Some people will go to drastic lengths to find a cure for hayfever.

But this remedy has to be up there with the craziest.

It has been suggested that nettles have qualities which help reduce sneezing and itchy eyes, and you can buy a tea made from the plant from some pharmacies.

But one man, Goran Pavlociv, has taken it one step further: rubbing his hand directly on the stinging plants, according to ChronicleLive .

Claiming it rid him of the summer time affliction, he said: “All my life I suffered from hayfever. I pretty much chocked to death every summer.

“Then, few years ago, an old man (crazy old man according to my wife) told me to try nettles.

“Basically, as soon as the spring starts, he told me, and the first nettles sprout out, pick a bunch and sting myself with them. Do that once a week until the end of autumn.

One man believes nettles can help 'cure' hayfever

“Apparently this would make my immune system concentrate on nettles and forget about the pollen.

“To my wife’s horror and the amusement of the fellow walkers in parks and forests, I soon started the ‘therapy’.

“This is my hand in the nettles bush. And lo and behold it worked...I haven’t had any problems with pollen for three years now.”

Medics warn not to try this treatment at home as there is no evidence to suggest it works.

There are plenty of other medications for hayfever available from pharmacies and supermarkets.

But there you have it - sometimes you just have to grasp the nettle.

There is actually some science behind why nettles prevent hayfever. Stinging nettles are thought to be able to reduce the amount of histamine in the body caused by allergies.

Specifically, the ingestion of nettle could really help with horrid hayfever symptoms such as a stuffy nose, sneezing, itchy eyes etc.

Nettles are full of iron, vitamin C and calcium too so they’re a great ‘pick me up’ for when you’re feeling run down.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Centre , preliminary studies they carried out have shown that stinging nettle helped to reduce sneezing and itching in people suffering with hayfever.

Another study showed that 57 per cent of patients rated nettles as effective in relieving allergies, and 48 per cent said that nettles were more effective than allergy medications they had used previously.

You can buy nettle tea from your local supermarket or health store along the herbal tea aisle, but making your own nettle tea is thought to be more effective.