Hay Fever Treatment Online — Prescription Antihistamines, Nasal Sprays & Eye Drops
When the pharmacy antihistamine has stopped working and you are sneezing through May, the next step is a doctor, not a stronger dose of the same tablet. An EU-registered doctor reviews a 3-minute questionnaire, usually within 15 minutes, and prescribes the treatment the European allergy guideline puts first — a steroid nasal spray, a non-drowsy antihistamine, eye drops, or the combination. €34.
- €34, one fixed fee
- Doctor review usually within 15 minutes
- Daily 7am–11pm CET
- 14 EU countries, no appointment
The nasal spray does the heavy lifting
For a blocked nose and moderate hay fever, a steroid nasal spray — mometasone, fluticasone, budesonide — beats any antihistamine tablet, and works best started two weeks before your season.
Antihistamines that don't knock you out
Second-generation antihistamines — cetirizine, loratadine, desloratadine, fexofenadine, bilastine, levocetirizine — control sneezing and itch without the drowsiness of the old ones. The doctor picks one and, when it is not enough, adds the nasal spray rather than raising the dose.
What the questionnaire cannot do
It cannot test you for allergies or treat asthma, food allergy or anaphylaxis. The doctor tells you where those belong, and if nothing can be prescribed the €34 is refunded in full.
Allergy treatment online — key facts
| Who it is for | Adults with hay fever, dust-mite or pet allergy causing a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes — including symptoms that pharmacy treatment no longer controls |
|---|---|
| First-line for moderate or persistent symptoms | A steroid nasal spray daily; add a non-drowsy antihistamine for sneezing and itch; for a nose still blocked, the combined azelastine + fluticasone spray |
| Eyes | Anti-allergy eye drops (olopatadine, ketotifen, azelastine) alongside the nasal treatment |
| Timing | Start the nasal spray two weeks before your pollen season and use it every day; it takes several days to reach full effect |
| Avoid | Decongestant sprays for more than five to seven days (rebound blockage), first-generation sedating antihistamines, and repeated steroid injections or tablets for hay fever |
| Not treated online | Allergy testing, asthma symptoms, food or insect-sting allergy, swelling of lips or tongue, wheeze or breathlessness — anaphylaxis is an emergency, call 112 |
| Price and time | €34, one fee; an EU-registered doctor reviews the questionnaire usually within 15 minutes, daily 7am–11pm CET; a supply for the whole season when the doctor agrees; full refund if nothing can be prescribed online |
What is the best treatment for hay fever?
Hay fever is treated by severity: mild, occasional symptoms with a non-drowsy antihistamine when needed; moderate or persistent symptoms with a daily steroid nasal spray, started two weeks before the pollen season, plus an antihistamine for sneezing and itch and antihistamine eye drops; a combined azelastine–fluticasone spray when the nose stays blocked. Symptoms that resist all of these for a season are the case for immunotherapy.
How to get allergy treatment online — what happens after you press start
1. The questionnaire — about 3 minutes
It asks whether an allergy has been diagnosed, which symptoms you get — sore, watery or itchy eyes, a runny or blocked nose, sneezing — and whether they change outdoors or with the seasons. It then covers any breathing problems, contact with animals, reactions to food, smoking, the allergy medicines you use and any that worked before, other conditions and allergies to medicines.
2. The doctor's review
The doctor reads it personally. From the pattern — seasonal or all year, nose or eyes, what has failed — the doctor prescribes according to the European allergy guideline (ARIA): a steroid nasal spray as the base for anything more than mild, a second-generation antihistamine, eye drops, or the combination spray when the nose stays blocked. Wheeze, breathlessness or a cough at night point to asthma, and reactions to food or stings to a different kind of allergy; those move to a video consultation, at no extra charge.
3. The pharmacy
The prescription appears in your Mobi Doctor profile in English, naming the active ingredients, so a pharmacy you choose in any of the 14 EU countries can dispense the local product. You pay the pharmacy for the medicine; Mobi Doctor does not sell or dispense medicines.
Wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness with your allergies, reactions to food or insect stings, or swelling of the lips, tongue or throat? Book a video consultation — and for swelling or breathing difficulty right now, call 112.
Right for the Express Assessment if
- You have hay fever or a dust-mite or pet allergy with nose and eye symptoms
- Pharmacy treatment is not enough, or you want the right combination rather than trial and error
- You have no wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness with your symptoms
- You are 18 or over and in one of the 14 EU countries Mobi Doctor covers
Book a video consultation instead if
- Wheeze, chest tightness, breathlessness or a night-time cough — asthma needs its own assessment
- Reactions to food, medicines or insect stings, or any swelling of the lips, tongue or throat
- Symptoms on one side only, nosebleeds, loss of smell or facial pain — those need examining
- You want allergy testing — a test cannot be done from a questionnaire
- Symptoms all year that have never been assessed, or a child's allergies
List every medicine you take and answer each question fully — the doctor's decision depends on it. Your answers are confidential.
