Need Ideas Quick

[FarmWife]

I have Autumn allergies. I do every year.  They get better after the first frost, but I still have them a bit.  I tried the store brand of Claratin-D and it worked for a few days, but then it seemed to backfire.  I was out of my herbal stuff.  I ordered in my 2 herbal things I take and they have really helped.  I usually only have to take them at night.  If I wake up in the night, I take them again and it gets me through.  Well last night I did fine until this morning.  Then I could hardly breath.  My nose is totally closed up (feels more like pressure rather than mucous).  I do have a lot of mucous in my throat.  It is also hard to take a deep breathe.  I was talking to a friend on the phone and it got really bad.  I told her I was going to step outside for a minute because sometimes that helps it clear up.  She suggested maybe the dust was bothering me.  I got to thinking there are 2 things that were different.  Yesterday for the first time this summer, we closed all the windows in the house.  It got down in the mid 40's last night and yesterday morning was a bit chilly as well.  The highs are in the low 60's yesterday and the high 50's today.  The other thing is I did not sleep with the AC on.  I was turning it on at night because it seemed to help.  It never really kicked in because the air was cooler, but I think it may help with the humidity.  My house is VERY dusty.  There is lots of exposed wood and it is very hard to keep dust free.  Once we light the woodstove it seems to really get dusty.  The dust does not bother me all the time.  Most of the year I am fine.  Do you think an air purifier would help?  If so, do you know of one that does not cost an arm and a leg that has really worked for someone you know?  Do you have any other ideas?  Thanks Friends!!!

[rainygladness]

You might try looking at Air Ionizers.  We researched and found some inexpensively (sorry I can't remember where now because it was years ago.)  We bought four and they were very quiet (almost silent actually) and only required washing the filter under running water every so often.

The idea behind these little machines is that they send ions into the air which then cling to dust particles floating around (the ones we breathe in night & day  ).  The ions make the dust particles become "heavy" and fall to the ground - or the first horizontal surface they hit.  Then all you have to do is wipe them and vacuum them up. 

When our son had some respiratory problems we bought some of these and put them as high up as we could around the house so they could sweep the air as much as possible.  They seemed to help quite a bit.  At first it seems that there is more dust because it is visibly collected on all horizontal surfaces.  But that actually means that the air is "clean" and without much dust in it.  Over time, we actually got "ahead" of our dust.
HTH! 

[floydian]

You might try a vitamin C flush.  My dh had horrible allergies that made him absolutely miserable.  We read that doing a C flush sometimes helped.  It was the best thing he had ever tried.  Even better than when he was on Flonase and Claratin.

I'd post a link telling you how to do it, but need to run.  Just google vitamin C flush.

[Pennie]

www.healthyperceptions.com

Here is what I would buy if I could afford it.  You can watch a portion of it work here:  www.knowthecause.com if you click on sponsors on the left it is down at the bottom.  Seems to deal more w/ mold, but you could read what it says.  It is supposed to be cheaper than most.  And then I just saw Mr. Oreck advertising his.  I don't remember how much but I do know atleast one couple that has his and they seem to think it has helped.  You might try taking some probitoics or beta glucans also to help boost your immune system.  The lady at my healthfood store suggested I give turmeric to my son b/c she said when you have allergies it is an indiction your liver isn't functioning well.  My son has been "suffereing" w/ itchy sniffy nose.....I have given him olive leaf for about a week now along w/ probiotics and it seems to be helping.