Allergy prevention

Sometimes some anecdotal experiences tell a more succinct tales then peer reviewed medical journals and carefully monitored control group studies. This true story is a case in point.

When I was about ten years old we moved into a house that was new to us. I was watching television at home one day, and all of a sudden my eyes got really itchy. I started rubbing them and they just got worse and worse, to the point where they were swollen and I could hardly see. I must have looked pretty bad because my mom took me to the family doctor. He said that I had allergies and recommended a certain allergy doctor.

I went to this allergy doctor and he performed tests to find out what it was that I was allergic to, and it turned out that I was allergic to several things, and one of them was dust. He told my mother to make sure that everything is the house was thoroughly dusted and to try to keep it that way. He also gave me some pharmaceutical drugs.

She did this, but I still had allergic reactions on and off. She called the doctor’s office to ask if they had any suggestions, and the woman who answered the phone asked her if she had called someone in to clean the carpet. She said that she had vacuumed regularly, but that she never thought about having the carpet professionally cleaned. The lady from the doctor’s office told her that carpets hold a lot of dust and it gets agitated and into the air as we walk around, and of course that makes total sense.

So my mom had a professional carpet cleaner come in and clean the carpets. They told her that not only is there dust in the carpet, but there can also be dust mites, and many people are allergic to them. I was just a kid, but I could really tell that they tried their best to do a really good job to get the carpet super clean knowing that I was suffering with these allergies. I have to tell you that it was really miserable when they flared up.

The whole thing must have been caused by dust mites that were in the carpet, because I never had a problem before we moved into the new house, and I had no allergic reactions after they carpets were cleaned. My mom just made sure that the carpet cleaners came out regularly, and the problem was solved. I never needed the drugs at all. I wonder how many people out there are taking pharmaceuticals, and paying good money for them, instead of addressing the root causes of simple health problems.