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"You may think you have the cold that just won&amp;#039;t quit. But if you&amp;#039;ve been blowing your nose, rubbing your eyes, or suffering from congestion for more than two weeks, it&amp;#039;s time to consider a different diagnosis: allergies.  A survey of more than 10,000 households found, and not just among kids \u2014 you can develop a nasal allergy for the first time as a grown-up. &amp;quot;That surprises many of my patients. I hear &amp;#039;At my age?&amp;#039; all the time,&amp;quot; says Jennifer Namazy, M.D., an allergy specialist at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. Also, allergies you had in the past can suddenly get worse. In fact, adults between the ages of 35 and 49 are the group most likely to suffer, the survey found.  Beyond the annoying sneezing and drippy nose, people with allergies often have trouble sleeping, which can make them irritable. Worse, an out-of-control allergy ups the chances you&amp;#039;ll develop asthma \u2014 an inflammatory disease of the lower airways. The only surefire way to protect yourself is to try to avoid the offending allergens. Reducing your exposure to them &amp;quot;can make your symptoms milder \u2014 and make it easier for you to get good relief from allergy medicines, at lower doses,&amp;quot; says Beth Corn, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.  Start by recording your symptoms for a week or more \u2014 when they flare up or settle down. The info will help pinpoint your triggers (more on these coming up) and assist your doctor in helping you get them under control.  1. Ragweed Even if it&amp;#039;s nowhere in sight, this yellow flowering plant can still cause your sniffles. Ragweed pollen can travel for hundreds of miles on the wind, and it starts to pollinate about now (August 15 is the unofficial start of the season). You can&amp;#039;t completely run from ragweed in the fall (or from tree and grass pollens in spring), but you can reduce your contact. Save outdoor exercise for evening (when pollen counts are lowest); before coming in, remove shoes (so you don&amp;#039;t track pollen into the house) and then, if you can, take a shower and wash your hair. Use a saline rinse daily to wash pollen from your nasal passages. Also, keep windows closed and clean the air filters in your air conditioners \u2014 car, too. 2. Dust It&amp;#039;s not just the bunnies themselves, but also bits trapped in the dust that set off allergies. Especially bothersome: dust mites, creepy microscopic insects that live by the gazillions in the fibers of bedding, upholstered furniture, and carpets. Regularly using a vacuum with a HEPA filter can make a dent in dust; also, try allergen-proof pillow and mattress casings. Your dust allergy could be worsened by work as well: A Danish review of five studies found exposure to office dust for up to five hours a day increased eye, nose, and throat irritation. Consider a portable air filter for your workspace. 3. Pets You probably know it&amp;#039;s not the fur of your dog or cat that makes you sneeze, it&amp;#039;s the dander \u2014 dandruff-like scales that are shed from the animal&amp;#039;s skin into the air \u2014 and saliva. At the least, keep your pet out of your bedroom (and bed!). In most cases, this will cut your daily exposure by a third. 4. Bugs In case you didn&amp;#039;t already think cockroaches were gross: When their saliva, feces, cast-off skins, and dead bodies dry up, the bits become airborne and you can inhale them, triggering allergies. But the prettier Asian ladybug is a culprit, too. When these insects &amp;quot;fly away home,&amp;quot; it may well be to your house; in late fall, they often swarm inside to protect themselves from freezing weather. The best way to clear them out is to vacuum them up (be sure to discard the dust bag ASAP so the captured beetles don&amp;#039;t escape). For ongoing control of cockroaches, use poison baits, sticky traps, or boric acid powder (dust behind cabinets, behind your oven and refrigerator, and in other nooks and crannies in the kitchen). 5. Mold Bathrooms and damp basements are the most common places for mold to lurk in your home, but not the only hideouts. The dirt of indoor potted plants can breed the stuff too, and even grocery-store mushrooms, if you&amp;#039;re supersensitive, could make trouble, spreading spores throughout your kitchen, a new University of Tulsa study has found. Mold spores go dormant in cool (under 70\u00B0F) and dry (humidity levels under 50%) conditions, so regulating the temperature in your house can help stop their growth and spread. If you can&amp;#039;t open a window in the bathroom, use a dehumidifier or exhaust fan. Placing a layer of aquarium gravel over the dirt of houseplants might help keep mold from getting airborne. 