A root canal (since a tooth was obviously infected), crown, doctor, and Ears Nose Throat specialist later and the conclusion is I have allergies.
Duh.
My brother has had severe allergies with asthma all his life. My mom and grandma had mild asthma. And I have had asthma in the past when exposed to dust (especially in mouse infested storage rooms), certain cleaning supplies, and onions, though I haven't had an episode in years.
(Hubby has many contact allergies, as do many of my kids, meaning I'm already on high alert for allergens, so should have caught this.)
Allergies is not a real surprising diagnosis.
Three courses of antibiotics and some steroids, and my face is doing much better, but I don't want it to come back.
Sadly, for various reasons that aren't our fault, I lost my insurance just as the diagnosis was made, so there won't likely be any testing to see specifically what is triggering this particular problem.
However, I can use some logic and figure it out;
- We have mold (not the black, dangerous stuff) in our main bathroom and laundry room (and occasionally spotted starting in other places.) When I find it, I wash it with bleach or vinegar and it quits growing, just becoming a stain on the wall.
- We live in the country, so we have mice. I seal everything up the best I can, but they need surprisingly little room to get into a house.
- We have inside dogs and a cat.
- We live in a cheaper home, built with pressboard and composite (manmade, not God made) materials. These are known to "breathe" out gases such as formaldehyde as they age.
- We live in a mining community, so our water may have...interesting....things in it. Frankly, I don't want to know.
- We are down wind from many of those mines that not only stir up things in the dust they move, but who knows what they add to the mines that gets blown our way.
So, let's just assume I'm allergic to molds (including desert molds that grow in our dirt), animal dander, pollens from the fruit trees in every other yard, and off-gassing of our own house and the mines.
"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the top five air quality problems in the U.S. are all indoor air problems. Common residential indoor pollutants include excessive moisture, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), combustion products, radon, pesticides, dust particles, viruses, and bacteria. All of these are known to affect human health, and the resulting odors, dampness, stale air, and stuffiness also make a house less comfortable."
How do you know if your house's air is bad?
If you have anything that burns in your house (gas stove, furnace, gas dryer, etc) there is a possibility of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide being leaked into your house, both highly dangerous.
You can certainly hire a professional to check this out for you. You can also buy some electronic detectors for your house, such as radon and carbon monoxide detectors. Amazon carries them.
Or you if you have these symptoms in your family you can be pretty sure somethings wrong:
- Coughing
- Sneezing
- Watery eyes
- Nasal congestion
- Headaches
- Bloody noses
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Rashes
- Fever
- Chills
- Fatigue
VOC's are compounds in paint, varnish, glues, dry-cleaning chemicals, markers, fire-proofing chemicals on carpets, drapes, and pajamas. Gasses dissipate into the air from any and all of these.
Let's add in that we all have electronics in our homes in some form (or you couldn't be reading this, now, could you?) Electronics, pollen, dust, dirt, pollutants, and any other junk in the air carry a positive ion charge, meaning they have more protons than electrons. (If you have the same number of protons and electrons, the element is "balanced" and called an atom. If you have more electrons, we call it a negative ion.)
Since our own cells are mostly negative ions, too much exposure to the positive ones make us depressed, anxious, and fatigued. (Thunder storms, rainfall, plants, and beaches generate negative ions, explaining why we feel so much better when we go near these things. They balance us.)
Since our own cells are mostly negative ions, too much exposure to the positive ones make us depressed, anxious, and fatigued. (Thunder storms, rainfall, plants, and beaches generate negative ions, explaining why we feel so much better when we go near these things. They balance us.)
It doesn't help that pesticides, household cleaners, and air fresheners all have toxic chemicals in them, also, that do damage to our bodies, especially lungs. So, you can start improving your house's air by simply not using these products any more than you have to.
The all purpose cleaner I use is:
The all purpose cleaner I use is:
- 1 Tablespoon of borax
- 1 Tablespoon washing soda
- 1-5 drops of dish soap (I use hypoallergenic Palmolive.)
- 1 quart of warm water
- 1 spray bottle that costs $2 or more (works better than cheap ones).
Just mix everything in the spray bottle (add the soap last so it doesn't produce too many suds). It's actually the best cleaner I've used, and it doesn't give me an asthma attack or make anyone itch. You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil if you want. I like to use lemon, myself. Stupid cheap as well as affective and non-allergenic.
Air fresheners don't actually freshen the air. They cover up bad odors by adding "good" oders on top, while putting positive ions into the air and pollutants into your lungs.
I'm not alone.
Even if you live in a big city, odds are good the air outside is better than the air in your house..
The number one method to clean the air in your house is to open up your windows and at least get as good of quality as is outside into your house. Even as little as 5 minutes a day will make a big difference.
Now, we leave our windows open as much as possible around here, which means mid-April to somewhere in September, unless it's raining, which is seldom here since its the desert (we get about 10 inches a year).this does make a difference.
It is the high desert (4500 feet elevation), though, so for half the year it's too cold to leave the windows open very many days.This is the time of year the mold grows. Yes, its the desert, with around 20% humidity, but with all the showers, laundry, dishes, etc going on with our family of 11, we stay around 60% in the house when the windows stay closed. Much too high.
So we need to go further than opening windows.
#2 Best Way to Improve Indoor Air
Plants "breathe" in carbon dioxide and "breathe" out oxygen which makes the air feel fresher to us. They also produce negative ions for us to absorb, so we need plants around us no matter what. But it seems they also remove mold spores, pollen, dust, dander, mites, and many chemical pollutants from the air. They are living filters.
