Question:
Is there anything I can do about my allergies to cats? Heres the crazy
thing, I have always grown up with cats in the house, ever since I can
remember. I LOVE cats, have always loved cats, and STILL love cats. The
problem is, I developed an allergy for them when I was about 18 or 19
years old. How is this possible? I mean, people don't just develop
allergies that quick do they? I do have a cat, he stays inside at
night, and outside if he wants during the day. I'm usually fine, as long
as I don't pet him. He gets all his love from my children, who take very
good care of him. But I can't pet him. He comes up to me and rubs
against my legs, wanting me to pet him, or he will jump up in my lap. I
want so much to pet him, but I can't. If I do, it's pure torture for me.
I have pet him when I couldn't keep from it, and it was only for a
minute or two, and then I immediately washed my hands. My hands broke
out a little but, I was fine. Another thing is, if a cat digs their
claws just a little bit into my skin, that area swells and itches.
This allergy makes me so mad. I have never even been tested for
allergies, but I know what I know. I went to the hospital once for
breathing problems, when we had about 7 cats in the house, the doctor
said it was probably from the cats. But I had not touched them, and I
was fine after I got out of the hospital.
My question is this, is there any medication that I could take to
stop my allergies, or lesson it, so that I could pet cats, and cuddle
them? Some kind of miracle drug?
Answer:
Allergies are odd afflictions. you can
indeed develop allergies later in life, just as you can get over
allergies you once had. i'm no doctor, but i know enough form personal
experience that allergies can be very strange in how and when they
strike. it sounds to me like you'd really need a prescription
medication to overcome your allergies, as they seem pretty severe. can
you save up some money for the test? in the meantime, just keeping
yourself in the best health possible will probably make your allergies
less harsh. allergies happen when the immune system lets its guard down
for certain criteria. if your entire immune system is working at full
strength, i'll bet you wouldn't react so badly to the cats. you might also consider other things to help clean up the environment
around you and the cats, like a HEPA air cleaner. i used to have pretty
bad allergies (to cats especially), but now i think i've built up a
real tolerance and can be around most cats. Yes you can just develop allergies. My Dad raised and trained horses
growing up, went into the army for 2 years, came back and couldn't be near
horses, goats, hay, etc. (camels, too, as a later scratch test showed) A friend of mine has been having smoothies at least every couple
of weeks for ages, and she often has strawberry. Recently she
broke out in welts on her entire body and the doctor said it was
almost certainly the strawberries. So that's probably less than
a month after the last time she'd eaten them with no problem.
Allergies are weird. You can breathe cat allergens too. Maybe an air filter would help. Some people think that if you eliminate some potential allergens,
your tolerance for others will be greater. It's been suggested
that pork and dairy products are especially difficult for some
people. It might be so mild that you don't notice problems just
from eating those, yet the constant stress of dealing with them
adds more load for your immune system and makes the cat problem
worse. I personally don't endorse this view; I think there's not
enough evidence yet to prove or disprove it. But trying it costs
nothing: reading up on food allergies and trying a couple of months
without potential problem foods is free, and can't hurt you (as long
as you make sure your diet is still balanced; e.g. if you cut dairy
products you might need to add other calcium & vitamin D sources).
