I AM in the hairdressing salon. It has taken me almost a year to book an appointment to get here – partly through avoidance, but mostly through fear.

It’s a busy morning, and I am nervous. I can feel bile rising in my throat as I catch my breath. I tell myself to “Wise up”.

To my right, a woman is getting a blow-dry and the sound of the hairdryer seems louder.

What I really notice is that the hairspray catches in my chest. I have had trouble breathing over the last year on my right side, so I have to really concentrate to keep air evenly flowing in and out.

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And since having to be jabbed with four epi pens in four days last July (three of them in one sitting) – and, at the last count, had seven trips to A&E since then – I have been fragrance-free. No sprays, perfume, candles, or lotions I once took for granted.

The NHS wheels ran slow, so I didn’t see anyone in the allergy clinic until a month ago. I have been left mostly to my own devices with a kind of trial-and-error process.

Applying make-up again, for example, was a scary........

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