Man allergic to his own hair

Martin, 38, of Aberdeen Road, Brighton, has suffered allergic reactions for as long as he can remember but it took many more years for him to self-diagnose his strange hair allergy. He said: "I've been spluttering and sneezing since I was a small boy.

"I was eventually taken to specialists at St Richard's in Chichester and they found I was allergic to cats, feathers and dust mites.

"We sold the cat and got rid of all the feather-stuffed pillows but the sneezing fits never stopped. I assumed for years that it was caused just by the house dust mites."

Martin took precautions to avoid the house dust mite allergy with special sheets and an ioniser in the bedroom but the attacks persisted. Then, Martin came to another diagnosis.

He said: "I'd often wake and be suffering from an attack and would, after a while, discover I had a hair in my mouth. It didn't matter where from, head, an eyelash or eyebrow hair. Once I removed the hair my attacks would calm down."

Martin took his findings to a doctor but had problems getting his self-diagnosis across.

He said: "To be honest, I don't think any doctor I've spoken to about it has believed me. I've tried numerous health websites as well to try to find anybody else with the same condition but without any luck."

Lindsey MacManus from leading allergy charity, Allergy UK, said she had never heard of the condition.

She told the Argus: "It sounds very unusual to become allergic to a part of your own body. It's more likely that there's something that's in his hair that is causing the problems.

"People can develop allergies at any time, when their body overreacts to something that isn't usually harmful but I've never come across someone who's allergic to their hair. I would urge Martin to see his doctor to get a proper diagnosis."

Martin thought his allergy might lead to some TV fame but that too seems to have passed him by.

He said: "I contacted a production company who were filming a reality TV piece about people with strange afflictions.

He said: "They were interested at first but I presume they must have found people with more embarrassing illnesses because I haven't heard anything for ages."

Not that the strange affliction is without its embarrassment. "I work nights now, but when I used to work nine-to-five my allergies were worse in the mornings. I used to disgust my workmates with my constant sneezing and sniffing."

Martin's allergy attacks vary in length but tend to occur at specific times of the day.

He said: "The worst time is in the middle of the night. I often wake up with terrible sneezing fits which wakes up the baby and in turn wakes up the whole household. My eyes and nose stream and I get a terrible itch at the back of my throat, which of course you can't scratch. Wiggling a finger in your ear is the closest thing to getting at it."

The predisposition for allergy is often hereditary but Martin said: "Nobody else in my family suffers from allergies and hopefully my children won't have inherited it either."

Five songs for an allergy sufferer

1. Mites in White Satin - The Moody Blows

2. Blow For It - Sniff Little Fingers

3. Aah-ga-choo - Black Lace (Handkerchief)

4. Nice n Sneezy - Stranglers

5. It Noh Runny - Linton Wheezy Johnson

Do you suffer from a strange allergy? If so, tell us about it below.