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Friday's Health Report: Indoor allergens like dust mites and mold can trigger symptoms year-round
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BATON ROUGE — Staying indoors to avoid summer allergies may not provide the relief people are looking for.
Doctors say homes can carry just as many allergy triggers as the outdoors. Common indoor allergens include dust mites, mold, pets, cockroaches and sometimes mice.
Signs of indoor allergies include constant sneezing, a stuffy nose, itchy eyes and itchy ears.
Dust mites cannot be eliminated completely, but regularly washing bedsheets and putting a protective cover on a mattress can reduce their numbers. Doctors also recommend regular vacuuming and removing clutter.
Dr. Sandra Hong says an air purifier may help with pet dander and pollen.
"The other thing that it'll help with is decreasing the humidity," she said. "Humidity is really important during these times of the year because if it gets above 30 to 50 percent, we actually can have more dust mites and we can actually have more molds in our home. So it's really important to try to keep the humidity down using dehumidifiers or an air conditioning unit to actually improve that for us."
If symptoms persist, over-the-counter allergy medications such as a nasal steroid or antihistamine are an option. If those do not work, consulting with an allergist is recommended.
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