If you suffer from dust allergies you know the feeling. You go over to a new friends house for a nice evening, then it happens. First you eyes start to itch. Then your nose starts to run. If you are lucky and they are only mild allergies then it will stop there. If not, you will soon be blinded by watering eyes and struggling for a breath through a clogged nose. It doesn’t, however, have to stay like this.
What Is Your Allergy
Dust allergy attacks are a two parts of a perfect storm. First you must be allergic to something, meaning have an allergy to it, and the that substance, known as an allergen, must be present. When you encounter them your body behaves oddly and starts releasing chemicals that cause you symptoms, your allergies.
- Identify your allergen. This sounds basically simple till you realize how many there are and where they exists. Some are in old home while some are in new. Some are not in homes at all but on your dog or even at the mall. For that reason you must know what you are allergic to so that the problem can be addressed. The list is long.
- People dander (dead skin cells)
- Spores from molds
- Animal dander (not just dogs and cats)
- Fibers from fabrics
- Dust mites
- Bacteria
- cockroaches (well, pieces of them)
- Other types of particles
Some of these can be more hazardous than others. The dog dander is pretty safe but not so with your mite and cockroach parts. Identifying what is triggering your allergies is important so you know what to avoid, clean, or remove from your house. Given the number of allergens this is not so simple. The fact that you might have more than one makes it harder but here is how it is done.
- Do-it-yourself elimination. Yes you can do it your self but it will entail exposing yourself to each allergen one by one. Not everyone is up for this
- The doctor. Your doctor can do a much better job by doing what is known as a scratch test. It is the same concept as above but does not involve you sniffing things.
Treatments
- Antihistamines. Antihistamines are an effective treatment for most allergies. The block the release of histamines. These are what causes the effects of your allergy.
- Allergen Imunotheropy. This is a very successful treatment to allergies. It works by helping the body build up a tolerance to the allergen.
- Corticosteroid. This is a highly effective nasal spray for the treatment of allergies. The downside of it is that, while it also helps with labored breathing it does not help with things like red, itching eyes.
Rid The House of Dust
This sounds easy enough but it is a full scale protect to do it right and it does not have to be done once but regularly. It will include a lot of things like replacing things that are dust catcher with things that are not. Change your AC and heater filters. The dog has to go out side. Stuffed animals are not your friend either. You might want to have someone else do this because you will be stirring up the allergens you want to get rid of.
Kill The Dust Mites
These are a little bit harder and more expensive to get rid of. You need to replace what you can with washable materials.. Treat the area with tannic acid. This helps keep the waste from being airborne.
Use benzyl benzoate to kill the little bugs. Finally is the most expensive and drastic part. You need to replace your carpet with hard flooring, giving them no place to live. If you just must have carpet then chose one with low pile.
All of these steps together can help you live in an allergy free house.