chest congestion, cough and cat?

I have been around cats for years and recently came up positive for cat and dust allergy.  I have chest congestion and a cough.  I do not have asthma.  The symptoms are not relieved by taking an antihistamine.  I have had total elimination of symptoms with prednisone.  Any suggestions other than living on pred?

[Tammy2009]

ALLERGY SHOTS!!!  They are God sent.  ;)

You are a splitting image of me except that I ignored my bad allergy symptoms for a year and ended up developing asthma.  I tried to live with the annoying sinus congestion, eye irritation, cough and chest congestion because I too couldn't find anytime that helped.  Within 4 months of allergy shots almost all my symptoms are gone, I can even get cat hair in my eye without having it red and swollen for days.  

The other things that can help are a very good mattress cover.  I got mine from achoo-allergy.com and it even is suppose to block cat dander from entering (I own 2 cats and one sleeps with me and that ain't going to change for anything).  Cover your pillow, mattress and box spring, the company gives deals on buying all 3 pieces (watch shipping if you live in canada, it ended up costing me $80 because of UPS charges).  

The other thing is clean, clean and clean.  Vacuuming (done by someone else preferably) twice a week, or removing carpets helps.  Dusting all horizontal surfaces (especially in the bedroom) at least once a week, preferably more.  Try not to keep things in your bedroom that you can't clean, and watch bedding and blankets in hot water every couple of weeks.  Air purifiers are also suppose to help but I never ended up getting one.  

You are suppose to keep the humidity below 50% to hinder the growth of dust mites.  There are also additives you can buy to add to your laundary that kills the dust mites and denatures (or breaks down) the protein that causes the allergies.  If you have cats, there is an amazing solution called allerpet-c which did wonders for me, it denatures the fe-d protein that is responsible for most allergies (third party tested so it actually does work) that can help as well.  

Basically if you can, keep your bedroom as clean and dust free as possible so you have at least 6-8 hours away from the allergens.  

The final time you can do to help is using a nasal rinse system.  It basically washes out your sinsues and takes all the allergens out as well.  

Good luck and if you need any clarifition on my message (I'm a little spacey from painkillers because of a TMD flare-up in my jaw) let me know.