Lemon tree pollen - hayfever :(

[SkyChild]

I was delighted last week when my newly-bought lemon tree started blossoming away in my kitchen. Alas, I awake daily with a sore throat and bunged-up nose which gets immediately better once I step outside the door.
It occurs to me that my father was plagued with hayfever - specifically allergic to flowering trees and grasses. How can I have forgotten that I suffer the same ailment?!

Anyone else suffer the same? How does it affect you in relation to your fruit trees?
Any way to minimise the effects? (I did used to have prescription medication, but it didn't actually work so I stopped taking it)

[Nicos]

That's a shame.
Can you put it in another room until the fruit is set?

Cetirizine is a new generation antihistamine which may help..have a word with your pharmacist who is the best person to advise you!

We can't really OK medical advice on here...but practical advice such as get your OH to do all the cooking, washing up etc etc is fine!

[cariann88]

I suffer with hayfever. I have it all year around so pretty much everything sets it off. I am bad in a morning when I wake up, with a runny nose every 2 seconds. I do get a blocked nose, sore throat and a headace from it aswell.

There is no way I can stay away from it all. I just have to carry on. Sorry for not giving you any advice.

Like Nicos has said. Can you not put it in another room?

[FB.]

Are you sure it's the lemon plant and not pollen from plants outdoors (or fungal spores) has become trapped in your house?
Wind can carry pollen and fungal spores for tens of miles.

[starloc]

I have read that lmon tree polen should not cause an allergy, some polens do and some dont!, but I have always had very bad hayfever and the citrus plants used to make me very bad
Living with upto a hundred in the house it was very bad......, but strangely since i started growing loads of flowering plants and citrus everywere my hayfever is virtually gone, its as if i have been imunised against the pollen

Hayfever tablets long term are bad for you, i used to take a few a day for about 5 to 10 years and still got hayfever and allergic reactions to people walking past with any type of perfums, just not so bad with the pills, stopped taking them and after a year with plants everywere I dont need them

[Alison]

What a shame, lemon blossom has a beautiful scent too . Can't really offer advice as I don't suffer but OH does and very little seems to help him.

[FB.]

......, but strangely since i started growing loads of flowering plants and citrus everywere my hayfever is virtually gone, its as if i have been imunised against the pollen

Modern medicine has been experimenting with 'cures' for allergies by giving the person carefully controlled and medically supervised doses of the very thing that causes their allergy. The thought regarding allergies is shifting away from avoidance and towards constant low-level exposure.
But messing around with allergies can be dangerous - even fatal in some people - so only do it with the approval of a doctor.

[Jungle Jane]

As you mentioned suffering with hay fever,I was thinking an air purifier would help?

[starloc]

A humidifier works, and citrus like it as well, makes the pollen damp so doesnt float about as much

[SkyChild]

Thanks folks!

I wasn't asking for medication advice really, just thought maybe spritzing with water or something might be useful or if it was as simple as "open all the windows". I could try another room but our house is fairly small so we don't have any rooms that I don't regularly go into (living room, kitchen, bedroom, toddler's room, hallway, bathroom... that's it!)

If Living with it is my only option then that's fine by me or I could use it as handy ammunition in the "We need a greenhouse" debate