If you love spring blossoms and colorful fall leaves, but dread the sneezes, itchy eyes, and runny (or stuffy) nose that come along with them, then you may have hay fever.

That’s the common term for seasonal allergies. The proper name is allergic rhinitis, which means inflammation inside your nose. Hay fever symptoms mostly affect your nose, but also the eyes, skin, and roof of the mouth.

Allergies, including hay fever, result when your immune system attacks a typically harmless substance that you come across in the environment. In the case of seasonal hay fever, these include grass, tree, and weed pollens as well as outdoor molds.