So here's the thing; mites die at humidity under 50%, so how on earth do
they conclude you can't prevent them?

OTOH, antigen from their poop may not be as easy to get rid of; that's
what barriers and air cleaners are good for.  Thing is, unless you're
tireless, consistent and thorough every day, every week, it doesn't
work.  I also think it doesn't work enough unless you also desensitize,
but it certainly helps me with symptom relief.  Just allergen bedding
barriers allowed my cleaning woman to stop waking up itchy and
congested, overnight clearance.

Susan

On 4/29/08 8:18 AM, in article
5cdecfbc-1956-4b42-80ee-372713636e72@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com, "judy.n"

Why dust proof?

        A recent article in the Los Angeles Times quoted an authority that
claimed dust proofing was overdone. The ³authority² felt it was more
important to use drugs than to worry about dust proofing the bedroom.

        Having treated 10,000 plus patients with allergy and sinusitis, I
must disagree here.

        If you sleep in a dusty bedroom or work in a heavily dusty place,
you can develop dust allergy  or make an existing dust sensitivity worse.
The body can be overwhelmed by so much allergenic product.

        If you have a simple cold, the dust can add significantly to your
symptoms. The dust didn¹t bother you before the cold, but with the cold the
dust adds significantly to the symptoms.

        More important, if it is only dust allergy, you might not need any
drugs if the bedroom is free of dust. To me, the goal is to get people well
without drugs ­ if possible.

        Suppose you are only allergic to Oak and on skin test you are not
allergic to dust. Do you still need to dust proof? Yes.  This is because
allergy symptoms are a matter of arithmetic. If you take pollen at 2, add
dust as a 5, you don¹t reach 10 with symptoms.

        But if the pollen reaches 5, plus your dust 5, then you have
symptoms.

        On the other hand, when the pollen count is very high, say at 10,
even if the dust is absent, you will still have symptoms.

        In theory, dust proofing should keep you allergy free about 75% of
the time during the pollen season, esp if you rinse out the pollen and IgE.

        Today we are more concerned about reducing allergy symptoms.  Poor
sleep during allergy season can take a severe toll. If symptoms are severe,
you can end up with nasal cilia ­ the tiny cilia that remove dust and
bacteria ­ exhausted. When the cilia don¹t pulsate to remove bacteria, then
an infection, including a sinus infection can develop.  Allergy itself
doesn¹t cause sinus disease; it is when the cilia are exhausted after weeks
of sneezing and nose blowing that an infection can occur.

        It is true that certain medications are needed for allergy season,
but it is also true that if you can reduce or eliminate those medications to
let natural healing take place, the patient is better off.  Therefore I
recommend dust proofing to my patients.