There is huge confusion around hay fever and pharmacists still frequently dispense the wrong medicines. To deal with the condition, firstly take practical steps, like wearing wraparound sunglasses, staying inside at dawn or dusk, keeping windows closed and washing your hair before you go to bed to rinse out any pollen that has collected there.

A good next move is to go to your pharmacist and get a long-acting non-sedating antihistamine, containing cetirizine or loratadine (commonly sold as Zirtek and Clarityn respectively). I would not recommend fast-acting sedative antihistamines, such as those used in Piriton. The most effective medicines are probably nasal steroid sprays although some require a prescription. Identify the symptoms you get most severely. Itchiness and sneezing are generally caused by histamine release, so antihistamines are helpful. But the bunged-up feeling is caused by other chemicals, so steroid sprays, ideally in combination with a slow-acting antihistamine, are best.

For the 10 to 15% of people who have significant symptoms despite medication, desensitisation treatment is often useful. The idea that allergic people can be treated by increasing their exposure to the thing that they are allergic to is 100 years old, yet many GPs still do not know about it. The traditional method is to administer to the patient injections of the appropriate pollen, but now it can also be delivered in tablet form, or squirted under the tongue. If hay fever is interfering with your life, even though you are on medication, ask your GP about desensitisation.

Dr Adam Fox, consultant in paediatric allergy at St Thomas's Hospital was talking to Leo Benedictus