6. Hormones When European researchers studied 571 women between the ages of 28 and 58, they found that more than one in every 10 tested positive on a standard measure of breathing difficulty before or during the first days of their periods. For many women, allergies and asthma get more severe right before their periods, other research has shown. Taking the Pill may help, or you may want to tweak your allergy/asthma medication around your menstrual cycle to get good control. 7. Stress It can make everything worse \u2014 even allergies: An Ohio State University College of Medicine study found that in people with seasonal allergies, even moderate stress caused a more severe reaction to an allergy skin test; in the study, subjects who were asked to make a short speech had red raised bumps that were 75% larger than they&amp;#039;d been during the &amp;quot;low-stress&amp;quot; portion of the study. Stress appears to increase levels of cytokines, chemicals that play a role in the body&amp;#039;s allergic response.  8. Alcohol In a 2008 study of over 5,800 Danish women, those who had more than two drinks a day were almost twice as likely as nondrinkers to report having nasal symptoms. No one&amp;#039;s quite sure why, but alcohol is a vasodilator, and it may be that if you have allergies, the swelling of your blood vessels makes your nose run even more. If you notice symptoms cranking up after the cocktail hour, skip the aperitif and go right to the appetizer. HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT TREATMENT Allergy products can take up whole aisles in the drugstore. This Q&amp;amp;amp;A will help you find ones that target your symptoms Are you sneezing? Do you have a runny nose? Don&amp;#039;t dawdle: Take an over-the-counter nonsedating oral antihistamine, such as Claritin, Alavert, or Zyrtec. These work best if they&amp;#039;re in your bloodstream before symptoms are up and running.  Is your nose stuffy, too? If your clogging is only occasional, try a nasal decongestant spray with phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine) or oxymetazoline (Afrin). But don&amp;#039;t use it for more than three days in a row \u2014 if you do, you could end up with rebound congestion. Or try a combo oral antihistamine/decongestant (Claritin-D, Zyrtec-D, or Actifed). Note: These have a stimulant effect, which can make you jumpy or give you insomnia, and they can raise your blood pressure.  Is your nose blocked 24/7? Get an Rx nasal spray, such as Astepro or Patanase. These can take 30 minutes or so to open nasal passages, but are safe to use long-term. Are your eyes itchy and red? Bypass the stuff you&amp;#039;re probably most familiar with: OTC eyedrops with decongestants, such as Visine L.R. or Opcon-A. These take the redness away (as advertised) by shrinking the blood vessels in the eye, but if they don&amp;#039;t help you enough with itching, go for allergy-control drops (Zaditor, Alaway). These prevent the release of chemicals that cause inflammation in the first place. If you&amp;#039;re still rubbing and blinking, see if a more powerful prescription (Pataday, Patanol) works better.  Still can&amp;#039;t control your symptoms? Ask your doctor about combining remedies. A trio that often does the trick: antihistamine eyedrops, a nonsedating oral antihistamine, and a prescription nasal steroid spray (Flonase or Nasacort AQ). Another medicine that&amp;#039;s safe to add on is Singulair, a prescription drug originally used for asthma that can help control nasal allergy symptoms, too. If this pharmacopoeia doesn&amp;#039;t provide enough relief, give serious consideration to allergy shots, the only treatment that can lead to a complete cure. True, the regimen can take up to five years, but it comes with an important perk: It reduces the risk that your allergies will morph into adult-onset asthma.  Source: Robert E. Younger III, M.D., University of Tennessee Health Science Center NEXT: &amp;quot;My Allergies Turned Out to Be Something Much Worse&amp;quot; \u00BB Related Stories: \u2022 Pill-Free Ways to Outsmart Allergies \u2022 6 Things You Didn&amp;#039;t Know About Seasonal Allergies \u2022 Winter Allergies Are a Thing "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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