Human hay allergies

[holeymoley]

I've had my horse for eight years now and I have just realised in the last few days I am allergic to hay. I ran out of my own hay so have been buying small bales off of YO. I can quite easily go though a pack of tissues after making up his haynet I get runny/itchy eyes, itchy hands and arms and constant sneezes.

I do have a slight touch of hay fever but I think it's too early for this given the temperatures! Would a simple anti histamine help while doing Haynets? It's only with this hay as well I know a friend who has asthma and uses a mask and everything to do nets

 

[Delicious_D]

I am allergic to grass and hay...practical huh?
In the summer i wear sunglasses to protect my eyes, damp down the hay and wear a face mask (oh the shame!!!). Piriton is my friend too

 

[AdorableAlice]

Mask is your best bet. I buy them on the internet and just keep them in an old biscuit tin in the barn. Also use them for grooming a moulting horse and clipping.

 

[DuckToller]

I get this and was told it was the mould spores that were the problem.

I avoid handling hay whenever I can, and use haylage instead. Soaked hay is ok, but of course you have to handle the dry stuff to put it in the water in the first place!

Wear gloves and a mask if you can find one that fits properly, and don't touch your eyes with your hands.

Better to avoid it than take antihistamines, but yes they do help.

 

[Gloi]

I am allergic to hay and straw but I can cope a lot better with haylage than hay probably because the moisture level stops the allergens flying about so much. Fortunately mine lives out all year so I don't have a stable to deal with.
Otrivine antistin eye drops are great!

 

[Snowysadude]

I have farmers lung which causes a severe acute hypersensitive reaction to hay/straw/grass/dust. Also get rashes wherever it touches my skin :\. I use a prescribed antihistamine and it works and am meant to wear a mask but sometimes "forget". Also have inhalers for it! All works. Oh and I work as a freelance groom

 

[cheeryplatypus]

I suffer badly with hay allergies. Some batches are better than others.
What I do is take an antihistamine and wear a decent mask with a one way valve, make as many nets as possible at once (I do a weeks worth so take less antihistamines)
After wash face and hands.
The allergies improve if you don't let them become extreme. You could also try having local honey, the low dose of pollen in honey can be therapeutic.

 

[mandwhy]

I'm allergic to hay, dust, animal dander etc, I stock up on hayfever tablets and take one about every 2 days, and with haynets or grooming a shedding horse I have also been known to get the shades and surgical mask out! Considering getting one of those proper filtering masks that mountain bikers/cyclists wear, they look a bit menacing but will be great for when the dreaded rapeseed appears! Maybe jockey goggles too!

 

[ebonyallen]

As the others have said you are best off to wear a mask every time you are near hay, which should help ease the problem.

 

[Cobsndogs]

I'm like this too, I live on once daily antihistamines and beconase nasal spray. I tend to wear a mask when doing hay/beds etc which does work well. Because I'm a tad strange, when I can't be bothered with the mask I coat the inside of my nostrils with tinned lypsyl type stuff, which is surprisingly good at catching dusty bits (not so pleasant after when blowing all the grubby stuff out!).

 

[sidesaddlegirl]

I'm allergic to straw and some hays and haylages- I get BIG red swollen hives all down my thighs but strangely, nowhere else on my body!! I am better with haylage though but every now and then when I get a certain batch in,. I have to take antihistamines.

 

[holeymoley]

It's terrible where can I buy the masks?

It's funny as just as I wrote the post I was watching embarrassing bodies in the evening and they're was a man who worked at a racing yard and he had a rash which was a reaction to mould spores! I went to take a slice of hay from my bale this morning and the bottom was very mouldy .

I will try the mask and maybe gloves, rubber ones sound a good idea, means I won't get scratched either

 

[Shysmum]

Yup, I am struggling too atm - and taking a tablet a day to cope. It seems to set my eyes off "scratching" and has been much worse since I have been soaking the hay (and rinsing it off afterwards)

 

[Ibblebibble]

yep hay and dust allergic which considering i have horses and clean for a living is a bit of a bummer!! at this time of year i can get away with just a piriton before the yard and i'm ok, once the hayfever kicks in proper I'll take a one a day and piriton and wear a face mask!! certain grasses seem to affect me more than others, horses have been on rye hay this winter and that doesn't seem so bad as meadow hay.

 

[holeymoley]

I tried rubber gloves tonight and it was a big difference. However I took them off to sweep up and must've un-knowingly touched my face and it started . I felt really hot as well I don't know if that's a symptom of allergies too? Think ill try a mask as well.

 

[Kacey88]

I am usually on here asking about info for my horses, but allergies is one thing I am definitely very experienced in! I have asthma, hayfever, eczema etc. I find that wearing a mask probably stops lots of dust from entering your lungs, but still enough gets through for a reaction. I also wear goggles for itchy eyes. I have never taken anything as effective as Flixonase, which you can now buy over the counter (at least over here you can).

However, after being on Flixonase for ages my eyes were still itchy and teary from hay, so I got an antihistamine eye drop for them too, which did nothing! They got so bad they were puffy every day, for the whole day. Went to the doctor and he said that sometimes people with allergies also get dry eye, ironically enough the tears produced when you've an allergic reaction do not lubricate your eyes sufficiently so now I have a lubricating eye drop for going to bed and one for during the day and my eyes have never been so white and feel normal! Might work for you too