As I mentioned a few days ago, to my surprise, hay fever/ragweed allergies are already gearing up. Maybe the summer went to fast for me, but mid August is the predicted time for the ragweed to bloom and cause the dreaded allergies, and mid August is here!

New research from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology reports new findings about hay fever stating that people with dog, cat or dust mite allergies have a much harder time dealing with hay fever than those without the other allergies.

Maybe that’s why my friend’s daughter who is allergic to dogs is having so much trouble with allergies, she currently has a dog staying with her and the ragweed is kicking in; she’s in bad shape!  My own child who has cat allergies is all of a sudden really sniffly and sneezy; I’m guessing it’s ragweed.

For those on regular daily allergy medicine, it’s a good idea to continue this during this time as it makes the symptoms a little easier to endure.

Some other things to do are:
• Shower or bathe before getting into bed to rinse the pollen off. Night time is a bad time for allergy sufferers as the pollen settles in the nose and throat.
• Keep your pets inside if possible, and bathe them regularly to keep the pollen off of them. Between their own dander and pollen brought in from the inside, they can be a sneeze machine ready to start.
• Leave shoes outside or just by the door. Shoes tend to track in lots of pollen so it’s better to leave them by the door rather than tracking ragweed pollen through the house.
• Keep the air conditioner on even on those beautiful end of summer days. Keep windows closed to keep the pollen out, and the air conditioner will combat summer’s high humidity which can play havoc with allergies.
• Check pollen counts and peak times, staying inside during the heavy times. Local news stations usually report this information as do the national weather sites like weather.com.
• Not only is important to wash yourself and your pets, but also clothes. Many people have an item like a jacket or sweater they often wear without washing, but with the heavy pollen, it just collects on the clothes. Make sure you wash everything on a regular basis.
• Maintain your allergy treatments on a regular basis.