Dust Mite Allergy Symptoms

Dust mites are tiny insect like creatures that often live in our homes. They can only just be seen with the naked eye and you may only begin to suspect that you have these unwelcome guests when you begin to suffer from dust mite allergy symptoms.

Symptoms like these

•    breathing difficulty with  wheezing or sneezing
•    itchy skin,
•    head ache or sinus congestion.
•    Irritated or  watery eyes
•    fatigue

These symptoms can be caused by other allergies too, so it is often hard to know what the real cause of the symptoms may be. The first step is education and so let’s talk about the Dust Mite and how it can trigger these allergy symptoms and then you can decide what steps to take to solve the problem.

How to Know If Dust Mite Might Be the Culprit

The only way to be certain is to have an Allergy Test arranged by your Physician or a specialist in Allergies. What most people do is to take measures in the home to reduce the problem and if that does not work then consider the Allergy Test.

Because dust mites are so tiny we don’t know where they are in the home. They do favour the bedroom because they like being near us. So they tend to live in bedding, carpets and curtains.

There’s a ton of action steps you can take, some of which are free or low cost and some might be quite costly.

Action Steps To Reduce Dust Mites And The Allergy Symptoms Too

A really obvious measure is to reduce the amount of fabric in the bedroom. If you can remove the carpet or curtains then there’s fewer places to hide for the dust mites..

And frequent dusting and vacuuming is a cost free help to remove as much of the problem as possible.

Special sheets and pillow cases can be purchased which act as a barrier to the mite and prevent or hinder it entering the mattress and pillow. And frequent washing of the sheets and pillow cases at high temperature will kill any mites

But how about the pillow itself or even the mattress?

You can check on the label to see if you can put the whole pillow in the washing machine – if you can then do so on a hot setting too! If not you may be able to kill the dust mites by putting the pillow in the freezer!

Ugh! You might say, or maybe just why?

Getting the dust mites really really cold will kill them and that’s what you want so as daft as it sounds this is how some folks kill them without using a chemical spray. You may want to put the pillow in a plastic bag or bin bag before you put it in the freezer. How long you leave it depends on how cold your freezer is but 24 hours should do fine.

If your pillows or bedding are pretty well used and need replacing you might want to purchase  “allergy free” bedding and pillows.

A Hidden Catch

Ever wondered if you were allergic to the fabric of your pillow case or sheets? Or even to the washing powder or liquid you use? Well it’s possible and it could be adding to the allergy problem.

Ideally you want pillow cases, sheets and blankets to be made of low allergy or “no allergy” materials. You also want them to provide a barrier to dust mites and prevent them for burrowing into the pillow or mattress.

Allergy bedding can be found at special allergy stores and using it can reduce the burden on your body of the allergens produced by dust mites – so allergy symptoms may reduce or vanish altogether.

To sum up – there’s lots of things we can do to reduce the effects of dust mites on an allergy sufferer. We can reduce the burden on the body and if we do a good enough job with that it may be enough!

What We Can do

• Keep the bedroom as dust free as possible
• Wash the sheets and pillow cases frequently on a hot setting using a no irritating washing liquid
• Use non allergic bedding fabricated to provide a good barrier
• Wash or freeze the pillows – or perhaps buy new ones

If we need to do more..

Perhaps the mattress is a problem – does the allergy sufferer have an easier time on holiday when they sleep on a different mattress?

•    Special companies can deep clean the mattress
•    Lastly – if the symptoms from the dust mites are mainly causing breathing difficulties then perhaps a trial period of an air filter which can remove the dust mites and their problems from the air may be what’s needed. A HEPA filter which may do the trick is at allergybegone.

Tracking down allergies is a tricky job sometimes but well worth it. Removing the burden of an allergy can transform a life so it’s well worth the effort.