‘It looks like I’ve gone 10 rounds with a boxer’: when hay fever becomes debilitating – and potentially deadly

Often dismissed as summertime sniffles, the condition that affects a quarter of UK adults can lead to serious and life-limiting health problems

Read more: Pollen peril: how heat, thunder and smog are creating deadly hay fever seasons

Sometimes the season starts as early as mid-April; other times it's slower to get going. But for Lisa Ventura, June is consistently the cruellest month. I might get lulled into a false sense of security: Oh, it's the end of May, it hasn't started yet'," she says in a heavy tone. Then, as if on cue, it's June the first - and bang."

Ventura suffers from debilitating" hay fever. For about three months from early May, she cannot be outside for more than a few minutes before she starts sniffing and sneezing. When it's really bad, my eyes look like I've gone 10 rounds with a boxer - they are that swollen," says Ventura.