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| Symptoms and Diagnosing |  Symptoms caused by the dust are the following:
o runny or stuffy nose
o itchy, watery eyes
o sneezing
o wheezing
o coughing
o shortness of breath and others.
These symptoms are not seasonal, thus they don’t end with the changing of the season but they last all year round.
If you suspect an allergy to house dust, consult an allergist-immunologist. The first thing to diagnose the allergy is your observation. To find the cause of your problem, the allergist will ask questions about your work and home environments, eating habits, family medical history, frequency and severity of symptoms, exposure to pets and a lot of other questions. It is very desirable if you have a journal of your symptoms.
In such a way it will be rather easy to find out if your symptoms improve and how they improve when you control the house dust. But the interview will not be enough to make a conclusion. Your doctor will also do some skin tests. During a skin test different allergens will be injected or pricked under your skin to see the reaction. A raised welt with redness around it says that you have a positive reaction, thus you are allergic to a particular allergen. In some cases the doctor may ask you to do a blood test instead of the skin test, in this case a blood sample will be taken from you.
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