Living with Hay Fever
Take care of your hay fever.
Sam keeps your symptom days, medication and pollen levels in one place. You take the history to your next appointment.
Step by step: where hay fever plays out, how the nose and eyes work without it, what changes with it and where it is felt.
Nose and eyes
Hay fever is an allergic reaction of the upper airways to pollen in the air. It often affects the eyes as well.
Turbinates / Eye
A human figure, seen from the front at an angle. The view moves to the face: the turbinates inside the nose turn light blue, and a soft light blue area appears over the nose and the eyes.
Nose and tears
The turbinates, ridges inside the nose, warm and moisten inhaled air. The nasal lining catches airborne particles. Tears from the tear gland drain through the tear duct into the nose.
Inhaled air / Tear duct / Lower turbinate
Close-up of the nose and eyes: the lower turbinate in light blue inside the nose, a soft light blue area over the eye. White dots stream steadily in through one nostril and back through the nasal passage past the lower turbinate. A few white dots move slowly from the tear gland across the eye and down the tear duct into the nose.
In hay fever
In hay fever, the immune system overreacts to pollen, which is normally harmless. The nasal lining becomes inflamed and swells. Sneezing and a runny or blocked nose are typical; itching and watery eyes can come with them.
Open passage
With hay fever, swollen
Swollen lining / Itchy, watery eyes / Pollen
The turbinates turn a deeper blue and thicken, so the nasal passage looks narrower. As the page scrolls, blue dots standing for pollen drift in through the nostril and settle at the front of the turbinate, and a few settle on the eye. The area over the eye turns a stronger blue. Air and tears keep moving. A sketch compares an open nasal passage with a swollen lining.
Day to day
Symptoms come with the pollen season. Hay fever often occurs together with asthma. Stronger symptoms can leave people weak and tired. Hay fever can affect work, school and social life.
Worth discussing with your doctor.
Nose and eyes
The view pulls back to the head and shoulders. The turbinates return to a neutral grey and stay thickened, and a soft blue area marks the nose and the eyes.
Own simplified illustration based on the sources above.
The model shows the lower turbinates inside the nose. The nasal lining, the conjunctiva, the eyes, the tear glands, the tear ducts, the sinuses and the middle and upper turbinates are not shown. The soft blue areas on the skin over the nose and the eyes mark where hay fever plays out and where it is felt. The white dots stand for inhaled air and for tears, the blue dots for pollen; breathing out is not drawn separately. The swelling of the lining, which the sketch shows, is drawn on the turbinate bone in the model and exaggerated for visibility. Air, tears and pollen are shown on one side only, and the pollen grains are enlarged. Adult male reference model; close-ups and the sketch are not to scale.
What Sam keeps for you
For people living with hay fever who want a record for their appointments. Sam is not a medical device. It keeps what you and your wearable already produce and puts it in one place.
From 10 symptom days with pollen values, Sam counts on how many of them pollen was at moderate or higher (level 3 of 5) and on how many air quality was in the lower range of the index, each against the days that value was available. Days logged in another place are counted apart. It is a count of your own days, not a diagnosis and not a cause. If an uploaded blood test contains total IgE or eosinophils, Sam shows them as plain numbers. If you share your location, Sam pauses after three weeks without a symptom day and with pollen below level 3, and stops reminding you about the monthly check.
Sam reminds you to use your daily corticosteroid nasal spray at the time and dose you set, and you check off each use. Other medicines, such as antihistamines, decongestants or eye drops, get no reminder schedule: you log them when you take them, by kind and never by dose. Sam records your doctor's plan and does not tell you what to take.
Rate the day in one tap: Fine, Mild or Bad. Optionally add four nose symptoms (blocked, runny, sneezing, itchy), itchy eyes, sleep and daytime impact, medication and what you did about it. If you share your approximate location, Sam attaches that day's pollen index and air quality, so you do not have to look them up.
Once a month, Sam asks six short questions about the last 7 days: five ratings from 0 to 10 (overall, nose, eyes, chest if you have asthma, sleep and daily life) and the number of days you used rescue medication. Only the overall rating is tracked; the other answers are kept for your doctor. The check follows the ARIA visual analogue scale in style. The wording is Sam's own, and it is not a validated questionnaire.
If you tick wheeze, chest tightness, breathlessness or a whole-body reaction in the log, Sam shows an emergency notice right in the entry that tells you to call 112 (the EU emergency number; use your local one elsewhere). A permanent note in the program says that Sam does not diagnose your allergy, name the allergen you react to or predict your symptoms. Sam is no substitute for emergency help.
All of it can go into one doctor report as a PDF for your appointment.
