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Comment by soperj | Hacker News Reader

I've exercised my entire life, regularly at a high level, and my allergy to cats developed when I was 10 and has only gotten progressively worse over the years. Started with just itchy eyes and skin and is now into full blown allergy induced asthma. I tell almost immediately when I'm in a house that has had a cat in the last few years. It's terrible. One data point and all...

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Yeah I tried to be careful with the "some people suggest" because it's still kind of a rumor. I have an eczema problem that tends to get worse when I'm not exercising regularly and gets better when I am. But obviously all bodies are different.

Another data point of one: all my allergies correlate with the amount of detergent/soap/shampoo/deodorant I am using and to whether I've been the past few weeks in the big city or in the rural countryside.

Most people can build up a tolerance. I grew up with cats close to home and never noticed any allergy as a kid. When I got my own indoor cat though, I noticed itching and then flu-like symptoms that got progressively worse. Allergy medication completely relieved all symptoms, and rather than get rid of fluffy I took allergy meds daily for about 2 weeks, then every second ord third day for another month. Now I'm pretty much free of symptoms, but I occasionally pop a pill if the roof my mouth or hands start to itch for any reason.

I dated a girl for a while who owned a cat. I built up a tolerance to her cat (because she'd have the dander on her clothes), but it didn't help with any other cats. I was also still allergic to her cat, but it was at the point where a claritin would help. Mostly it's within half an hour I can barely breath, so it's hard to build up any sort of tolerance, even with allergy meds. Now it's easier for me to avoid cats entirely.

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