Is it not likely that your grottiness / potential problem with alcohol is tightly tied to the onset of your hayfever? One of my ex's used to have 'early' hayfever, and was generally run-down for the first few weeks of spring, then would perk up again even though the hayfever still went on for another few weeks. Some kind of adjustment period?

Perfectly possible. And I do hope that's the case, since I'd hate to be permanently unable to drink in even moderate amounts...

The timing is particularly bad given the upcoming beerfest, also. :-(