Every Medical Program has its own doctor report as a PDF. You choose the period it covers and can share the report.
Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness and does not replace medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical decisions.
A blocked nose and itchy eyes are outside what a smartwatch can record. Sam keeps what you log.
Doctor report (PDF)
Sam puts your allergy diary together as a PDF for your allergist or GP. You choose the period the visit should cover: 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or the whole record.
Doctor report: hay fever
Sample viewReport covers
At a glance
34
Days with symptoms
12
Symptom-free days
9
Nights with disturbed sleep
11
Days with activities affected
Symptom days per month
The current month is not included.
Symptom days, last 30 days
Day with an entry
Symptom days, measured exposure and medication
Diary
09 Apr, 08:30
Symptoms - sleep disturbed - antihistamine tablet - birch 4/5, air quality 71/100
08 Apr, 12:10
Symptoms - activities affected - birch 3/5, air quality 78/100
Self-tracked data, not a diagnosis.
Sam shows your values next to your entries. What they mean is something to talk through with your doctor.
You ask a question, Sam answers with your own numbers. For example:
The monthly report sums up your weeks - for appointments, applications, or simply your own record.
Monthly Report - June
Your Health Overview
Respiratory rate
Activity
Example values. Your report is based on your own data.
Further reading: what wearable data can show about everyday life with Hay Fever - and where its limits are.
Hay fever symptoms explained simply: typical signs, how they change over the pollen season and what to note in a diary for your doctor.
Hay fever or a cold? Compare symptoms, duration and timing as German and UK health sources describe them, and learn what to bring to the doctor.
Hay fever disrupts sleep and energy during pollen season. Learn how to track symptoms and support your wellbeing with Apple Health and Sam.
Pollen diary or allergy diary? What a PDF diary, the online pollen diary and an app record, and what Sam records for each day you log.
Hay fever disrupts sleep quality. Learn what Apple Health metrics reveal about your sleep patterns and how to prepare for doctor conversations.
No. Neither Sam nor a wearable detects or predicts an allergic reaction, and Sam does not name the pollen you react to. Your doctor clarifies that, for example with a skin-prick or blood test. Sam records what you enter and shows pollen and air quality for your location next to it, with no conclusion.
Yes, if you share your approximate location. When you log today, Sam attaches the pollen index for grass, trees and weeds (0 to 5) and the Universal Air Quality Index (higher means better air) to that entry. Entries for past days get no values, and Sam shows no pollen forecast.
That is for your doctor or allergist to determine. A diagnosis usually starts with your history, for example in which months you have symptoms, followed by a skin-prick test and sometimes a blood test. Sam cannot diagnose. It can keep your symptom days so you can show them at the appointment.
What helps is for your doctor or pharmacist to advise. Sam is a record: you log how the day went, what you took (the kind, never a dose) and what you did about it, such as keeping windows closed. Sam does not tell you what to take or when. Bring the record to your allergist.
No. Sam does not judge whether a medicine works. You log the kinds of medicine you took on a day, never a dose, and the report counts those days next to your symptom days. Sam can also remind you of a daily corticosteroid nasal spray. Any change is your allergist's call.
Sam has a separate Asthma program. Each program has its own diary, monthly check and report, and there is no combined report. How the two work side by side is described on the page about hay fever and asthma together. Whether the two are linked for you is a question for your doctor.
Yes. You log your symptom days yourself, the way a pollen or allergy diary works. When you log today and share your approximate location, Sam attaches the pollen index for grass, trees and weeds and the air quality. Sam shows no pollen forecast.
Yes. At the start you confirm that a doctor has diagnosed your hay fever. If you only suspect it, you can log sneezing, a runny or blocked nose and itchy eyes in the Symptoms area of Sam and show the entries at your first appointment. Testing, for example a skin-prick test, is for your doctor, not Sam.
Many pollen apps show a forecast. Sam shows none. Sam records how a day went, what you took and did, and the pollen and air quality values at your location for that day, and turns that into a report for your allergist. You can use both.
For a period you pick (1, 3, 6 or 12 months, or everything), the report counts symptom days, weeks with symptoms on more than four days, your mean nasal score, nights with disturbed sleep, as-needed medicine by kind and days, and your daily spray intake, plus how many symptom days had moderate or higher pollen. The entries are self-reported.
Sam has no feature for it. You can log symptom days, medication and what you did about it, and show the report to your allergist. Whether immunotherapy is an option for you is something to discuss with your doctor.
Download Sam for free, connect Apple Health, and see what your data says about everyday life with Hay Fever - compared to your own baseline.
Sam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. Sam does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness and does not replace medical advice. For health questions or concerns, always consult a qualified medical professional.