Posted on Monday, June 24, 2019 in Videos
Dust makes most of us cough and sneeze from time to time, but some are especially allergic to dust. This is most likely due to dust mite allergies. Allergist Dr. Hamsa Subramanian discusses the symptoms and ways to treat and minimize dust-related allergies.
Transcript
I'm Dr. Hamsa Subramanian. I'm a board certified allergist and today we are going to talk about dust mite allergies.
Now dust is universal. All of us are exposed to dust and many of us will sneeze, will cough, have itchy eyes, but that's it.
There are a lot of patients who are affected by dust in a very severe way. Their allergies can act up, they can cough, their asthma can act up. They can have conjuntivitis (pink eye) and in some patients, their eczema flairs up also. So in the select few, we like to skin test them and diagnose them with dust mite allergy and offer treatments.
Now all these patients have to make some changes in their environment. That definitely helps. But going beyond that, there are safe medications.
There are the conventional allergy injections available but the FDA has also approved a sublingual immunotherapy pill. The dust mite pill is taken sublingually which means under your tongue. It's approved for patients 18 and above. You take it in the convenience of your home. It does have some side effects but generally it is very safe.
Talk to your allergist about it or come talk to me. I'll be happy to talk to you because many of us who are allergic to dust really cannot avoid dust - it's everywhere. It's perennial - it's all year round. The more time you spend indoors, the more you're going to be exposed to dust. The more the humidity is very high inside, the more you're going to be exposed to dust. And most of us have many dust collectors in our homes. We have pictures, we have blinds, we have carpets, pillows, mattresses. So there are a lot of things that collect dust and bother us in a very significant way.