Hi all, hope you can give your opinion and experiences with using an air purifier and allergy treatment in general. My 7 year old son suffers constantly with what seems to be an/several allergies. Symptoms are runny nose, dark under eyes, coughing (most likely because of the runny nose), sneezing in bouts of 5-6 regardless of where he is but especially when he gets up in the morning. This is all year round. Tried inhalers, antihistamines and a dust mite killer- all to no effect. It's ruining the poor kid's quality of life, it may be something he's got to put up with but anything that will help we'll give it a go. Thanks in advance Lee
I have problems with asthma triggered by anything, which includes allergies. I have an air purifier it appears to help as it alleviate some of the problems. I went through a few different nasal sprays, the one I found most effective is a drug free one. I also do nasal irrigation if it seems mostly nasal, or steam when it feels more on my chest. The biggest factor is I kept going back to the GP as it was asthma related, I went through 4 different inhalers to the one I have now with seems to work. Anti histimines most of this season. The air purifier needs to be the right size for the room, I run it throughout the day next to my desk. Also vacuuming everything several times a week. We have a robot hoover which I set on every day and I'll vacuum the rest.
Sorry to hear about the problems for your lad. The first thing is to get him to a Dr and get a proper diagnosis. That's more important than anything else. Assuming you've already done that, as I understand it, it's often a cumulative effcct. So no one thing is responsible, rather a range of things raise the irritation level until it causes problems. Things we did to help my son: A memory foam mattress which leaves nowhere for the dust mites to live. A foam mattress topper that can be washed at high temperatures. Wet dusting everywhere regularly. This is better than vacuuming for many surfaces. Vacuum regularly. Make sure there is no damp or mould of any kind lurking in his room, behind wallpapers etc. We stripped all paper from the walls and painted them, they could then be wet dusted too. Remove any animals, furniture or clothing that might be triggering it. He did have an air purifier, but I'm not convinced it made any difference. My son suffered for a while, but has now largely outgrown his problems. He still has a blue inhaler for occasional use, but rarely needs it (he ran 3 miles in 23 degree heat this evening and didn't use it for example). So there is hope your son might grow out of it too. Best of luck in helping him Mitch
Thanks for the replies guys. We've been to the docs who have tried 2 inhalers and 2 antihistamines. He's going back next week to see what they suggest next. Good point about the matress and topper, well worth a go and we are willing to take a chance on the purifier, can't do any harm anyway......
It's worth trying anything, and who wouldn't for their kid? You could take the carpet out of his bedroom too, use laminate or similar instead. Anything that removes allergens. My son reacted really strongly to silver birch tree pollen too. We had a 40' one in the garden which I loved, but it went straight away once we knew and that made a big difference too. Silver birch is apparently a very common trigger.
Thanks Mitch. Trees run the full length of our property, but not on our side, I'm convinced this is one of the triggers if not THE trigger. Where's my axe?....
I used to work for a charity/patient organisation called Asthma UK. They have a team of nurses who specialise in asthma and allergies and they really know their stuff from long experience in clinical practice. Calls to the Helpline are charged at a local rate. Calling the Helpline should cost no more than any 01 or 02 number, and will count towards any inclusive minutes in a phone contract. Full details HERE. They'll be really happy to talk through all the issues with you and they know what works and what doesn't.
