Good News (and Some Scary News)! (re: Allergies)

[wombat]

For the past few months, I've been having terrible allergies (the insides of my nose would close up, making it impossible to breathe through my nose), and I'd get symptoms every night in the middle of the night especially after going near my cat.I had to wear surgical mask whenever I was around him.
My family just employed a helper and she's been vacuuming the house everyday. Now, I can play with my cat and cuddle the way I used to and only notice some slight nasal congestion in the middle of the night! I'm floored at the change the vacuuming and cleaning has brought about. So there are 2 possibilities: 1) It was my dust allergy that was causing all or most of the problems 2) I'm only mildly allergic to my cat if at all and the constant cleaning and vacuuming has resolved most of the problems for me.

Onto the scary news, there was a study done on thousands of people ( http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(11)01741-6/abstract) that concluded that getting a cat for the first time in adulthood doubles your risk of cat allergies and if you have pre-existing allergies especially dust mites (which I do), from 7% to 13.8%. What do you guys think? Is that a huge percentage? I'm trying to comfort myself by saying that if there's a 13.8% likelihood that cat ownership in adulthood causes allergies, there's an 86.2% chance that it won't...

 

[Mother Dragon]

If you're having only minimal suffering now, I'd say it was dust all along. I don't know what brand of vacuum she's using but some of the better ones like Dyson and the ilk (although not the super-expensive Kirby) do a really super job of getting rid of dust. A good home air cleaner with a good HEPA filter (but not ionization, which is bad) will help even more. You could put it in your bedroom if that's where you like to cuddle your cat.

Those odds in the study seem minuscule to me. I wouldn't worry about them. Just enjoy your cat.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I'm glad your feeling better!!

I purchased good covers for our pillows to help with dust allergies.

My DH is very diligent with changing the air filter on our heat/ac system but he also washes the filters on our vacuum cleaner (per manufacturer instructions). My allergy symptoms are much less than they were when I lived at home. We never changed the filter, slept with windows open instead of air conditioning and had a very old vacuum with no filter. A good cleaning appliance really does make a difference!

My kid's pediatrician said one of her first recommendations for kids with dust type allergies or athsma is removing curtains and monthly washing of bedding, stuffed animals and anything like that.

 

[wombat]

P.S: Is there a doctor here that can decipher the study I posted?

 

[neely]

For the past few months, I've been having terrible allergies (the insides of my nose would close up, making it impossible to breathe through my nose), and I'd get symptoms every night in the middle of the night especially after going near my cat.I had to wear surgical mask whenever I was around him.
My family just employed a helper and she's been vacuuming the house everyday. Now, I can play with my cat and cuddle the way I used to and only notice some slight nasal congestion in the middle of the night! I'm floored at the change the vacuuming and cleaning has brought about..

That's wonderful news! So glad you were persistent and tried different options. Regarding your question about a doctor who can decipher the study - perhaps ask an allergist with immunology expertise. Also, there is a very nice member on the forum who may be able to help, @Geoffrey.

 

[arouetta]

It could be the cat. It could be both dust and dust mites. It could be another allergen trapped in the carpet.

Can you afford allergy testing? It's annoying as can be as you will itch like crazy for over a week, but it will give you a lot of information concerning triggers. From there, you can decide on symptom relief and how to minimize or eliminate the allergen.