Therapy of a house dust allergy
If the patient has been diagnosed with a house dust allergy, an attempt should always be made to avoid or greatly reduce contact with the substance causing the allergy. This measure represents, as with each allergy treatment, the most effective measure and should be accomplished as far as it goes consistently. If it is not possible to avoid contact, appropriate medication can be used to reduce the allergic reaction of the body.
Since house dust is present in all households, avoidance is usually not possible. In severe allergic cases, tablets that inhibit the release of histamine in the body should be used. The group of so-called antihistamines is a frequently used group of drugs.
Mostly it is taken seasonally when treating hay fever. The medication can be taken prophylactically or in case of an allergic attack. However, the side-effects must be taken into account, which manifest themselves mainly in pronounced fatigue.
For example, driving should be avoided in the case of long-term use. The taking of tablets causes a systematic treatment in the whole body. If only reddening of the skin or itching of the eyes occurs, an attempt can also be made to treat the allergic reaction locally with ointments or drops which also contain an antihistamine.
In the case of weaker allergic reactions, an attempt can be made to perform hyposensitization. This is a habituation situation that should be achieved. For this purpose, the patient is given the appropriate antigen in the body at regular intervals.
The dose should be so low that the allergic reaction does not become fully manifest. In some cases, a habituation effect actually occurs after repeated measures, i.e. the body does not react so strongly in future when it comes into contact with the antigen. Furthermore, there are still numerous sprays that can be inhaled and above all can reduce and alleviate respiratory complaints.
If an allergic attack (anaphylactic reaction) is fully developed, it is essential to seek medical help under certain circumstances. Depending on the severity of the severity, it may also be necessary to inject cortisone. A dosage of 500 mg can be selected and the substance injected after a venous access has been established.
Patients with very severe breathing difficulties are also always at risk of life-threatening shock. For this reason, patients should first be monitored by intensive care medicine. Other emergency medications that can be administered in such cases are Fenistil and Ranitidine (also available as a 3-drug combination with cortisone).
In very severe cases of allergic reaction it may be necessary to inject the patient with adrenaline to maintain vital body functions. It may also be necessary to supply the patient with the necessary oxygen through a mask or intubation, as breathing may become insufficient. If such a severe allergic reaction has occurred, it is essential that the search for the cause be intensified in order to avoid repetition.
The first and most important step in the case of a house dust allergy is the renovation of the household. Here one tries to get the household as mite-poor as possible. Straight mattresses are a residence of mites.
Therefore, mattresses should be provided with special covers that reduce the release of mite excrement into the air. Also the bed linen should be washed very regularly. Also the regular cleaning of the apartment including dusting is important.
It should be wiped wet regularly to eliminate as many of the allergens as possible. For children, the cuddly toys should be regularly sanitized, either by washing them or by storing them in the freezer for a short time.If this is not sufficient, drugs such as cortisone sprays or – more rarely – antihistamines are considered. If all this is not sufficient a hyposensitization can be meaningful in some cases with which the body is brought so long with the allergen in contact with brought until it does not react allergic any longer.
Normally, so-called antihistamines are often used in the presence of an allergy. These are drugs that significantly reduce the allergic symptoms such as eye tears, coughing, sneezing and runny nose. They must be taken daily.
However, it is not uncommon for them to have a much worse effect on house dust allergies than, for example, hay fever. For this reason, cortisone sprays (nasal sprays) are also used in the case of a house dust allergy, as these can often achieve better symptom relief. Cetirizine is a drug that belongs to the group of antihistamines mentioned above.
It is therefore used to relieve the symptoms of an allergy. However, as already mentioned, it often does not help as well with a house dust allergy as with other allergies, such as hay fever. A possible side effect of cetirizine is fatigue.
Common antihistamines in tablet form, such as cetirizine, are available in pharmacies without a prescription. You can also use the antihistamine locally in the form of eye drops. These can also be obtained without a prescription from a pharmacy.
There are two different types of eye drops. There are also nasal sprays that contain an antihistamine. The advantage here is that the active ingredient is directly at the right place and does not have to be transported there by the blood.
With nasal sprays with active substances, one should always be careful, since the nasal mucous membrane can quickly become dependent on them. You should therefore only use them for short periods of time. A good alternative is nasal sprays that only contain saline solution.
