Is your Home making you sick?

I was tested for allergies about 6 years ago and was confirmed that I had severe allergies to dust mites. I never did anything about it with the exceptuon for buyiong some allergy meds and such. I always had issues with my sinus and never really thought that it ncould bother me that badly and proceded with nasal salines and allergy meds. I still seems to always get sinus infections and just plain always feel tired. I would have bouts with fatigue all the time. Funny thing though when I went away to a warm climate for vacation and spent alot of time outside I always would comment how great I felt. Even with my colitis condition I noticed I was fine when out of my home on vacation and such. I knew I had seasonal allergies but I guess I never really took it seriuously when my doc told me I was highly allergic to dust mites. This might also be part of the reason why some of you feel better when away on vacation. I am wondering how many of you had regular allergy testing done and what are you doing to make it better especially at your home. I know that meds can only work so much to help with this and the best way to do so is clear the air so to speak in your home or at the very least where you sleep. I am not saying this is goona cure your colitis by no means but it may go a long way in helping feel better. I recently decided to research the best air purifiers for my bedroom and came across a highly rated model made in the USA. I just submitted my order and feel so good about doing it as I think I am finally on my way to breathing much better and maybe even healing more. When you clean the air where you sleep it helps your immune system and allow your body to repair whch is what it does when you sleep. This is especially true for those who suffer allergies. I guess I am more so speaking to those of you who have known allergies and whethere any of you tried this with a good quality air cleaner. I just paid 400 for this one which is for allergy suffers. The filter is expensive but only needs replacing every 5 years. It seems they come along way with these units since I bought one and gave up on it years ago. The maintenance is basically just vaccuum the outside grates on it to clear large dust particles from the pre filter. Thats all. I should be getting it within the week and will let everyone know how well I do with it for those who are interested. If your interested in what brand I bought and researched feel free to ask.

Steve

I am not sure if you own or rent, but the environment in which you live can make a difference. You might be able to change a few things to improve your allergies. Carpets hold a lot of dust and danger and are common allergens, I used to have lots of issues with I lived with my parents who have wall-to-wall carpeting. When I bought a place of my own I chose a house with wood floors throughout and it made a huge difference in my dust allergies -- they've pretty much gone away. I have a few small throw rugs, in the bathroom, and in a few other places but those are regularly shaken outside and vacuumed.

I don't take any allergy meds anymore. I had taken some allegra before. The only thing that gets me is grass pollen. I was helping out my biologist wife one day, and that day the project involved spotting birds in a field with grass as tall as I am. With every bump of the grass pollen came out in plumes. Within minutes, I was sneezing with snot flying everywhere so I went back to the car to wait for her to finish. I was miserable for several hours and lay down in bed to nap as soon as I got home with her lol.

hey steve, thanks for the info - my allergies and sinus issues are much better since i've made food changes -

now if i'd wise up and boot all my cats out of the house, i'd probaly breathe alot better -

hope this new investment pays off -

Kitties make me better. That's fact. But yes if you have mold and stuff in your home that can definitely make you sick.

My first autoimmune disease was finally controlled when I began taking allergy shots. I noticed you didn't mention them at all. I discovered that my disease was always worse and "flared" every fall. It took me nine years of investigation to make the connection that allergies which I didn't even know I had were triggering my disease. I finally went and got allergy testing which revealed I did not have any "bad" allergies but I was moderately allergic to just about all fall pollens and molds plus dust mites. We did a few things around the house and I began taking allergy meds. It did not help my condition at all. I decided to try allergy shots. Allergy shots start out with extremely small doses of the things you are allergic to and slowly build them up over time, giving you more and more tolerance to the allergens. At first the allergy shots did not seem to do anything but over time when my body built up more and more tolerance to the allergens, all of a sudden my autoimmune disease went into remission. I have been doing allergy shots for over 12 years now and my first autoimmune disease has been in remission the entire time. Unfortunately, I came down with UC about 2 1/2 years ago while still doing allergy shots so this doesn't seem to have any connection to my UC at all.

Soystud, yeah allergies are environmental by pretty much their definition: things like dust, pollen, and other things are all around us in the air we breath and on things we touch. So if you can eliminate things like deep pile rugs and other things around you that collects dust and such things then it sure makes a difference.

