I'm allergic to all my pets. When symptoms strike, they are very difficult
to beat back down again. By then my body has built up a high level of
histamines. As they slowly work their way out of my system, it only takes a
small amount of allergens to push me back over the symptom threshold.
Antihistamines are good for preventing the build up of histamines, but are
not so hot for getting rid of them once you already have them. You need to
take the antihistamines at the first hint of trouble and keep taking them
for a while even if you seem to be better right away.

It will take a while for your girlfriend to eliminate enough of the
histamines so that she won't be so easily knocked over tha threshhold. To
speed it up, try to avoid as many allergens as possible.

Most people are allergic to a number of things, some more severely than
others. The effects are additive, so you should try to eliminate every
other allergen possible. I had a slight response to feathers, so the
feather pillows went bye-bye. I had a strong response to dust mites, so the
bedroom carpet got ripped out. The bedroom door is kept shut, and the room
has allergy filters on the incoming air registers and an air purifier. This
gives me 8 relatively allergen-free hours per day. It's enough to keep me
symptom free most of the time.

For me, getting rid of the pets isn't an option. I'd get allergy shots if I
had to. OTOH, I don't have asthma, which I understand can be scary serious.

--
Sue, Flurry, and Max
http://home.nycap.rr.com/safrench/
replace x with sc to reply

"Todd H." wrote in message
...

I'd like some shared experience from allergy or asthma sufferers with
pets.

My question to cat owners is: can you test negative to cat allergies,
yet still find yourself in a situation where the cat is causing you
allergy or asthma problems?

My question to rabbit owners is: is all hay a problem for those with
confirmed weed skin test allergies, or does pure Timothy work for you
(assuming you test negative to grass allergies)?

Background for those interested: I'm presently trying to figure out
why someone who's lived with me for over year now (6 months of which
with no allergy or asthmas symptoms at all) has only recently
developed allergy symptoms in the house as well as a reemergence of
asthma that had been dormant and non-problematic for about 6 years. As
for environmental changes in the household over that year:

-The onset of symptoms also roughly corresponds to the time
some new hay (for house rabbits I've had the whole time) was
brought into the house that contained ragweed. Which makes
sense, as her only confirmed allergy from a skin test is to
weeds.

-The onset of symptoms started when the kitten we adopted was
about 8 months old, with several months of new kitty in a
problem free setting. She's never shown sensitivity to any
other cats. She's tested negative to cat allergy. The cat
has never been outside.

When the weed allergy test came back positive, we were relieved that
the newish kitty appeared to be off the hook. These surprising test
result prompted me to scrutinize the new hay, and when I found ragweed
in the stuff, I thought I had the mystery solved. I removed that hay
from the house entirely, and everything in that floor where the
hay/rabbits are was vacuumed 3x with a filtered vacuum, completely
cleaned out the shopvac and replaced the filter with anew one, dusted
and wiped walls like mad. Also about the same time, ragweed season
ended here according the allergist.

Unfortunatley though, after all that, several days later the problems
remains for her, and still occurs only inside the house. Even with
HEPA filters going in the bedroom and a fresh filter on the furnace,
and the cat hasn't been in the bedroom for weeks (and rabbits/hay on a
completely separate floor of the house)...her symtoms still go away
while away from the house, and reemerge shortly after coming home.

Clarinex isn't helping completely on the sniffles (but is helping
some), and asthma/wheezing symtpoms and use of the asthma inhaler are
becoming increasingly common.

Our next step is to get rid of the kitty for a few days and see if
things improve in the house.

I'm hoping there's some allergy/asthma sufferer who can lend a
datapoint to this ongoing mystery. I'm primarily curious if a cat can
be the culprit here despite the negative skintest for cat allery.


Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/