- One prevents the release of histamine, which is the main cause of the allergic symptoms.
- The other active ingredient, the classic antihistamine, occupies the receptors of histamine. This means that the histamine cannot bind and symptoms do not occur.
If you have a house dust allergy, you first have to ensure thorough hygiene in the household so that the house dust mites cannot spread in the first place. If symptoms of a house dust allergy nevertheless appear, one can consult a number of household remedies, especially if the symptoms are mild.
A tea made from fresh nettle leaves relieves symptoms caused by irritated mucous membranes in the nasopharynx area. It can also be drunk prophylactically. In addition, inhaling it can soothe and moisturize the mucous membrane.
A saline solution can be used for this purpose. To do this, dissolve a small amount of salt in water and then breathe in the hot steam. If the main symptom is a rash with itching, a bath with sea salt can be tried.
Sea salt can also be effective as a nasal rinse or spray. It causes the nasal mucosa to swell and thus relieves the symptoms. Taking black cumin oil over a period of two weeks can also have a positive effect on the allergic reaction.
The bed is the preferred residence of house dust mites. For allergy sufferers there are special covers which are impermeable to the mites. For the mattress you can buy a protective cover.
This way the house dust mites stay in the mattress and do not get on the skin. On the other hand, skin scales cannot get near the mites anymore. These covers should be well air-permeable so that no moisture is stored in the mattress.
Similar covers are also available for pillows and comforters. You can simply wrap them around the blanket and pillow as a protective layer under the actual bedding. These protective covers should be washed at 60 degrees at least every six to eight weeks.
The normal bed linen should even be changed every week and washed at 60 degrees. Due to the high temperature during washing the dust mites die and it also removes their excrement. A proper pillow also plays an important role for an allergy sufferer.
You can find out more about its material, costs and much more under Pillows for allergy sufferers An alternative to the special protective covers are pillows and blankets made of synthetic materials, which can be washed at a temperature of at least 60 degrees. If no protective cover is used here, the pillow and blanket must be washed hot at regular intervals.The bedroom is especially predestined to contain many house dust mites. Therefore, the room temperature should not exceed twenty degrees and the air should be as dry as possible.
The target value is approximately below 60 percent humidity. To maintain this climate, regular ventilation should be provided. Houseplants in the bedroom should be avoided, because they provide moisture.
In addition, gardienes and open book shelves should be avoided, at least in the bedroom. A lot of dust can accumulate here, which can lead to a worsening of the symptoms. The floor should be vacuumed every few days and wiped with a damp cloth so that the dust is not stirred up with every step.
Care must be taken to ensure that the vacuum cleaner bags contain a so-called micro filter, which can also retain the fine droppings of the house dust mites. There are also special air filters which can clean the air in the room from the smallest particles. The filters work with different methods.
Before you buy such an air filter, you should get expert advice, because these filters can be very expensive. In the case of a house dust allergy, hyposensitization is possible if other measures do not provide sufficient relief from the symptoms. With this method, the allergen is first injected under the patient’s skin in a very small dosage.
Then the dose is slowly increased until the so-called maintenance dose is reached. This is then injected by the doctor every four to six weeks. The aim of hyposensitization is to train the immune system to produce protective IgG antibodies instead of allergy-triggering IgE antibodies.
Hyposensitization usually takes place over a period of three years. Even after this period, hygiene measures in the household must be observed, since house dust mites should continue to be avoided as much as possible. Homeopathy can be used as a symptomatic therapy in the case of a mild house dust allergy.
Only the acute symptoms can be influenced by the globules. An improvement of the allergy as such cannot be achieved with it. Before taking homeopathic preparations, a competent physician with experience in homeopathy should be consulted.
This doctor can then advise which preparation can best help and what dosage should be taken. He can also assess the symptoms of the allergy and avert potentially dangerous situations. The choice of the preparation depends largely on the individual symptoms.
A selection of possible preparations is for example Sabadilla, which is chosen for sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes, or Acidum formicicum. The latter is used if the patient complains of itching and watery eyes and a wheal formation on the skin can be detected. The effectiveness of homeopathy for a house dust allergy has not yet been scientifically proven. However, the treatment shows few side effects at the same time, so that a homeopathic treatment can be considered. Nevertheless, attention should still be paid to the hygienic measures to avoid house dust mites.
