Dust Mite Allergy

[Greentent]

DS1 has just tested positive for Dust Mite Allergy... he has asthma, severe eczema and nut allergy. He is 17 and lives in a filth pit which I intend to tackle over half term. I have bought the allergy mattress and pillow protectors, an air purifier, a high pitched noise thing, eucalyptus oil, Dettol fabric wash (this might not help the eczema) and some dust mite spray. I've got him a dust mask so he can help with the cleaning. I've also bought Dettol anti bac spray but I'm not sure if that will do anything? Can anyone recommend any other products that can help the forthcoming blitz? Any more spray recommendations? Does the Dettol anti bac spray work on dust mites? Thank you

I’m not sure that anti bac spray would do anything to be honest.

What you need to do is hoover the mattress on both sides, thoroughly before you put the cover on.

Start washing all of his bedding at 60 if you’re not doing this already. Get rid of the carpet and any soft furnishing. If you can’t get rid of soft furnishing, you can freeze them for a day to kill the mites.

If you can, replace the carpet with some natural flooring like Lino or rubber.

Make sure you damp dust too so that you’re not kicking all of the dust in the air.

Make sure too that the window is always open at night, even if it’s just a crack and that the bed is thoroughly aired in the day. Putting the quilt over a chair for a couple of hours should help.

Once it’s all done, it needs doing every week, mattress hoovering, bedding washed, damp dusted, windows cleaned and floor hoovered.

I hope he sees some improvement soon

Thanks for the information. It all seems like a full time job! We need to get on top of it as it's making him really ill. The room couldn't be more cluttered so it's going to take ages.

Thanks for the information. It all seems like a full time job!

It does seem like a lot but really, once you get on top of it, 20 mins to half and hour once a week will be fine and there are some things you can do without having to do a major clean first like washing his bedding at 60, hoovering the mattress on both sides, sleeping with the window slightly open and airing the bed and quilt in the day. All he really needs to do for that is to put his quilt over a-chair in the day for a couple of hours.

Just wondering what you wash his clothes in currently too. I can only tolerate a couple of brands of non-bio and I can’t have fabric conditioner at all.

Please don't take this the wrong way, (I'm definitely not comparing an animal to a child, and I mean my advice with the best of intentions) but my little dog has a bad dust mite allergy (amongst many others) and dog flea spray for the house kills dust mites. Depending which you buy they can be effective for 90 days.
Have a look at Pets at Home, we get one in a pink can. I spent hours researching them. It's not the cheapest but one can lasts a long time. I hoover the house (put a flea collar cut in half in the hoover bag too as that will kill any you hoover up and stop the exhaust on the hoover spitting some back out - they're pretty cheap) and then spray the soft furnishings and carpets. DDog is so much better and I can tell from his ears when I've been a bit lax and not done it enough. Vet wanted to put him on loads of medication and I didn't want him medicated so we decided to manage him ourselves, which has worked well for 18 months (9 food allergies, two environmental allergies which resulted in horrendous, painful, constant ear infections for the little fella)
Allergies are awful, my husband has a nut allergy which is terrifying at times and I cook and bake everything from scratch, and he had severe eczema which often hospitalised him as a child, so I wish you well.
This is the spray we use, you can get it cheaper from eBay
www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/johnsons-4fleas-household-spray-600ml

Thanks so much for advice.

We only use Percil Non Bio... I have sensitive skin and come out in a rash if I use anything with perfume. The first hurdle is to get on top of it all which is going to take a while! Reassuring to hear that once we do that, it will be manageable. It seems like a mountain away at the moment.

I will definitely try the spray. I'm also planning a new bed for him as he has a high sleeper which is a pain to get to and it has a sofa underneath (which is piled high with teenage mess). He is allergic to walnuts and brazils - the doctor said that his reaction to brazils was the biggest she had ever seen. He had terrible eczema when he was a baby but he suddenly grew out of it which coincided with us stopping using the emollients as they made it worse. Makes me wonder if the underlying problem could have been the dust mites. It's all flared up again recently which has meant hospital appointments - they talk of stress but nobody has mentioned dust mites. It was me that asked for the tests.

Half term is going to be fun!

Those little insects are a huge problem, especially for those of us who have asthma... Shortness of breath, breathing difficulty, suffocation - this is a short list of symptoms those creatures can cause. Here is the article where the process of home hygiene to get rid of dust mites is described:
pestcontrolhacks.com/get-rid-of-dust-mites/
Try choosing natural means because chemical ones can be dangerous for people with asthma as well. And don't forget about wet cleaning as often as possible.

I have this. The high pitched noise machine you out under the bed is the best thing! And changing my duvet and pillows to anti allergy. This this first before you start replacing other things :)

@Bananarama12 what does the high pitched-noise thing do?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00AERTP6E/ref=mp_s_a_1_5_a_it?ref=plSrch&keywords=dust+mite+killer&dpPl=1&dpID=31zms2d012L&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1541566203&sr=8-5
Stops them reproducing. I've had mine unplugged for a couple of weeks and I'm starting to feel itchy and bunged up.

I have one of the machines too. I also have an air purifier www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006ZKXIXK?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=0e11f8c9-98e1-4a93-bd5e-367420b613ee&sb-ci-n=asinImage&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&hsa_cr_id=9396801900402&pf_rd_t=301&sb-ci-a=B006ZKXIXK&pd_rd_i=B006ZKXIXK&tag=mumsnetforum-21&aaxitk=6fvck5dsLhkPSWv7Yp1rPw&pf_rd_i=air+purifier&sb-ci-v=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F61zJIFHJqtL.jpg. You can actually see the little particles in the air being sucked in.

@Greentent how’s your DS doing now?

Thanks for asking Jilted. He's not too bad (just the usual mild eczema at the moment) but we are nowhere near getting on top of the room. He's a lazy gap year teenager! We are half way there - the curtains have gone, lots of junk has gone, sheets being washed at 60 etc, but the high sleeper needs to be replaced and there's still a ton of junk to be removed or cleaned. We will get there eventually! Hopefully we have done enough to prevent a massive flare up this winter - if he gets one, it's really hard to get rid of. This year's flare up resulted in tons of missed school in the run up to A Levels so could also have been stress related. One previous flare up nearly ended up with him being admitted to hospital. Hopefully we are now getting on top of it.

Could you get him to do 15 minute bursts with you? Set the timer for 15 mins, both go in there and do as much as you possibly can in that time. Then take a break. I’ve been doing this with the housework and the house is looking much better

Good idea! There's a lot of shouting going on here - it's not easy to negotiate with a teenager! Today he has cleaned out two drawers, hoovered them and then put in some drops of eucalyptus oil. He has taken off sheets etc, hoovered mattress and sprayed with dust mite spray (natural). He is now gaming!!!!

It doesn’t sound like a lot but at least it’s going in the right direction. Are you helping him to get on top of it too?

Yes, I am helping. I do my bit when I get a chance. Trouble is I am really busy most of the time with all the usual other stuff... we will get there eventually. I've got a load of stuff to take to the local hospice shop/recycling centre/CEX. We are a family of hoarders (dust collectors).