ALLERGY

[apederzoli]

Hello, My question is the following. A couple of months ago my fiance and I got a cat, the first day I had an allergic reaction immediately, red eyes, sneezing and nasal congestion. After she washed the cat I took anti-allergic meds for a some days, after that I stopped the medication and all my symptoms were gone until a week or so ago, my throat it sore, after doing some research online I found out that you can get asthma if you have an allergic reaction to cats, I don't think I have most of the asthma symptoms, but sometimes I feel lack of breath (barely noticeable), nasal congestion and I have a strange feeling every time I breath like if I was breathing cold air.
I would like to know your opinion, after living with the cat for so long, why are the symptoms showing up until now? is that possible? o am I just over reacting to a regular cold? can I become "inmune" to my cat allergy? I appreciate your time and answer.

[healthyliving67]

You definatley sound like you are allergic to cats. Can you see an allergist anytime soon? a simple blood test can tell you how sensitive you are to cats etc. I am not sure what type of antihistamine you took, but there are several others that may control your allergy better, especially if you plan on living in the same home as teh cat you seem to be allergic to .

[apederzoli]

Hello,
Thank you very much for your answer.
I just would like to understand how come I managed to live with the cat "symptom free" for months and this symptoms are starting until now.
Is it dangerous? should I worry? how soon should I schedule an appointment with the doctor.
Thanks.

[drchrish]

Hi Apdederzoli

Yes, unfortunately it is very possible that you are developing asthma as a result of living with the cat. I do not think you are over reacting. The symptoms that sound like asthma are the lack of breath and the strange feeling like breathing cold air. Understand that to be sure about the diagnosis, you should really see a doctor who will listen to your chest and organize a peak flow test. Sometimes more formal testing is necessary to be entirely certain about the diagnosis. Similarly the nasal congestion probably represents a similar process happening in your nose (asthma involves the lungs principally but there is a link to nasal symptoms as well)

Since the chances are quite high that you do in fact have asthma developed as a result of living with your cat, you now have a choice to make - either send the cat to another home, clean your home thoroughly and remove all traces of cat hair etc, and you should be fine. Alternatively you could continue to live with the cat and take medications for allergy. Unfortunately if you choose that approach, there's a chance the allergy / asthma will get significantly worse in the future.