How to Prevent Smoke Allergies

Smoke allergies are surprisingly common, though often under-diagnosed because they share symptoms with allergies to mold, pollen and other substances. Your wheezing, coughing, itchy eyes and runny nose might actually be caused by irritation due to smoke rather than by hay fever or pet dander. While you can't prevent your body from being allergic to smoke, you can prevent allergic reactions by reducing your contact with irritating smoke particles.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Air purifier

1. Identify the smoke allergy triggers in your home and take steps to prevent them from aggravating your condition. In addition to first- and second-hand smoke, triggers may include smoke particles trapped in clothing and furniture. While it may not be possible to totally eliminate all triggers, reducing them will provide considerable relief.
2. Do not allow smoking in your home. If others wish to smoke, have them smoke outside. Even when smokers do go out of doors, make sure they do so away from open windows and doors so that the smoke does not blow inside.
3. Avoid lighting fires in your home. Woodsmoke can trigger an allergic reaction just as cigarette smoke can.
4. Avoid dust, which will very frequently trigger the same symptoms as your smoke allergy. A difficulty arises because you must reduce dust to prevent allergies, but you should stay away from it yourself. This means you should avoid vacuuming and dusting. Have someone else do these chores while you're out of the house or consider hiring a housekeeper.
5. Cut down on the number of smoke particles in the air with the help of an air purifier. Make sure you select one that is rated for chemical filtration, as air purifiers designed to clear the air only of larger elements like pet hair and mold spores won't be able to trap tiny smoke particles.
6. Refrain from smoking around children to prevent them from having future allergies. It appears that many people who have smoke allergies developed them at least partly due to exposure to second-hand smoke while growing up.

Tips & Warnings

• If you find out you have smoke allergies and you smoke cigarettes, you will need to quit immediately. Smoke allergies can greatly exacerbate the already dangerous effects of cigarette smoke. Get help to quit smoking in the form of a nicotine patch, nicotine gum, hypnosis or a partner who is also trying to quit.