The best plants are:
- Spider plant (one of the best)
- Pothos
- Orchids (which, addition to cleaning the air, add extra oxygen into the air at night, making them great for bedrooms)
- Bamboo palm,
- Chinese evergreen,
- English ivy,
- Gerbera daisy,
- Janet Craig, Dracaena “Janet Craig”
- Marginata, Dracaena marginata
- Mass cane/Corn plant,
- Mother-in-Law’s Tongue,
- Pot mum,
- Peace lily,
- Warneckii, Dracaena “Warneckii”
But, really, any plant is good.
According to NASA you need about 1 plant for every 120 square feet for optimum cleaning. So if you have the average 1200' home you need around 10 plants (with a 6-8 inch diameter pot. Bigger plants can count as more than one plant).
Do be careful not to overwater them since that will increase algae, and remove any dead leaves or stems so decaying plant matter doesn't add to the pollution in your house.
Salt Lamps
It is a known fact that people suffering with asthma get better if they go into salt mines. Breathing the salt- laden air really helps the lungs.
You can buy large lumps of salt (or baskets of small lumps) from those mines that have a light bulb in them. This is generally called "Himalayan Salt." The light gently warms the salt, causing it to absorb pollution- laden water from the air. The water then evaporates back into the air, leaving the pollutants behind. The rocks should be wiped clean a couple times a week.
The light from these "lamps" is a soft, warm orange, which mimics the sunset, encouraging sleep, so we will use ours for our night-time reading lamps.
The light from these "lamps" is a soft, warm orange, which mimics the sunset, encouraging sleep, so we will use ours for our night-time reading lamps.
Air filters
Charcoal will filter out many, many pollutants, and is in fact, used in most air and water filters. The most natural air filter is to just hang some activated charcoal in a breathable pouch (cheesecloth, nylon stockings) or just put some in a bowl in the rooms you want to clean. I plan to buy some soon and put some under seats in our cars, as well as throughout the house.
You could use barbeque briquettes, but they often have unhealthy additives, so read the label.
Also, activated charcoal has been treated to make it more porous, increasing the surface area to absorb pollutants, so it would be better to use than BBQ briquettes.
All charcoal would need to be replaced every couple of years.
You could use barbeque briquettes, but they often have unhealthy additives, so read the label.
Also, activated charcoal has been treated to make it more porous, increasing the surface area to absorb pollutants, so it would be better to use than BBQ briquettes.
All charcoal would need to be replaced every couple of years.
Mechanical Air filters
I already use HEPA filter bags in my vacuum cleaner to help reduce dust and yucky stuff. I try to vacuum most weekdays, which reduces our allergens in the house. My brother has removed all carpet of any kid from his house and was able to get rid of his asthma medicines! Carpets are fuzzy dirt traps, it seems.
We will be replacing ours with hard floors of some type as they wear out. Advantage: I can install laminate flooring (helped do it in my church) so I can save installation costs by making this choice! Laminate has the problem that is is artificial and gasses out toxins into the air, but on the other hand, you only need plain water and a microfiber mophead to clean it, so no toxic cleaners. And mops are cheaper and last longer than vacuums do.
We will be replacing ours with hard floors of some type as they wear out. Advantage: I can install laminate flooring (helped do it in my church) so I can save installation costs by making this choice! Laminate has the problem that is is artificial and gasses out toxins into the air, but on the other hand, you only need plain water and a microfiber mophead to clean it, so no toxic cleaners. And mops are cheaper and last longer than vacuums do.
I was also given an air cleaner some years ago and have bought new filters for it. It is only big enough to do one room- not the whole house like I need- but it will help when we must keep the windows shut.
We'll add that our house is cooled with a swamp cooler. This means all summer the air is pulled into our house through a wall of watered down pads and pushed out the open windows, filtering out many pollutants before they even come into the house.
Beeswax Candles
I have not tried these yet, but might. They release negative ions as they burn as well as cleaning pollutants.
Other Things that Will Help Allergies
Regular dusting, especially on the hard to see places like door tops, also helps. Flylady.com suggests you use a high quality feather duster that holds the dust instead of scattering it, and set a timer for 10 minutes once a week and just dust what you can in that 10 minutes. This will keep most homes pretty dust free, with the addition of just a deep dusting with a cloth once or twice a year. (and its kind of fun waving the feather duster around like a magic wand while trying to beat the timer).
Washing curtains and other "soft" surfaces, and vacuuming those you can't wash, can also drastically reduce dust and their bugaboos.
Dust-mite proof covers on all pillows and mattresses on the bed will help, also, as will washing your sheets weekly and blankets frequently. Now, I have a hard getting to this much washing, honestly. I'm not perfect. But I can do better, so I will.
Groom your pets regularly to help reduce their contributions to the atmosphere.(My 11yo has taken this over).
Keeping shoes out of the house helps too, if you can do it. I keep a large box by the door for everyone to put their shoes in. It reduces the cleaning as well as the allergens. And, at least when I had a bunch of little kids, I always had an idea where the shoes were.
Natural ways to have good smelling air
If you want more scent to your air than "clean" you can bake a loaf of bread :-) or put a small pot on to simmer on the back of your stove with some cloves, vanilla beans, or any spices you enjoy the scent of. And an essential oil infuser will do a similar job.It is believed the infused essential oil will also help clean the air.
I'm not perfect. I can't do all these things. But I can do more than I do now, and will. The things that require spending money will have to be spread out, but most of this list I can do without a financial investment.
How about you? How is the air quality in your house? What do you do to reduce allergens in your life?
How about you? How is the air quality in your house? What do you do to reduce allergens in your life?
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