Dust allergy? But only at home?

[Sniffity]

Anyone have a dust allergy but only at home? One of my adult dcs only has a sniffy nose and sneezing at home. Says doesn't happen anyone else

I regularly hoover and dust but still this happens. Should they get tested? Any other suggestions or things that have helped other people other than damp cloth wiping all surfaces?
This has been going on all year so not seasonal and antihistamines don't seem to work.

I use furniture polish but didn't today funnily enough when it was really bad. Which ingredients in particular set your dh off? I'd wondered about the smell from Fairy pods that I've just started using although they said they couldn't smell it.

Have you definitely got all the surfaces? I say this because during my PGCE I went over a month with my eye swelling up, which we attributed to dust. I'd dusted, hoovered, cleaned everything I could in my flat, pulled out furniture, bought an air purifier and I still had my eyes swelling up so badly I couldn't see some days. I'd missed the picture rails...they were thick with dust - I'd never lived in a house with them and just didn't think. I cleaned them, and the problem stopped.

Has he been tested for a dust allergy? My son has a dust allergy and needs to take antihistamines twice a day all year round to keep it under control but they work very well, they have been life changing for him.

Yes, they work via the app, manually or via Alexa..

Worth noting that the allergy isn't simply to dust - it's house dust mites which tend to favour textiles and warm, humid conditions - places where humans frequent so they can eat dead skin cells. Lots of tips here! www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/dust-mites-in-your-home/

Jumping on this thread because I also have some unknown allergy at home. Got rid of lots of house plants as read that some can trigger allergies at times. Still unsure what it is, fabrics possibly.

Going to get dH to do a deep clean of the living room as I feel it's worse there.

I was going to ask if air purifiers make a difference? Anything I should look out for in a model?

Thank you. That was helpful.

I've rtft and no-one has mentioned mould, which can also trigger issues. Is your house the older, damp type?

We get patches of mould in certain places behind furniture and need to clean it off. Eventually we hope to address the root causes but it's not a quick fix.

That's very interesting regarding products as that hadn't crossed my mind. Moved to a new house and DD is affected upstairs mostly. I've used a new window cleaner which is branded and a new bathroom cleaner thats a spray n wipe, however I used them nearly a week before DD came here 🤔

It’s worth having a test done. I had my dd tested when she was 6, as her allergies seemed out of control. Piriton was doing nothing, and she was coming out in a rash as well as snotty nose etc. turns out it was dust, and Piriton isn’t much use for that. Fexofenadine is best, we haven’t had a problem since tbh. Needs to be prescribed for a child’s dose though.

It's normally a dust mite allergy rather then actual dust.

How old are your carpets? We have hard flooring in the bedrooms and no curtains in DS room. I would like to remove the carpet in our lounge really as it's old, but wet cleaning and steam cleaning can help a lot as this actually kills the dust mites.

My DH is allergic to a lot of things. He is allergic to most surface sprays as he's allergic to most surfactants due to the ingredients, most shampoos and lotions and anything heavily perfumed. Mainly anything containing ammonia so, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate. Found in anything that foams/ surface sprays. We use baby safe products and are generally fine. Anything containing Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) as well - mainly very strong commercial or medical disinfectants so not as much as a problem.

Here are some of the names of the ingredients I watch for and the codes they use on the back of the bottles.

Oleamidopropyl Dimethylamine | Allergic Contact Dermatitis Database https://share.google/x65rrjRpCpGWx5HWL

My dust allergy calmed down when l hired a really good cleaner. I couldn’t do it properly because of dust.

The other thing we were told to consider was using the correct amount of product. A lot of people are very liberal with how much cleaning spray/ detergent they use. A lot of the time we only really need to use half as much. We were also told to make sure things are rinsed after, so for example wipe the sides with cleaning spray but then also rinse the cloth and go over again with water so not leaving the residue behind. Putting the washer on a higher rinse cycle so the clothes are rinsed properly of detergent. Line dry over tumble dry if we can. Ventilation of spaces after cleaning - opening the windows for an hour after cleaning. Have all made a huge difference.

Can I ask what they test for and where you get it done?

We did have some but it's not where yhe problem seems to be

I'll try all of those. Thank you.

It was just a straightforward allergies blood test done via GP (we are in Wales, UK)
All her levels were really low for everything else, but dust was off the chart, so for us it was a fairly conclusive test.

Do most GPs do allergy testing? Has anyone in the UK had this done via their GP?

My DP has a dust allergy which we thought was being triggered when at home but it was a red herring. Turned out he also has allergies to specific pollens that we were not aware of, and once finally discovered we were able to identify the massive tree in our garden was the trigger!

not sure if that helps but worth considering that it might be an additional allergy that hasn’t yet been identified.

Hope you solve it!

I’m in Ireland not the UK, but my GP took a blood sample and sent it away for IgE tests for a number of allergens. On getting the results we were then referred to an allergy consultant at the local hospital who did skin prick tests and further IgE testing of bloods.

OP I've identified feather cushions and bedding as a bad trigger for me. The bedding I had dealt with but the cushions were old and I hadn't realised!

The issue with my allergies is that once they seem to get to a certain threshold, it sets off a full 24-hour long reaction like a cold. Puffy face, tension in my head, streaming eyes and nose and violent sneezing - even if I'm far away from the triggering item! So it's made it hard to identify. Don't know how common this is?

Thank you. Weirdly enough I have an allergy to a particular tree which is in my bloody garden! But it's only when it's in bud. We've narrowed it down to one particular corner in our living room where it seems worse so am moving furniture around from that corner etc to see if that helps.

Just going to check on the cushion fillings.....I'm usually really careful not to get feather filled duvets etc but hadn't thought of the cushions!!!

I live in the UK and had it done via the GP. I would imagine every GP surgery will offer this, but you would need an appointment first to determine the need for one.