With red and watery eyes, unbearably itchy throats, and frequent sneezing, hay fever patients are crowding clinics and drugstores amid the highest pollen levels in 10 years, increasing demand for drugs that can help alleviate their suffering.

Sales of hay fever-related items such as anti-inflammatory nasal drugs more than doubled to 210% of last year's figure in the week from Feb. 27, the latest data available, while sales of eyedrops specifically for allergies increased 233% compared to the previous year, according to Intage, a company specializing in marketing research and data analysis.

Yasuhiro Mizu, a pharmacist based in Saitama Prefecture, said prescription drugs for hay fever have become more difficult to obtain this year.

“Each pharmacy or medical institution now has to work hard to procure them ... prescriptions have to be modified a bit (due to the shortage of drugs), so there is this problem of not being able to obtain the drugs that people are used to taking,” said Mizu.

This month is the worst time to procure stocks of hay fever medicine, Mizu said, because the government will be reforming its drug-pricing system starting from April, leading to a pause in the operations of pharmaceutical companies and drug wholesalers.

“Wholesalers don’t want to keep unwanted stock, so they will reduce the amount of stock they have until it’s just barely enough for distribution. ... I believe there won’t be enough medicine next week,” Mizu added.

Both pharmacies and clinics are now full of patients desperate to ease their symptoms. But Mizu said if people try to prepare from around January or even December for the hay fever season, it will be easier to get the necessary medication beforehand.

“Even the people that were fine without medication or weren’t bothered with these symptoms last year are suffering this year. ... Many of them come since they can’t stand it anymore — that it’s too painful,” said Hitoshi Nagakura, director at Nagakura ENT Allergy Clinic in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

Nagakura said the number of patients coming in this year with hay fever symptoms is almost double the figure for an average year, with many seeking treatment for the first time.

Some of these patients experiencing heavy symptoms have turned to a pricey medication called Xolair, which can cost around ¥4,000 to about ¥30,000 per treatment with national health care coverage.

Costs for Xolair depend on a variety of factors like immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentration in blood, body weight and age, as well as how often patients use the medicine. Some undergo the treatment every four weeks, but the price can double for those who take it every two weeks.

The number of patients who have had Xolair shots this year has also increased twofold compared to last year, Nagakura added.

The Environment Ministry announced in late December that cedar pollen levels this season are expected to be the highest in the past decade, especially in the Kanto, Hokuriku, Kinki and Chugoku regions.