Advice? Allergic to Something in Home?

Hi I have had the same problem almost the whole winter. So have my two kids my daughter had it for three months!! We have all seen our doctor and he swears up and down its just a cold they can last for months. I have met so many people with the same issues and it appears this year just is one of the nastiest years for colds.You can get up to 8 in a season and they can run together.. Ugh! And yes it gets worse at home. When your home you slow down even just a little bit and being indoors its just enough to let the mucus begin to build up and symptyoms to start. I only got my sore throats just before bed and by mid morning rushing around my throat felt better. By day I had the stuffy head and headache though. Its miserable. I am just now starting to feel better after two months! I guess its your bodies psycological defense to get you through the day. A good way to tell if it really is allergies is if your eyes are itchy and watery, and if your sneezy. Hang in there! Its a duzzy but it does go away...someday! Its funny we got a new puppy two months ago and I was so amazed his poop did not smell!....until yesterday! Yuck its rank! It never dawned on me that my cold could have been preventing me from smelling it! I miss that part! Lucky for me he goes way out in the yard. I hope you feel well soon! Emergen-C works great! They have it at Raleys or safeway! Take care!

~L.

This same thing happened to my husband, turned out to be mold. Our shower had been leaking for who knows how long and caused a lot of water damage and a LOT of mold. Our house had been making him sick for a long time. Once we rebuilt our bathroom and got rid of the mold he started feeling better. Hopefully you won't have that extreme of a problem, but mold can be around your house and causing problems (window sills, bathroom etc.)

feather in the pillows? beds?

One possibility is so-called "chem (chemical) trails" that you may notice have been going on for some time. You'll see these criss cross Xs in the sky or parallel lines coming from the backs of airplanes (different from contrails which dissipate fairly quickly).

Just look it up on the web and you'll see a bunch of info on it. The prevailing theory is that it has to do with weather-modification. Some people say it's causing global warming, other say it's supposed to prevent it! But whatever it is, it seems to be making people ill, especially with respiratory problems. Just one possibility. Anyway, we seem to have the same problem here. Whatever the problem, getting an air purifier may help.

D.,

Actually, you could be allergic to your dog or cats. As a child, my family always had a dog and a cat and it seemed that my allergies were only related to spring pollens. However, the allergies have been getting wose for me so I went and got tested. I found I am allergic to dogs, cats, dust mites, molds and spring pollens of almost every type in our area...lucky me.

What I found helps at night is the allergy pillow covers. We hope to buy a new mattress this year and I plan to get an allergy mattress cover at that time as well. I would suggest getting going to an allergist to find out what you are allergic to and considering allergy shot therapy to build up your immunity to the allergens. It is a long process and they will probably ask you to take meds, but eventually you will be able to get off the meds. I am naughty, I only take the meds when I am feeling REALLY crummy or prior to my weekly shot as advised.

Maybe one of the other moms will have a more wholistic, natural idea, but definitely get the allergen protectors and clean your bedding weekly or bimonthly in hot water as a start.

I advise getting bleach water (50/50) and q-tips and cotton balls and clean the little black rubber strip
along yr windows where mold grows unseen with qtips. use the cotton balls for the tracks of windows. also dust like mad, your fan blades from overhead fans too! and dont hang out yr laundry, it will be pollen laden if you do.
my home was new 15 yrs ago, has double panes windows.
I was shocked when doc told me to do this, but she was right. It should be done every year after rain has set in. Condesenation causes it, they, by law, must seal up newer homes too much. Good luck!

Hi D.,
I skimmed the responses, but I didn't see this suggestion. Go see an allergist so you can pinpoint the issue instead of driving yourself mad cleaning this, cleaning that, buying a air purifier or whatever. I did this via Kaiser a few yrs. back (just paid the regular copay) and it was pretty simple. They asked me a few questions about where I lived, what I was exposed to (grasses, animals, etc.) then did a simple test on my arm where they applied certain allergens and tested how I reacted to them. They gave me a print out and then later I spoke w/ an allergist and she gave me a some simple (and inexpensive) suggestions. There were things on there I had no idea I was allergic to that I was able to stay clear of. Good luck!

I truly think you have a mold problem and its behind the walls or in the floor or ceiling. I saw a show about a family always being so sick at home but as soon as they got outside, they felt better. Turned out they had a mold problem they didn't even know existed. Call a mold removal place and have them check all over because mold can be deadly.

It may be that you have mold in your home now that you cant see.I don't know who you would call but there are people who check for that.

It could be mold. If this is a new thing, think back as you look around the house. What is newer and could relate back to the time when this all started.

Our MD said to keep the windows closed at night to keep the pollen from rolling in the window.

What do you eat once you get home? Might be eggs? My friend was fine and then developed an allergy to eggs after having her daughter. (Well, that's when she noticed the issue.)
It could something you eat when you get home. Maybe there is something on an old coat in the closet and when you hang up your coat each night, you get it on you. Yes, it could be that silly.

I'm highly allergic to cats and I'm a teacher. I had a student who had way too many cats for their home, like 36. I had a reaction every time she sat in or leaned on my lap during story time. We had to make arrangements about her school bag, clothes, etc.

Some people says this happens to them in winter with the heater on. Could that be it?
F.

Do you live near new construction or a new park where they have put in plants that weren't there? Do you live where they are spraying fertilizer or pesticides? (Tis the season!) Maybe you have a new plant from Christmas or something? Did you switch laundry or cleaning products? Did you try changing your AC/heater filter? Any new furniture or paint? Just throwing some ideas out there! Hope you figure it out.

Last thought- sometimes it takes years to develop pet allergies. If you can't figure it out, maybe go ahead and get an allergy test with cat and dog on the list.

Maybe try changing your air filter?

I have this same problem. For me, it's mold around the windows in our bedroom. One of them isn't seated in the wall correctly so it has condensation around the frame from it being warm in the house and cold outside. The mold grows on the frame in the window track. I have to clean it out periodically and we have an air cleaner in our bedroom. Between the two, I'm still blowing my nose in the morning but it's not much and the sore throat stopped as well as the super congestion at night. So check your windows in your bedroom. Specifically, the tracks and the sill where the window is seated.

You can develop allergies. My hubby has always had dogs, but became allergic recently (he's about to turn 40, but don't tell him I said that!). He's been taking allergy shots for months, but I now get to groom the dogs (not as much as should). Also, my allergies completely changed post-pregnancy, twice, and i have allergy tests to prove it. I have had several friends who had to redo allergy shots after having kids.