I don't want to own cats but I would like to cope better with visiting cat-owners' homes. You seem to describe some sort of DIY immunotherapy for cat dander? Can you go into details?
Here is what my wife did (not the commentor though). She had dogs growing up, went away to school and developed an allergy. We bought a dog and she would take allergy pills each day but eventually starting cutting the dose as time went on. Now the allergy is gone.
For you, I would say visit your friends with cats often, at first taking an allergy pill before hand. Continue with frequent visits and cutting the dosage down. After you cut out the pill completely, make sure to continue to visit.
Not DIY. I went to an allergist, found out what I was allergic to, then they inject you with gradually increasing amounts of what you're allergic to weekly in their office. There are risks, as you could have a bad reaction. If you do, you down 1/2 a bottle of Benadryl and go to the ER if necessary. I had one bad reaction in the 2 years I did shots and a double dose of Benadryl fixed it.
Nowadays some immunotherapy clinics require you to have an EpiPen along or they refuse to give you your shot. Source: currently getting immunotherapy shots
This was over a decade ago and in NYC, so it was basically impossible for me to be alone or far from a hospital within 30 minutes of getting a shot. When I started to feel the reaction coming on, I had plenty of time to grab my bottle of Benadryl out of my bag and take a couple swigs while I was walking down the sidewalk. I'd wager it looked interesting to other NYers.