Prefer to listen? The Mobi Doctor podcast episode on allergies.
Prescription antihistamines, nasal sprays and eye drops: what the doctor prescribes for hay fever
The ARIA guideline — the European and international standard for allergic rhinitis — grades treatment by how much symptoms disturb your sleep, work and daily life. Mild, occasional symptoms are treated with a second-generation oral antihistamine or an antihistamine nasal spray taken when needed. Moderate or persistent symptoms — which is most people who reach a doctor — are treated with a daily intranasal corticosteroid: mometasone, fluticasone or budesonide, which reduce blockage, sneezing and runny nose better than any tablet and, used correctly, have negligible effect on the rest of the body. A non-drowsy antihistamine is added for itch and sneezing, and when the nose stays blocked the combined azelastine–fluticasone spray works faster and better than either alone.
Itchy, watery eyes get their own treatment: antihistamine or mast-cell-stabiliser drops such as olopatadine, ketotifen or azelastine, used twice daily through the season. Montelukast is an option when hay fever comes with asthma. Two things the guideline advises against: decongestant sprays beyond five to seven days, which cause rebound blockage that is worse than the allergy, and the old sedating antihistamines — chlorphenamine, hydroxyzine — which impair driving and concentration even when you do not feel drowsy. Steroid injections or tablets for hay fever are for exceptional cases, not for every season.
Why the nasal spray matters more than the tablet
Most people with hay fever take an antihistamine tablet and put up with a blocked nose, because tablets do little for blockage. A steroid nasal spray does, but it is misunderstood: it is not a quick fix like a decongestant, it takes several days to reach its full effect, it must be used every day through the season, and it works best started two weeks before the pollen arrives. Technique matters — aim away from the septum, towards the ear on the same side, and do not sniff hard. Used this way, the spray controls the nose in most people and lets the antihistamine dose stay ordinary. The doctor prescribes both together where the pattern calls for it, and explains the timing.
Do I need an allergy test before hay fever treatment?
No — for hay fever an allergy test is rarely needed, and none can be done from a questionnaire: seasonal symptoms in spring and summer point to tree or grass pollen, year-round symptoms worse in bed point to house-dust mite, symptoms around animals speak for themselves. Treatment is the same whichever pollen it is. Testing — skin-prick tests or specific IgE blood tests — earns its place when symptoms are all year with no obvious cause, when a food or sting allergy is suspected, or when you are considering immunotherapy. A video consultation with the doctor can arrange testing through a laboratory or allergist in the country you are in.
When hay fever treatment is not enough: immunotherapy and asthma
If a steroid spray, an antihistamine and eye drops used properly for a whole season still leave you miserable, two things should happen. First, asthma should be excluded — up to a third of people with allergic rhinitis have it, and a cough at night or breathlessness on exercise in the pollen season is asthma until proven otherwise. Second, allergen immunotherapy should be discussed: tablets under the tongue for grass, birch or house-dust mite, or injections, taken for three years, which change the allergy itself rather than the symptoms and are the only treatment that does. Both are specialist decisions and both start with the video consultation.
Using the prescription at a pharmacy anywhere in the EU
The prescription is issued in English by an EU-registered doctor, names the active ingredient rather than a brand, and carries a verification code the pharmacist can check at mobidoctor.eu/verify. A prescription issued in one EU country must be recognised in another (Directive 2011/24/EU); the active-ingredient name is what makes that work at the counter. Dispensing is the pharmacist's decision under the rules of the country you are in, and depends on the medicine being available there. If you need a supply covering several months, say so in the questionnaire — the doctor decides the quantity. Some of these medicines are also sold without a prescription at pharmacies in some countries and prescription-only in others; the prescription can be used in all of them, and the pharmacist dispenses the local product where it is available. The other conditions the Express Assessment covers — 13 in all, plus repeat prescriptions — are listed on the online doctor prescription page.
Read the full hay fever and allergies guide: symptoms, causes, tests and treatment
Sources: ARIA — Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma, current guideline (EUFOREA / ARIA) · EAACI — European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, patient information on allergic rhinitis
Start Express Assessment — €34 About 3 minutes to complete.
Dr. Chrysoula I. Liakou MD, PhD
Allergy and hay fever treatment online — your questions answered
Medical Build Order
About 3 minutes of questions — then the doctor takes over. No waiting room.