP put me on an inhaler which helped enormously. Current GP does not agree and wont prescribe it, so I have been coughing and struggling for months! I tried using a face mask but just got too hot and it didn't really seem to help.
 

WandaMare

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I wear a builders mask when I am filling the haynets and also pull the bale to the edge of the shed so that I'm not completely engulfed in the hay dust. I also leave the haynets until the last task so that I can wash my face as soon as I get inside. I notice it gets worse with particular bales, perhaps the ones which have been stored at the back of the barn or on the bottom row of the stack, so I ask the farmer to avoid bringing these to mine if possible. It is a pain.
 

cobalobM

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Yep! Well actually I seem to be allergic to everything horse related: hay, straw, horses :eek3: hair, dust, some brands of saddle soap, you name it.

Antihistamines, keeping clothes and hands clean, not touching my face etc all help but I'm a sneezy itchy mess most days... I've got the wrong hobby :(

Haylage is fab if you can use that instead of hay, it's pretty incredible what a difference it makes to me and I've got really good hay to use up!

so glad its not just me! their winter coats seem to be worse but the horse hair is what gets to me the most nowadays, I have to wear gloves when grooming or it really effects my skin, as I have eczema on my hands it flares that up too. That plus the tree pollen coming out now im a mess!

I think you just have to play around with different types of anti histamine until you find one that works for you, normally one year I find one then a few months later it stops having the same effect and I have to try different ones again!
 

Fransurrey

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Have struggled for years with dust of any sort. I don't respond to inhalers as mine is suspected scleroderma to go with the Raynauds. I switched to haylage as ponies also cough on hay. Anti-histamines worked, but even non-drowsy ones zombify me so had to stop last summer. I now only take them during particularly bad periods or if I have a cold.
 

hopscotch bandit

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So I think I've developed a dust/hay allergy!!

Never used to be affected but after a LOT of colds and non stop sneezing recently I can only put it down to hay/and damp. I recently moved the pallets under my hay and it was slightly damp and I've obviously inhaled the mould spores and it's knocked me sideways!

So I'm looking for ways to cope! I am going to buy some builders dust masks but wondered if there was any other tips that anyone could give me?

TIA
Having watched someone who I thought a great deal of deteriorate and eventually die of Farmers Lung which was brought on by exposure over the years to dust from hay it has often made me think about wearing a mask when I do my hay. It can be as dangerous to breathe in the dust spores from hay as it can from breathing in any other noxious irritant.
 

ihatework

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Thanks everyone, will take an antihistamine daily and see if that helps. It sounds a little bit different to everyone else - my eyes don't usually get effected (only watery if I sneeze loads) and I'm fine with hay touching my skin. I think it is literally just inhaling it that gets me.
I've had blood tests to check my immune system as I am forever getting colds/flu like symptoms and it drives me mad but they found nothing.

Am going to look at adding certain things to my diet to try and boost my immune system but will also add the antihistamine and mask and see if that help!

Thank you all

It sounds a lot like what I have. I had childhood asthma but don’t really suffer too much from that now BUT post cold/flu I get a very hyper reactive airway and stable dusts really set it off - coughing non stop, tight chest etc.

I now just take an asthma preventer inhaler routinely and if I have a flare 3 days of oral prednidolone generally gets on top of it
 

debsflo

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I have farmers lung and wear a mask at all times and take steroids.
Started having a horse in indoor stables.
Des strongly no exposure so it's mask or give up.
 

Aspen

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Hi, first time posting and I am looking for someone who has experienced similar to myself .

I have had my horse for 10 years , he is currently on a straw bed and has hay not haylage. I have coughed ever since I can remember, sometimes when it’s really dusty or when chucking up the muck and it all falls back down into my face dust etc.. I really hack up.

Went to dr back in March and she listens to my chest , gave me inhaler which didn’t do much . Summer months wasn’t as bad until last week when I notice cough was back again .

Two nights ago I had a new bale of straw I opened it and dust came flying out and set me off, that night I wasn’t coughing but I felt something st the back of my throat which I spat out and was a small ball of blood followed by little bits after then it stopped .

Freaked out and panicked ! Dr took obs and listened to chest all sounds clear but sent me for X-ray which I’m waiting for and terrified !

Coughed up since with phlegm and a small tiny spec of blood , has this happened to anyone else ? Or can anyone relate I’m so worried .

Aspen
 

Louby

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Hi, Im not medically trained but Ive read when you cough a lot you can burst tiny blood vessels and that can cause blood in what you cough up. Id feel like you if it happened to me, its scary but Im sure everything will be ok. Good to hear your doctor is doing tests anyway, hopefully everything is fine and he will put your mind at rest. Deffinately get a mask, they do help with the dust.
 

Gloi

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I am asthmatic and at times when I am not at my best I'll cough up bits of blood. Like Louby said it can be easy to burst small blood vessels. Not nice but not necessarily serious. Wear a mask and if possible get your horse on dust free bedding and feed. Best for the horse's lungs not to be breathing dust either.
 

Aspen

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Thank you both, I’m so anxious my mind goes in overdrive . My X-ray came back all clear so I am now taking steroids to see if they help .

I’m wearing a mask and also changing from straw to a dust free bedding , I am definitely wearing masks !
 

Pearlsasinger

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I have problems with hay dust (even when the hay isn't dusty), so we use haylage. Before that I always wore a mask and gloves with long sleeves even in summer. I take sugar-free Piriteze because I am also allergic to the non-active ingredients in tablets.
 

Gloi

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What kind of dust masks do those of you that find them helpful use?
I think it's a case of what suits you best. Go to somewhere like B&Q and look through the selection. Don't get the very cheap paper ones with the elastic which are useless but any of the others made for people to work in are ok.
 
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