Tip! Ear infections are another common sign of an underlying allergy. Though general waxiness, hair in the ear canals, lack of ventilation, bacteria and yeast may trigger the infection, an underlying allergy is often the root cause of the itchiness.
Tickles in the throat, sneezing, coughing, yep -
allergy season is here again.
My daughter recently had a bout with asthma. The strange
thing is, she hadn’t had any problems for a couple of years.
In looking at the possible triggers - She had a new batch of
puppies at her dad’s. While the 2 dogs didn’t seem to bother
her, the addional puppies seemed to put her over the edge.
To make matters worse, since we hadn’t had problems for a
couple of years, I had become lax in some of the cleaning that
I would have done when she had problems every year.
Once I realized what her problem was, I immediately started
cleaning for asthma. That means thoroughly vacuuming walls,
behind furniture, matresses, pillows, upholstery, screens, and
vents, and dusting every crevice- including things like behind
the tv and stereo inside the cabinet, the backs of furniture.
Tip! Before providing the basic treatment to the allergy patient, the root causes of allergy should be diagnosed correctly. For this purpose, a proper skin test and blood test should be conducted.
I normally dust the ceiling fans and blinds, but if you kinda
skip those, you need to pay more attention especially if you
have any allergies or asthma in your home. Otherwise those
blades are just spreading the dust around the room.
A quick carpet clean and changing air filters and furnace filters
finishes up the cleaning job.
You also want to change your hand towels everyday, just in case
it is a virus triggering the response.
If you have pets, keep them clean and brushed, and their living
areas cleaned. Keep pets out of the bedrooms of affected people.
The things that typically trigger asthma is actually pretty long-
House dust mites found in carpeting, mattresses, bed linens,
toys, upholstered furniture, dampness, poor ventilation,
unvented cooking, humidifiers
Animal-derived allergens from dogs, cats, rodents, and birds.
Mold found in carpeting, walls, and windows, caused by leaks,
poor ventialtion, water damage, or dampness.
Nitrogen oxides produced by space heaters or gas-fueled
cooking stove, used with poor ventilation.
Tip! Such symptoms may appear in a long term like two years of regular or constant exposure to allergy-causing birds like budgies and pigeons. In some cases, bird allergy appears after as long as 10 to 20 years after initial exposure to allergens.
Wood Smoke from backyard pits, or wood stoves or fireplaces, used with poor ventilation, or faulty equipment causing fumes
to come back into the room.
Fumes from cleaners, aerosols- like hairsprays, perfumes
and even air fresheners, pesticides, formaldehyde found in
some older household products.
Viral respiratory infections - exposure to infected people
Endotoxins from bacteria growing in soil, humidifiers, and
other moist places.
Cockroach allergen
Tobacco smoke
Excess weight.
If there is one thing you can do to minimize allergy or asthma
suffering- it is to become a vacuuming fanatic. The more you get
into that bag, the less you have floating around in the air.
It’s healthier, and you’ll have less dusting to do in the long
run. Now you can breathe easier!
Carole is the author of “Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak”.
If you love a really clean home, but Hate to clean it, you’ll
want her handbook of secrets for your very own. You can get it here - http://CleanFreak.CommonSenseLiving.com
Tip! A few medical scientists had carried out surveys to study the epidemiologic links between allergic rhinitis and other airway diseases. What they had found out were, 78% of patients who had asthma were also had allergic rhinitis [Allergy 1983;38:25-9].
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