Vaping And Hayfever, Are You Prepared For Spring?

Spring is usually a lovely time of the year where you can finally step out of your house without ten layers on, and enjoy some of the warmer weather. However, for some vapers out there, it’s the start of a few months’ worth of sinus problems. The downside of all these beautiful flowers blooming is that the air tends to be filled with lots of other substances, most notably pollen. This causes a whole host of spring-related sinus problems, with hayfever being the main issue.

As of writing this, the spring weather isn’t quite here just yet - but you can bet it’s on its way. As such, we thought it would be helpful to dive deeper into spring sinus problems and vaping. In this blog we’ll talk about the different issues you can get, why you may get them, and how to prepare yourself for spring. Hopefully, this helps you enjoy the lovely spring weather, without having problems while vaping.

Spring Related Sinus Issues

It’s highly common for loads of people all over the world to get hit with ‘spring allergies’. This is basically a term for the seasonal allergies that crop up around this time of year. When autumn/winter arrives after summer, the weather undergoes a big change. There’s more moisture in the air from constant rain, the temperature gets colder, it’s basically a massive concoction of things that plants and flowers hate. As such, it’s hard for things to grow during the colder months of the year because of the weather.

Then, spring comes around and brings warmer conditions that are perfect for flowers. Consequently, plants start to release pollen - the biggest cause of spring sinus issues out there. If you’re constantly sniffing and sneezing during spring, then you most likely have an allergic reaction to pollen. This is most commonly referred to as hayfever.

Sniffing and sneezing are just two of the many symptoms you’ll see. When it comes to your sinuses, you could end up with periods where your nose is excessively runny, or periods where it’s completely blocked up, and you can barely breathe.

The Problem For Vapers

If you have hayfever, and you’re a vaper, then you could face problems during the spring allergy season. The main issue is that vaping can aggravate sinus problems and make them worse. There is countless evidence out there from vapers who have reported that their nose became really dried out after vaping, and this led to a stuffy feeling and sometimes resulted in nosebleeds. As you can imagine, if you already have sinus problems from allergies, then this will only make things worse for you.

Why does vaping irritate your sinuses? Well, that’s not technically the truth of the matter. The accurate statement is that vaping while blowing out through your nose will irritate your sinuses. If you breathe through your mouth, then you won’t see this problem. When you exhale the vapour through your sinuses, then you’re exhaling the e-liquid and everything that’s in it. For someone with allergies - and an already sensitive nasal passage - this can trigger your hay fever symptoms and make your suffering worse.

It’s fair to say that a large percentage of vapers do like to exhale through their nose. This is purely because it feels nice at the time, and you get the cool vape clouds forming around you. Plus, some people find it hard to breathe out of their mouth as it causes them to cough and splutter a bit.

As mentioned, breathing out of your nose will cause your sinuses to dry up. Anyone with hay fever will know that pollen pretty much does this to your sinuses too. As a seasoned spring allergy sufferer, I’ve spent many days with a dry and itchy nose thanks to that pesky pollen. So, when vaping dries your nose out, even more, it makes the symptoms worse.

Preparing For Spring Allergy Season

So, you know that spring brings a heightened risk of allergies with it, and you know that vaping can often increase your symptoms and wreak havoc on your sinuses. The question is, how can you prepare for all of this?

Well, you should already know one idea; exhale through your mouth. There’s no need to quit vaping, all you have to do is learn to exhale the vapour out of your mouth. Our advice is to practice doing this now, and you should be used to it when the warm weather and pollen come out to play.

Another idea is to stock up on allergy medication. There are loads of over the counter meds you can purchase, and they typically fall into two types; antihistamine tablets, and steroid nasal sprays. The tablets help counteract your allergic reaction to pollen, while the nasal spray works to free up your sinuses. If you start taking your antihistamine tablets now, then you should build up an allergic defence by the time hayfever season is in full swing. This will allow you to vape in the nice weather without worrying about triggering your allergies. As for the nasal spray, take it whenever you feel your nose becomes stuffy, per the instructions on the packaging.

Speaking of nasal sprays, you should also get yourself a saline solution. This will help anyone who accidentally exhales through their nose, or has been doing it for a long time and caused their sinuses to dry out. It’s basically a saltwater solution that helps flush out all the bad things inside your nose and keep it moister.

Hayfever and spring allergies are problems for a huge portion of the population, but they’re even more troublesome for vapers. Keep all this advice in mind and you will attack the spring allergy season without your sinuses suffering. Hopefully, you’re reading this blog before spring really gets into its flow, and the flowers start pollinating. If you aren’t, then all this advice still applies. Just expect to go through a couple of weeks where your symptoms are bad before they start to get better.