Hay fever can be described as an allergy caused by pollen. Pollen is the very fine powdery substance created by plants for the use in pollination, or fertilization. In its most common guise, hay fever is the allergy caused by grass or hay pollens and usually occurs from late spring until early summer.

Usual symptoms of the condition include a runny nose, sneezing, and streaming, itchy eyes. The symptoms are caused due to the body’s immune system reacting to the pollen. Cells which line the nose and eyes tend to release chemicals such as histamines when they come into contact with the pollen, and this causes the inflammation in the eyes and nose which produce the symptoms.

Hay Fever

Hay fever is a very common allergy and affects almost two in every ten people in western society. It usually develops in children of school age and teenage years and the symptoms reappear year after year. Eventually, the symptoms start to decrease over the course of many years, until the condition either disappears totally, or improves vastly. The condition usually runs in families and an individual is more likely to develop asthma or eczema if they already suffer from hay fever.

Although it’s impossible to avoid pollen totally, symptoms are less severe if exposure is reduced. Nowadays pollen counts are freely available for all regions via TV, radio and the internet. Sufferers of the condition are normally treated with antihistamine tablets, antihistamine nose sprays, steroidal nose sprays and eye drops.

Kidney stones are described as stone-like lumps which can form in either one, or both kidneys. They are quite common, but to understand what they are, we have to discuss the function of the kidneys.

First of all, the kidneys are approximately four inches long and are shaped like a bean. There are two of them in the body and they are located near the back of the abdomen area, one on each side of the spine. The job of a kidney is to remove waste products from our blood and then pass this waste into the bladder along with excess fluids to be disposed of in the urine.

Kidney stones can be categorized into four main types. Calcium stones which are made up of calcium and phosphate or oxalate; struvite stones which are made of ammonia and magnesium (these ones can often be quite large); uric acid stones (the smallest and softest type of kidney stone); and cystine stones which are normally yellowish in color and look like crystals as opposed to stones. All kidney stones can come in different shapes, colors and sizes – from the size of a grain of sand to (in some extreme cases) the size of a golf ball.

Kidney Stones

Kidney stones are formed when the waste products collected by the kidney do not dissolve properly in the fluid that will make up the urine, which then forms little crystal-like substances that can accumulate in the kidney. Over time these can form a hard lump that looks like a stone – the kidney stone.

When kidney stones are formed, they will very often try to leave the body via the urinary system, which can create problems, especially if they become blocked.

Blood pressure is described as the pressure the force of blood applies to the artery walls as it flows through them. It is the pumping action of the heart that causes the blood to be under pressure. Normal blood pressure is an essential function in the workings of the body. Blood pressure is denoted by two numbers, 120/80 being an example (which happens to be considered an average blood pressure reading, by the way), with the first number being the systolic blood pressure, or the pressure when the heart is contracted while pumping the blood, and the second number is the diastolic blood pressure reading which is when the heart is at rest while filling with blood.

Naturally low pressure (usually thought of as lower than 90/60) doesn’t indicate any problems health wise. It could be normal for some people and indeed beneficial as it can lower incidences of stoke and coronary heart disease. It only becomes a problem if it is accompanied by symptoms such as fainting. This is normally caused by an underlying problem which would indicate that the blood pressure is not being regulated properly.

What to do in the case of Low Blood Pressure

If someone has constantly low blood pressure, then this could be classed as normal, however, if they have postural hypotension (blood pressure drops when standing up from a sitting position) or postprandial hypotension (blood pressure drops after eating), could mean there are underlying health problems. These could be taking drugs that are used to treat high blood pressure, illnesses that cause blood loss, diabetes, Addison’s disease (an adrenal gland disease), and early stages of pregnancy.

Treatment of low blood pressure normally depends on the underlying cause of the problem.