Oh no! Allergies to HAY!

[blackfang]

I know I’m allergic to Timothy Hay. It wasn’t that too serious for me. I sneezed and had watery eyes when the door was closed. I can smell hay in that room.. It happened like three time a year.

 

But today.. There are few oxbow timothy hay left at the bottom of huge box (I ordered 50 lbs of oxbow timothy hay) with a lot of hay dusts. Yes a lot of hay dusts. I was picking up hays so I can fill several cardboard boxes and refill hay racks for my rabbit and guinea pigs.

 

I noticed that my arms and hands were itching and I can see few umm what do you called it? Allergic pimples? Those things appeared on my skin. I washed my hands and arms. I feel a lot better.

 

I told my mother about this. My mother warned me that my allergies to hay will build up over time so I will not able to deal with timothy hay later in future. I’m like . NO! I’m not going to give up my rabbit just because I will not able to breath hay around my bunny. I know that I can switch to orchard hay but I wasn’t sure if I’m allegric to it, too.

 

I’m wondering if she is telling me the truth? It is possible that my body will build up the allergies toward to hay if I continue to touch it or smell it?

[BinkyBunny]

I’m not familiar with allergies, as I don’t have any but one — I’m allergic to Novacane (I pass out completely, but since they don’t use it much anymore, not much of a worry for me)

My husband and my best friend have allergies to hay and cats (more so cats) but both my friend and my husband grew LESS allergic over time almost to the point of non-existent. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work the other way — I just don’t know, so hopefully someone who has had allergies will be able to answer this for you.

What I am thinking may have happened in your case though is that you said that you were getting to the bottom of the box of hay, and even hay that isn’t that dusty will be dusty toward the bottom. All of the little bits and pieces continue to shake down and fall down toward the bottom as you use the hay, so when you get down the last 1/4, you’ll be dealing with more dust than you were when you were at the top and middle.   (and that stuff is much more irritating) So that may be all it is. If that is the case, you may want to use a mask, long-sleeve shirt and gloves for the bottom 1/4 of your box of hay.

But even if is a problem with the Timothy — Orchard and Oat are good alternatives to try. 

[KatnipCrzy]

If you break out in a “rash” like that I would recommend rinsing your arms with cool water to try to wash away the irritant- warm/hot water opens pores which would not be as beneficial I would think.

I went trail riding yesterday (horseback) and a couple of hours after I got home I noticed I had a rash on my face- red bumps that almost looked like they wanted to fill with fluid.  I can not imagine what I caused this- so I rinsed my face with cool water and applied hydrocortisone cream and took a Benadryl (I can only take 1- 2 makes me jittery) and also took a Pepcid AC (as that has antihistamine properties also).  My husband works at a pharmacy and I asked him if ANY of my meds can react to sunlight and he assures me “no”.  And I have used nothing new- same  face wash, and same moisturizer (not even used that day).  And my riding helmet has a visor- and my skin is not burned.  It is weird and looks odd because I have pale skin anyway.

So I would try different types of hay, and follow some of the other suggestions that BinkyBunny mentioned.  I know that some types of hay depending on how you buy are pretty pricey- but you can always avoid the bottom of the bag and just throw it away when you get into the “danger zone”.  In the summer- I fill my indoor hay storage bin outdoors so most of the dust etc stays outside.

Timothy hay does seem to be the most common that people are allergic to.

[Battie]

Oh, that is miserable! I’ve developed the same issue, and found that allergy medicine, at least the kind that wouldn’t knock me out, wasn’t terribly helpful. What has helped a LOT is an air purifier. I still have issues occasionally, and cleaning the cage usually sends me into a blinding allergy attack, but overall I breathe much easier. No more waking up coughing or with a completely stuffed up nose. Barbie gives buying advice here: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aff/6/aft/108843/afv/topic/Default.aspx

Unfortunately, I did have to buy a somewhat expensive one to help me. That may not be feasible depending on your budget. However, I’m sure they are all-around good for household air, so that may make it easier to justify the expense.

I was told orchard grass is nutritionally similar and easier on allergies, so if you can find that it might be a good option. Around here I can only find small, expensive bags.

[wendyzski]

You can wear gloves and/or wash your hands and arms after handling the hay – cool water and a nice mild soap will help.  If you break out in hives you can get a topical benadryl spray or cream for them.

[Denise12]

I have them too. Everytime the hay comes out I sneeze multiple times, its horrible. I have one more big bag to get through and then i’m on to oxbow.

[blackfang]

Sorry everyone! I was busy in real life!

Thanks!

I’ll switch to orchard hay as main hay for my rabbit to eat. Romeo love to eat orchard than timothy hay, lol.

I’ll feed him timothy hay once a while so he wont get bored to eat same hay for rest of his life.

[BinkyBunny]

Keep us updated how your allergies react or “don’t react” to Orchard.

[RabbitPam]

Your Mom can be right, she’s not making it up. Allergies can get worse over time, but often it’s a combination of allergies that puts you over a threshold that brings on a more severe reaction. Like if you have allergies to budding flowers in the spring, THEN touch the hay, you will increase your sensitivity and reaction to both.

There are several things you can do. Shots from an allergist are designed to stop your reaction to one of your triggers, in this case Timothy hay, though it may not be limited to Timothy. BB is right also, in that the treatment actually gives you small amounts of the allergen so you build up an immunity to it in your system until your reaction goes away because you have a fully armed immunity to it. That’s why continued exposure can also have the opposite effect and make you better, not worse. You kind of do what the Allergist does for you in more controlled, healing ways.

You can also take steps to minimize your exposure, as was suggested. Wearing gloves really helps, as long as you don’t touch your face (especially rub your eyes) with them. Rinse them off after you use them and use them again the next time.
An air purifier will help the room in general.
But you can also buy, really cheap, a package of disposable face masks like they use in hospitals, and just put one on with your gloves. That will really stop you from inhaling and touching your face. A bag of 5 for under $5 may be well worth it.
And the bottom of the bag, with more dust, is going to be worse for you. So might have to toss it sooner, or cover yourself initially, take all the hay out and transfer it to a clean container, after shaking it out thoroughly, and then throw out the original bag. I keep my hay in a covered container with a pop up lid that I got at Target, so I just open the lid, take out a handful of hay, close it and put it back in a closed cabinet. That keeps it away from me daily and only opened for a brief moment to feed her.
Hope this helped.

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