allergy mystery

Hi,
Mould needs a warm, damp atmosphere to breed! I would have thought that
keeping the windows closed would breed more mould.
Allergies can be made worse with stress,so if the sufferer is stressed at
all, this can make the allergy worse.
Cheers,
Judy

"Mary" wrote in message
...
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?

I'd say yes. I had a boyfriend with bad allergies and asthma. I got rid of
all
carpeting, all drapes, all fabric furniture, put in wood/tile/linoelum,
vertical vinyl blinds, leather/wood furniture. I would light mop instead
of
sweep vaccuum so it wouldn't get kicked up in the air. I had three cats. I
wiped them down with moist wash cloth before boyfriend came over. I
wouldn't
let them in the bedroom or on the couch where he sat. He was fine for
months
until one night he was miserable. The next morning I found cat fur all
over the
pillow he slept on. Seems kitty snuck in there. I washed everything and he
was
fine again. Another time he was sick again. Then I saw that the cat laid
on a
sweater that I had drying then I put the sweater on.

Also, keep your windows shut and use an air purifier. Never open the
window.
Wipe down furniture instead of dusting so you don't kick it up. Generally
if
people are allergic to one thing, they can also be sensitive to mold,
mildew,
dust, dander, pollen...

"J Gillen" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Mould needs a warm, damp atmosphere to breed! I would have thought that
keeping the windows closed would breed more mould.

It certainly might in some climates but in mine, for example, the fall
is very wet and as the leaves accumulate on the ground if I leave
the windows open I suffer terribly. Of course the #1 place to keep
scrubbed up and ventilated is the bathroom and the kitchen a close
2nd.

Updates to this issue can be found down below for those interested

(Todd H.) writes:
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.

We recently were away from the house for 2 weeks in a tropical
climate far from the allergens of home. She had 0 issues those two
weeks, just as she had 0 issues when home, but outside of the house
(except in ragweed season).

Upon return in early December to snow on the ground, we have a few
interesting things to add:

returning to the house returned my gf to the sniffles, though
not nearly as bad as when we left. That night, she had to
hit her inhaler once in the bedroom (where the cat has been
restricted from and a hepa filter running).

Then, the following evening, I notice the whole house
humidifier leaking. I removed the vertical water pad of the
Aprilaire 440 which looked quite decrepit. It occured to me
that her symptoms started in November, perhaps around the time
the furnace was pressed back into service. Hrmm.... Maybe
there's some ragweed or something she's reacting to in that
water pad like mold. Who knows.

However, since taking the humidifier out of service, the same
cat though would trigger sneezing and congestion has been
sleeping on her, and all over the place with no ill effects to
my gf.

I'm not sure if any of this is worthy of drawing any solid conclusions
(was it allowing histamine to drain out her on 2 weeks away? was it
the humidifier water pad trapping something icky?), but the good news
is that she's not having symptoms in the house anymore and not needing
any medicine for the past 2 days, which is indeed something.

Beats the hell out of me. Tigger is no longer branded "an allergen of
interest" in the investigation at this time, however.

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

"Todd H." wrote .

Beats the hell out of me. Tigger is no longer branded "an allergen of
interest" in the investigation at this time, however.



Excellent, Todd. I think your idea about the furnace is a good one. Dust
and mold allergies are very common and dust and mold are everywhere.