I think Mr P has a dust allergy... help!

Little_Pickle

Hi all,

I'm hoping I could get some tips for dust allergy?

Mr P and I moved to a flat next to a big park and on a high street 2 years ago.
We moved in just before Spring and by that Spring / Summer Mr P had bad hayfever and got a little bit of excema.
After a while, he had a couple of bad breathing attacks and had to go to hospital. they told him that he now had asthma. he has never had this before. He now takes 2 inhalers (brown and blue) when it gets bad.

we moved to the back bedroom of the flat, away from the high road and park side of the house, but things didn't improve much.

Mr P went away to Japan and NZ for 7 weeks and had no or very little problems breathing. He has been home for a week and his dry cough and need for inhalers has returned.

I now think that he may have a dust allergy as our flat had all wooden floors and gets dusty very easily.

we will, of course, go to the docs to confirm this, but for now, does anyone have some tips for helping Mr Pickle?

Thanks guys!
LP
xox

newlywed

Hi, I have asthma, eczema and hayfever

My tips I've picked up from various places are:-

Avoid plug in air fresheners as some can seriously start me off
Reduce use of spray air fresheners
Use a damp cloth to dust instead of using polish (this stops the dust being moved back into the air too)
Wash front room cushions and covers regularly
Wash bedding, cushion covers regularly
Use dust mite cover on the mattress and pillows (makes a huge difference for me as otherwise I have an asthma attack changing the bedding!!) I've never yet bothered with a cover for the duvet though.
Try and vacuum when the sufferer isn't in the same room as the dust tends to get kicked up by the vacuum (I saw huge improvements with a multi hepa filtered allergy vacuum though as it filters any air that comes back into the room from the vacuum).

And be careful what type of flowers you bring into the house (eg lilies are terrible unless you cut off the pollen pods as soon as they open).

Wooden floors and lino and meant to be best for dust allergies as carpet is supposed to be the worst.

frivolous_fay

I don't think you can confirm a dust allergy without doing an allergy test... and good luck trying to get one of those!

My O/H is asthmatic - for some reason he is fine at home, but when he goes home to his parents, he gets wheezy again. Odd, as his mum is far more house-proud than us! He also gets worse hayfever when we're out of town.

When dusting, I let him get away from the dust first. He used to stay clear when I vacuumed as well, although since we got one of the 'allergy' dysons, it hasn't bothered him so much. The old hoover definitely used to kick up the dust more. Incidentally, on TV at the weekend they did a test to see which substance made people sneeze the most... and it was vacuum cleaner dust.

Sorry I can't be more helpful!

Little_Pickle

thanks so much newlywed!

A great help... I've been looking up stuff on the internet all morning!
Poor Mr P!

I'll see if these changes make a difference. I'll have to send him to the pub to get it all done though!

LP
xox

newlywed

... and I used to be seriously allergic to impulse being sprayed in the room, as well as some deodorants and various perfumes, so if you use these, consider changing to non-spray deo, and going without perfume for a few days to see if it makes any difference.

When I shared a room with my sister she used to go mad as I was allergic to most things she tried to spray

Little_Pickle

oh, fay, thanks so much!!!
any suggestions are a real help! I need some sleep!!!! His coughing is driving me wild (and not in a good way!)
thanks again,
LP
xox

newlywed

Do you have feather bedding? Feather pillows trap the dust

If we go to a hotel I have to be the fussy person requesting no feather pillows or duvet!!! Otherwise I have an asthma attack in about 10 minutes of just being in the room

My sister has to take all the feather cushions out of her front room and turn off her plug in air freshners before I arrived at her house - else I'd be sniffing and sneezing all evening.

aliasojo

Had you considered just changing him for a fully working model? At least that way you wouldn't need to dust so often. :rotfl:

Sorry.

(I can imagine how hard it is to live with for both of you. One of my kids has a mild allergy and it can be very annoying for him at times.)

Maybe try an air purifier?

Little_Pickle

aliasojo wrote: »

Had you considered just changing him for a fully working model? At least that way you wouldn't need to dust so often. :rotfl:

Maybe try an air purifier?

Ha ha!!! I could but I think I'd miss him!

I'm looking into getting an ioniser for our room.
seriously, it's not fun for him...

I sent him loads of info this morning and I think we're going to get a new matress... yay! silver lining and all that!

newlywed

The other thing to keep an eye on is diet

Each person has their own "triggers" for allergies so everyone is different but for me, preservatives start my asthma and some wines start me sneezing and wheezing (something to do with the sulphite preservatives apparently)

If he gets a few bad days, try and keep a note of what he may have eaten/drunk etc to see if there is anything that coincides.

Little_Pickle

thanks for that... he actually went to a nutritionalist nearly a year ago and he now can't have dairy or beef, which he sticks too. May be worth going back to see if anything has changed though..

thanks again!
LP
xox