How
to Avoid Dust Mites: Some Helpful Tips
Morris
Nejat, MD - Bellevue Hospital Center / New York University Medical
Center
You might be surprised to learn that microscopic "spiders" are
the true cause of your allergy symptoms. But in fact, dust mites
are the unseen trigger for millions of people. They are extremely
small members of the arachnid class, of the species Dermatophagoides,
making them similar to spiders and "cousins" to lice
and ticks. People with dust mite allergy are sensitive to both
the organism and its feces. Dust mites are found in beds, couches,
and rugs, and cause eyes to itch, noses to run, and skin to crawl.
Do You Have Dust Mite Allergy?
Dust mite symptoms include itchy and runny eyes, itchy nose, sneezing,
coughing, wheezing and dry, itchy skin. If these symptoms sound
familiar to you, it is important to have a skin test done by an
allergist in order to pinpoint your exact allergy. If you're going
to go through the inconvenience and expense of environmental avoidance,
you should first make sure you know what's triggering the allergy.
I have seen parents who gave away the family cat only to find
out later that their child had a dust mite allergy.
After undergoing skin testing that confirms a dust mite allergy,
patients and parents are often defensive about their housekeeping
habits. I often hear, "I'm a good housekeeper and I dust
everyday." Although this may be true, dust mites can live
and thrive in places that dusting can't reach.
Dust Mites: Up Close and Personal
With a little effort, you can significantly decrease your exposure
to and symptoms from dust mites. But to defeat the dust mite,
we must first understand how it lives and thinks.
The Diet of the Dust Mite:
Believe it or not, the dust mite loves to eat our skin, especially
the skin cells we naturally shed from our body.
The Habitat of the Dust Mite:
Dust mites tend not to be airborne, primarily because they are
too heavy, but also because there is no dead skin in the air (unless
you have very bad dandruff or flaky body skin). Thus, we find
high concentrations of dust mites in bedding, clothes, upholstered
furniture, and, to a lesser extent, carpeting. Jumping up and
down on the bed or extensive cleaning may temporarily alleviate
the problem (giving those with a dust mite allergy a good excuse
to go to the beach while someone without dust mite allergy is
vacuuming and/or doing some other anti-dust mite activity).
Dust mites like to live where there is abundant food, moisture,
and warmth. This often means our beds. A bed is the ideal spot
for dust mites in some of the same ways as it is for us: it's
cozy and toasty. But besides that we tend to shed most of our
skin cells in bed. And that's good news for our hungry dust mite
companions.
However, dust mites prosper anywhere there is warmth and humidity,
not just your bed. For example, when you open up your beach house
in May (assuming you are lucky enough to own one), you may experience
some violent sneezing and wheezing. The place has probably been
sealed for six months with little or no circulation, and as a
result, any moisture present when the house was closed has been
trapped, producing favorable conditions for dust mites, as well
as molds.
Keeping Dust Mites Out: The Bedroom Battleground
When planning to battle the dust mite, we must focus our attack.
And that means making the bedroom our main battlefield. It is
a place where many of us spend much of our time, thinking we sleep
safely and snugly—all the while not knowing what we may
be actually breathing in. With our heads nestled in the pillow,
the dust mite has relatively easy access to our airways.
There are a number of things that can be done to decrease exposure
to dust mites in the bedroom. You could sleep in a hammock that
is washed weekly in hot water. Although this is highly effective,
it is relatively impractical and I don't usually recommend it.
Fortunately, there are easy and practical steps that can be taken:
1. Place an impermeable dust mite encasement around the mattress,
box spring, and pillow. This type of encasement has vinyl on the
inside and cloth on the outside to trap dust mites, but does not
crinkle like plain vinyl. It is also less likely than a plastic
cover to make you sweat. One note of warning: some of my patients
have reported dramatic improvements in their symptoms after using
a dust mite cover, while others haven't experienced any improvement,
even after a few months.
2. Wash all sheets, blankets, and pillow cases in water over 130
degrees Fahrenheit. Achieving this temperature can be a problem
in some apartment buildings where the thermostats on hot water
heaters have been lowered to prevent scalding. I would recommend
a pot of boiling water to be added to the hot cycle to raise the
water temperature. If it is not practical to wash certain types
of the bedding, like an expensive down comforter, place it in
a bag and put it in the freezer overnight.
3. Remove unnecessary objects from the walls and ceilings.
4. Keep stuffed animals to a minimum. Only let your child sleep
with teddy if it can be washed every week in hot water. All other
stuffed animal companions should be kept in a closed toy chest.
5. Use window blinds that can be wiped rather than curtains.
6. Remove carpeting, if possible. If your children are allergic
to dust mites, they should be encouraged to play on title or hardwood
floors.
7. HEPA filters are also used, but I don't recommend them. These "air
cleaners" don't do much and are very expensive. Spend your
money on dust mite covers; you'll get more bang for your buck.
These steps may seem like a lot of effort, but it will be worth
it if you or your child suffers from a dust mite allergy.
Scientific Evidence for Avoidance
There is good scientific evidence that dust mite avoidance works.
A number of studies have been published linking the development
of nasal irritation congestion (allergic rhinitis) as well as allergic
asthma to dust mite exposure. More importantly, research shows that
avoiding dust mites will decrease allergy symptoms.
Most of the studies demonstrating the efficacy of dust mite avoidance
have involved people with severe asthma. One study, for example,
took children with severe asthma caused by dust mites and placed
them in an aseptic clinic in the Swiss Alps for six months. All
of the children had a dramatic improvement in their asthma symptoms.
However, upon returning to their homes, their symptoms returned.
Similar improvements have been reported for dust-mite-sensitive
asthmatics who lived in hospital rooms for an extended period of
time. This means that if you are allergic to dust mites, your bedroom
should be modeled after a hospital room: plastic mattress, tile
floors, plastic furniture, and very little clutter. In addition,
all of the bedding in a hospital room is washed in extremely hot
water every day.
Although dust mites are everywhere, a few simple environmental measures
can dramatically improve your allergy and asthma symptoms as well
as decrease your need for medication. Dust mite avoidance is the
safest and among the most effective ways to treat allergies.
©
2006 Healthology, Inc.
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