House dust mite allergy: How to control it?
Dust allergy is one of the most common problems encountered in daily life today. What with the increasing levels of pollution and the resultant levels of carbon in the air there is dust pretty much everywhere, and no matter what you do it never really goes away.
A number of physicians are of the opinion that the allergic reactions considered to be caused by dust particles are in fact the work of dust mites which dwell on the grains of dust. Dust mites find nourishment in the skin cells shed by living beings like animals and people and scatter there waste products (or some 'dust-mite form' of excretory substance) all over the place. These nasty waste products contain certain protein like matter which causes our bodies to produce antibodies when they come in contact with them. The antibodies our body thus produces let out a certain pesky chemical called the Histamine. Thus Histamine is really responsible for making us sneeze and wheeze and go all snotty.
Dust mites have a special affinity towards warm and moist places, thus everywhere, from beds to sofas to curtains, is their private breeding ground. But that is not to say that they cannot be gotten rid of, following we give you a brief list of every possible way of completely terminating any dust mite population that might have mushroomed up in your house:
1) First step: wash your bed linen curtains etc. at least once each week and dry them at high temperature.
2) Second: Vacuum your upholstery, carpets etc. with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner. The HEPA vacuum will make sure that the dust mites once sucked in are not spitted out with the air released on the other end.
3) Anti-allergen casings work well for protecting your bed linen as well as your mattresses from dust mite invasion.
4) Use a De-humidifier, this will cut the humidity in your house and make it less suitable as a breeding place for dust mites. Double it up with a HEPA air purifier for best results.
5) When buying stuffed toys etc. for your kids or for Decoration remember to buy hypo-allergen varieties which might be easily washed in hot water whenever required.
In case you come down with a bad bout of dust mite allergy use any common anti-allergy medication and you will be up on your feet again. But here is a statutory warning: take it ONLY if you have some time to spare since you are bound to doze off soon after.