I don't mean to insult anyone with my sig (you seem a bit confrontational there), that you can't sell me on diet mods or supplements, I just feel a lot of folks over sell those things as cure alls here. I am sure it helps some but the simple fact of the matter is those are not a universal thing that work for everyone. They don't work for me. I've experimented with what I eat, tried eliminating things like dairy, looked for trigger foods and been darn sure I had found one, then the next time I had said food I had no reaction whatsoever. I'll eat a big greasy cheeseburger, fries, and drink a beer and then have the most perfectly formed stool the next day with no urgency. If restricting your diet works for you then great I'm glad you found something that does work. It just doesn't work for me and for all others

All of us here have no choice but to take drugs for our uc haha. I don't like it, nor do most, but it is a simple fact of life.

I don't like that supplements as a whole because they are unregulated, and untested by the FDA, so there is no guarantee that what it says and what it does are one in the same. Sure it might have vitamin C in a capsule, but there is no guarantee it is in a form that is readily absorbed into the body at any significant rate and so forth. And the supplements are darn expensive, especially if taken indefinitely. So if I am paying $40 a month for a supplement I want darn sure to know it is doing what is supposed to.

As I said my diet experiments have resulted in no tangible results. If I am going to eliminate a food from my diet that I love then I need to be darn sure it is a problem food. So, I repeat and repeat and look for the same reaction from eating the same food on different days. To date, I've never seen any consistency whatsoever. Seems random. So I have a lot of skepticism when it comes to diet mods (I'll even give gluten-free a try once I have a stable baseline but with suspicion and an expectation of results or else it goes). But until I find one that works I won't recommend any of em.

Yeah the drugs have never put me in a remission -- it sucks. Before this flare I varied between 0 (pretty rare) and 4 poops on an average day. The average was always somewhere between 2 and 3 which was pretty stand-able. The GI said inflammation has been present in every scope he has done for me, and he said "you, my friend have never been in remission in the time I've known you", so I'll take his word for it. I think I had to be close to remission but never quite there due to the inflammation.

I have high-hopes that the 6mp will get me into remission, but for now it has to finish kicking this flare's butt for me. Getting rid of the last remnants of this flare and tapering off this pred successfully are what I have my sight focused on for now though.

My plan is to try gluten free (I love gluten so it'll be tough) once I am fully out of this flare. Might be a month until I am ready to try it, gotta get off the pred fully and know the 6mp is in full effect. I want to know for sure what is healing me haha ... like I said great suspicion.

oh, and sorry steve for the hijacking -

Soy, no problem buddy as it made for some good reading..

Gary, thanks for the suggestion of getting a shot for my allergies wihch I will definatly consider if this new air filtration system doesnt work out. I plan on not opening my windows this year and will run the ac when needed. So along with the filtration system and then a/c I am hoping that will so it for indoors. I have some basic allergy med for when I get bad and am spending alot of time outdoors.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Steve

Usually in the beginning you can get them as often as two times a week but as your resistance builds up more and more you get the shots less and less. If your allergies are seasonal you may get them more often during the season than outside the season. The allergist would determine all that. My resistance has been built up for years and I just get shots about once every six weeks. The shots don't seem effective in the beginning until your resistance has been built up, usually a few months. Every bottle of serum they mix up gets a little stronger and stronger. I don't believe the shots "wear off" in the manner you are thinking such as Remicade or Humira losing their effectiveness after a few weeks. However, if you stop the shots altogether your body will eventually lose it's resistance again to the point where you might wind up back where you started. That's why, even though the shots worked on me a very long time ago, I continue to do them.

London Lurker said...
I just came across this article. Bad news for me, I've never liked cleaning and IBD fatigue doesn't help. Time to clean my act up and see if it helps!

medicalresearch.com/allergies/house-dust-mites-may-play-a-role-in-inflammatory-bowel-disease/20107/

House Dust Mites May Play a Role in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

I don't like the conflation of IBD and IBS in that article but otherwise it was quite interesting. I'm still not gonna start dusting though.

Thanks OM, I will have a read. I know what you mean NCOT about IBD and IBS in the same sentence.