Nov 11, 2008 6:52 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: Indoor Allergies
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Spring and summer aren't the only seasons that bring misery to allergy sufferers. Triggers lurking in your own home can make winter seem like the height of pollen season.
Even though pollen season was over, Adam Reale just wasn't getting relief from his allergies. "I experienced it during the winter. The more time I spent indoors, I still noticed that I was congested and start to wheeze" said Reale. "I started to feel tired. I'd wake up feeling completely congested."
"People also often have allergies to indoor things, and those are actually maybe more common than the outdoor traditional pollen and ragweed allergies," explained Dr. Michael Stewart from New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
When the cold weather starts and the furnace kicks in, it sends dust mold spores and anything else that may have settled there over the summer into the air, and being closed in with all that debris creates the perfect environment for allergies.
Dust mites are microscopic bugs that live in dust, and 15-percent of the population is allergic to them. They make their home in mattresses, pillows, even stuffed animals. "You're often allergic to the dust that's around the bed. And that's the one place in your home or apartment where you spend several hours breathing exactly the same air," Dr. Stewart said.
In addition to dust, other top winter triggers are pet dander, mold, smoke and holiday spices and scents. Ridding your environment of triggers is the best treatment.
"No matter how clean everything looks, there's still going to be dust there. So just dust and dust again. That's the point where you feel like you're OCD, but you do need to continue to dust," Reale said.
"If you have significant dust allergies, you're probably better off with hard wood floors and an occasional throw rug as opposed to wall-to wall carpeting. And you need to vacuum all the rugs that you have regularly," Dr. Stewart advised.
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