Advice Needed for Living Situation
Hello guys, I need some possible relief options for this situation
For context, I have always had pretty severe dog allergies. Nothing life threatening, but bad rhinitis and if I was exposed too much, chest wheeziness/tightness overnight. Unfortunately my mother decided to get a dog (a toy poodle at least) for my sister and our whole family when I was 8 (a baffling decision also considering my dad has even more severe animal allergies than me). She claims she didn’t know I had animal allergies, but oh well.
In any case, I’m now in between semesters of college (due to it being summer) and because I work in my hometown over the summer that means having to stay at my mom’s place. Moving out is not an option since my dad is living with his girlfriend and she doesn’t like me, so the only thing I can do is ride it out until the new semester starts in September and I start my lease for my apartment next year.
With all of that in mind, this is the current situation:
-I am sleeping on a couch in the living room of an apartment (we are not very rich).
-Allergies to the dog fluctuate but can get pretty bad when he’s consistently downstairs and in the vicinity. I use many tissues for my stuffy and runny noses, the worst symptoms by far.
-My mom mostly refuses to use air conditioning because of the cost, which would help somewhat as it fluctuates the air so the dander doesn’t settle. After pleading with her due to the severity of my allergies she has allowed me to use it sparingly at night to help with my breathing.
-My mom keeps it at 79 degrees which I find unfathomable, this makes the air even stuffier and harder to rest in.
-Nights are the worst, and if I don’t take zyrtec that day I’ll find myself tight chested at night and struggling to sleep on the couch.
-I try to take two zyrtecs a day to mitigate allergy symptoms. If I manage to take them, they offset the worst of the symptoms and depending on the circumstances have rarely eliminated them for the day entirely (usually when the dog is out of the house and I wipe surfaces, then using AC for half an hour to filter particles). Despite that, they are not 100% effective.
-I try and clean regularly, and the first day after cleaning is typically relatively allergy free, but every day after that gets progressively worse.
Are there any additional solutions anyone can think of for solving this or mitigating symptoms? And if there is anything you think would be effective despite the cost, such as using AC more, then let me know.