Dust Mite Allergies

[tesscaline]

Alright, so, I've recently been diagnosed through a skin prick allergen testing as having a rather violent allergy to dust mites (okay, well technically to their waste, but you get what I mean I hope).

I've been given a nasal allergy spray, an asthma medication (inhaled), and been instructed to do all sorts of things to combat the dust mites.

Unfortunately, the allergy field seems to be a bit on the woo side, so I'm having a difficult time figuring out which products actually work, and which are just fantastical ways to trick me into spending gobs of money I don't really have.

Mattress and Pillow encasements, according to my doctor, are a must. I don't want plastic ones, obviously, but which ones that aren't plastic work best? Does anyone have any access to say, consumer reports type studies or other scientifically sound studies on which brand works best?

Then there are sprays that supposedly can be used on furniture that can't be washed to kill dust mites -- I've seen about half a dozen of these things, all for insane amounts of money, but none of them list their active ingredients (at least that I've seen) so that I can verify their efficacy for myself. Does anyone have any information about any of those? Are there any that actually work? Will they damage upholstery?

On top of that, there are laundry additives that also, supposedly, kill dust mites. Same question with those as with the sprays. Do they work? What kind of things are in them?

I'm in a rental property, and cannot rip out all the carpeting (or I'd have hardwood floors by now anyway), so does anyone know of any carpet treatments that may assist in getting rid of the dust mite allergens there?

Thanks much for any assistance. Even anecdotal evidence is good to have (the "this product worked for me" sort of thing), so please, any input at all would be great!

 

[madurobob]

Only anecdotal here...

My asthmatic son had a similar diagnosis. Luckily, our pediatrician said "look, its easy to get carried away covering everything in plastic - don't. Just hit the big stuff, especially his bedroom".

Pillows covered in plastic cases. They're not just plastic, but plastic coated fabric. Then, a standard pillow case over that. You don't really notice the plastic that way. Ditto for the mattress condoms. Then, wash all the linens in HOT water every few days. We've never used any of the magic anti-dust mite detergent and the Dr. said they were really only necessary in very extreme cases.

Carpets and furniture we don't treat with the powders or spray, we just vacuum very often with a HEPA rated vacuum. Dr said it was really our call on this, as she didn't know what worked since she had conflicting reports from her other patients.

All in all it has gone well. About three years now and no real allergy problems.

 

[Fnord]

I have the same diagnosis. After spending lotsa hard-earned cash on matress and pillow encasements, getting rid of the carpetting, installing HEPA filters, yadda-yadda-yadda... I realized that my allergies were getting no better. Another set of tests later, and I find that it's not just dust mites, but molds and mildews as well.

Dog, how I hate the smell of Clorox!

 

[fuelair]

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/05/05jan10a.cfm

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/mites.htm

http://www.pestproductsonline.com/products/Bedlam_Aerosol-105-262.html

These sites are for information only - I can't guarantee any of it as this is not a specialty of mine. The last item above does list (so you can look up) it's active ingredients!!.
I do hope it helps!!

 

[Snixtor]

I've been suffering a dust mite allergy ever since I was a little-un. I went through desensitisation once, and for a short period it did work. That was about 12 years ago, so I'm about to try again, since maybe treatments have improved or maybe I'm more susceptible to treatments now. Other than that it's been nothing but nasal spray. I've tried a few covers, fabric sprays, etc, but never really noticed much difference. For me it usually seems to be an outside influence that gives me a "flare up". If I keep a reasonably well vacuumed house and stick to the nasal spray, I'm fine at home. But when the wind blows in a certain direction, or I get bombarded with dust in an environment outside of my control, that's when the sniffles set in.

 

[jasonpatterson]

You can buy comfortable, washable, cloth coated plastic (it's kind of a rubbery plastic, usually) pillow and mattress cases at any most mattress store. They just zip on and then you put your regular pillowcase over them. I don't know about dust mites, but they'll completely keep out 2 year old pee if there's a diaper blowout at night, so I can only assume they'd do the job for that as well.

 

[tesscaline]

Only anecdotal here...

