Amari Mornan-Vaughan story (Managing Director)
During my teenaged years, in the hot summer of 1976 (for those old enough to remember) and whilst my friends were enjoying the hot weather, I spent my time feeling miserable. I was sneezing, had a constant runny nose, streaming eyes and an itching throat. When there was no relief after a few weeks, I was taken to the Doctor where I was diagnosed with hayfever and prescribed daily antihistamines during the hayfever season.
Although the medication reduced the symptoms initially, the next year they were not as effective and I would be given something new to try. Eventually, I was given stronger prescription medication and its side-effects would often make me drowsy. Even with the medication, my symptoms were so bad that at times my eyes were blood-shot and it was recommended that I wore dark glasses in bright sunlight.
This was my summer experience every year until I went to college to study and decided to seek out more effective treatments. In the early 1980s I was prescribed further treatment in the form of an injection which I was told would last the whole summer. The symptoms finally disappeared; I was indeed able to enjoy summer like everyone else and was excited at this apparent change in my health.
Unfortunately, by the end of the summer I began to develop blotches and pustules on my back. A visit to the Doctor confirmed that my body was overreacting to the treatment and it could no longer be safely used.
After this brief period of respite from hayfever, I was back on new drugs – including nasal sprays – which worked for a time but again by the next summer had stopped being effective. Every time I heard of something that had worked for others I would try it, which includes acupuncture and homeopathic treatment. Again, the result was the same; at best a temporary and short-term relief.
In the 1990s I became aware that I was intolerant to dairy products and removing these from my diet, along with continued medication, reduced the intensity of my hayfever symptoms. As the years went by I also worryingly noticed that my hayfever season allergy was getting longer. In the early years it ran from June to August; by 2008, it was regularly March to September.
As time passed, I became more concerned that I was on medication daily for half of the year. I also noticed that, occasionally, I was having problems breathing properly – especially during the night. I was later informed that I had asthma which isn’t unusual when you have hayfever. The medication taken in the form of tablets – both over the counter and prescribed – always left me drowsy even when I took those that were supposedly a non-drowsy formula. When I asked my Doctor why I was still drowsy despite using the non-drowsy medication, I was informed that a small minority of people are still susceptible to drowsiness.