Need advice on household mold/dust HVAC allergies

We've had allergy problems for years, but over the last year it has become pretty bad for my husband and myself, plus one dog. Our son and the other dog are fine. We had our basement treated for mold, plus we had our air ducts cleaned out, sealed, and treated with a sporicidin. Now we read that sealing the ducts may not be a good idea. They had a giant vacuum in the basement to clean the ducts, and they had 3 trash bags of dust and dirt in them when they finished. They said it was an amazing amount, and more than they'd ever seen! They even pulled out part of an old cut up credit card from the previous owners from 20 years ago. Since having the ducts cleaned a month ago, our allergies are much, much worse. Lots of nasal drainage and we even took the dog to the emergency vet because we were afraid he'd choke on his congestion. He is taking steroids and antihistamines, and my husband and I use antihistamines and a neti pot.

Does anybody know if getting duct work cleaned can actually worsen allergies? We're thinking that other things must have been dislodged in the cleaning process, but we hope that the sporicidin would have taken care of that, if it were molds. Would a second cleaning help, or would that be worthless? We called our HVAC guy to ask him for an estimate on all new duct work, but he suggested we call back to the cleaners first to ask about a second cleaning being helpful or not. They have not returned our call.

Any advice is appreciated. We will put in new ductwork if have to - heck, we'll sell our house and move if we have to! But of course we'd rather not do that!

Our house is 60 years old. I don't know the age of the ductwork. We have gas heat furnace with central AC.

When you get your ducts cleaned and even though the cleaners take precautions, like Ides said, small particles can still float around. The sproracin can only get what is existing in the ducts themselves but on the fine particles, it may not. Use Hepa filters - change weekly and clean the surfaces of your home everyday. On countertops, use the Clorox spray (made for counter tops, not the bleach)...use a dampened cloth with Pledge on wood surfaces, if you have carpet, vacuum every day preferably with a vacuum that has a Hepa filter. If you have an air purifier, turn it up to high and clean the filter out frequently. *edited to add: wash your curtains, rugs and bedding frequently as well*

I hope this helps but if it doesn't, you can get an air quality specialist in your home to find out what is floating around.

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SHERRY
Moderator-Allergies/Asthma and Alzheimer's, Co-moderator-UC
~Left sided Uc-'92**Unable to tolerate ALL mesalamines**
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