My asthmatic son had a similar diagnosis. Luckily, our pediatrician said "look, its easy to get carried away covering everything in plastic - don't. Just hit the big stuff, especially his bedroom".

Pillows covered in plastic cases. They're not just plastic, but plastic coated fabric. Then, a standard pillow case over that. You don't really notice the plastic that way. Ditto for the mattress condoms. Then, wash all the linens in HOT water every few days. We've never used any of the magic anti-dust mite detergent and the Dr. said they were really only necessary in very extreme cases.

Carpets and furniture we don't treat with the powders or spray, we just vacuum very often with a HEPA rated vacuum. Dr said it was really our call on this, as she didn't know what worked since she had conflicting reports from her other patients.

All in all it has gone well. About three years now and no real allergy problems.

Unfortunately, my case seems to be a fairly severe case -- I still have the welts (yes, full on welts) from the allergy test a week ago, and they still itch, and are swollen

You can buy comfortable, washable, cloth coated plastic (it's kind of a rubbery plastic, usually) pillow and mattress cases at any most mattress store. They just zip on and then you put your regular pillowcase over them. I don't know about dust mites, but they'll completely keep out 2 year old pee if there's a diaper blowout at night, so I can only assume they'd do the job for that as well.

I had the fabric covered plastic material for my son's changing station when he was very young, and to put down on my bed when he slept with me as a baby in case of diaper leaks, and found it quite uncomfortable (didn't breathe at all, so the bed got quite hot and sweat was an issue) and incredibly stiff -- not to mention that I couldn't wash it in hot water or put it in the dryer, as the plastic would melt, and I have to wash all bed linens in hot water because of the stupid mites (insert grumbled curses under my breath here).

Unless there's a different sort that you mean...

Brands would be incredibly useful. Right now I know about Missionallergy.com and Nationalallergy.com as having brands of mattress covers. Mission Allergy's covers are insanely expensive (over $100 for a mattress cover!), but seem very much more like regular fabric than anything I've seen in stores (my dr's office had a pamphlet with samples). National Allergy doesn't have samples like Mission Allergy does, but their price ranges seem much more affordable (less than half the cost of Mission Allergy). National Allergy has some tests that supposedly demonstrate the effectiveness of their products, but I have no idea how to interpret them, since I'm not a scientist and don't know much about dust mites other than that they eat our dead skin, live in my bed and pillows and carpet and sofa and pretty much anything fabric, and poop allergens that I react quite badly to I also have nothing to compare National Allergy's test results to...

Meh.

I do thank you all for the advice you've had so far. I'm hoping that encasing the mattress and pillows, and washing everything in hot water, and vacuuming everything religiously will be enough. All the various detergent additives are simply so expensive as to be pretty much cost prohibitive (they're more expensive than the allergy spray and asthma treatment combined), but if someone could tell me if they actually worked I'd even be willing to try them.

 

[madurobob]

Unfortunately, my case seems to be a fairly severe case -- I still have the welts (yes, full on welts) from the allergy test a week ago, and they still itch, and are swollen

Ouch - No fun at all!

I had the fabric covered plastic material for my son's changing station when he was very young, and to put down on my bed when he slept with me as a baby in case of diaper leaks, and found it quite uncomfortable (didn't breathe at all, so the bed got quite hot and sweat was an issue) and incredibly stiff -- not to mention that I couldn't wash it in hot water or put it in the dryer, as the plastic would melt, and I have to wash all bed linens in hot water because of the stupid mites (insert grumbled curses under my breath here).

No, you don't have to sleep in contact with the yucky plastic stuff. You just get the plastic stuff as condoms for your pillow and mattress. Because they are plastic, you don't have to wash them so often, just wipe them down (they're really a barrier to keep your mattress and pillow from becoming huge dust mite incubators). Then over that you have comfy pillow case and fitted sheet, so all you touch is your nice linens that are easy to remove and wash in HOT water.

We're in central NC where its typically 95 degrees and 88% humidity all summer long. To make it worse, my son's bedroom is upstairs. Even so, the plastic mattress and pillow condoms are barely noticeable.