How to prevent (dust mite) allergy attack after strenuous exercise?

January 11, 2009 1:11 AM

How to prevent (dust mite) allergy attack after strenuous exercise?

Although tests show I am very allergic to dust mite it does not bother me on a regular basis. However when it does bother me it is pretty severe: I can't stop sneezing for longer than a few minutes and pretty soon I'm feeling very very tired. It can take up to a full day for me to feel 'normal' again.

Yesterday I had an attack after a short but very strenuous run (24 minutes at 90% of my maximum heartrate). This has happened before but never when the exercise session was so short (usually it happens after 3 hours of cycling, for instance).

Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening, apart from refraining from exercise?

posted by dinkyday to health & fitness (7 comments total)

Exercise outdoors? Have you tried taking an anti-histamine?
posted by missmagenta at 6:34 AM on January 11

If you're lucky enough to be in control of what triggers your allergy attacks, then you can absolutely stop it from happening by taking an anti-histamine about half an hour ahead of time.

I was very anti-anti-histamine when I was younger because the antihistamines that were available at the time made me feel like a zombie. The newer antihistamines don't seem to have that effect.

I personally prefer Cetirizine, which gets wrapped up in a pretty package and called Reactine. It's technically a 'slightly drowsy' anti-histamine, so if you're really sensitive to that sort of thing, you might want to try Allegra or Claritin instead. And don't get drawn in by the brand name packages. The much cheaper drugstore brand packages have exactly the same medication in them.
posted by burntflowers at 7:46 AM on January 11

When I'm in the midst of a "can't stop sneezing can't stop sneezing can't stop sneezing" allergy attack, a lozenge works wonders. For whatever reason, sucking on it seems to arrest the sneeze mechanism for me. That coupled with allergy pills in advance and a shower immediately after you stop exercising (to rinse any allergens from your face, eyes, and nasal passages) should do a lot towards lessening these allergic reactions.
posted by kate blank at 8:18 AM on January 11

I'm not sure how you are correlating the exercise with the dust mites.
posted by gjc at 8:31 AM on January 11

Are you sure you don't just have exercise-induced rhinitis? I get this sometimes when I work out very intensely for any duration longer than say 15 minutes, an extreme runny nose/sneezing fit that will leave me with a horrible runny nose for quite a while. I've been trying nasal rinses like the kind at neilmed.com but I'm not sure yet whether they are doing any good. I also find that going into the steam room when this happens can help somewhat, if you have one accessible at your gym.
posted by ch1x0r at 9:06 AM on January 11

Take an antihistamine. If you're in the US, cetirizine is called Zyrtec, but is similarly available in the much cheaper generic drugstore brand.
posted by MadamM at 10:21 AM on January 11

In addition to the antihistamines, you can try to cut down on dust mites in your exercise room. I have the same allergy and my allergist told me to get rid of carpets, upholstered furniture, and drapes -- basically anything that can't be wiped down or washed in hot water to remove dust.
posted by *s at 7:25 PM on January 11