Dust mites and mattress protectors

elpgal

My GP thinks my lifelong dark circles could be due to allergies and I have slowly worked to eliminate dairy and wheat with no results. He also recommended getting a mattress protector for dust mites. I picked up something from Target but the thing is so crinkly and noisy! Do you have one that you love and recommend?

9 years ago

Off Topic

7 replies

Latest reply was from elpgal

Astrid

Veteran

Do you have a diagnosed dust mite allergy? The problem is that a mattress protector alone won't help, you need to put your pillows and blankets into covers as well. You also need to eliminate carpet and create as much closed and uncluttered surfaces as possible. Both my sister and one of my brothers have it. My parents bought high quality covers, but I don't know the brand.

I read somewhere that the covers are useless when it comes to other allergies, asthma and so on. Using these won't help you if you don't really have a dust mite allergy.

9 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

I will first say that I know very little about dust mite allergies, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Would it work to just start with a special hypoallergenic pillow, since the pillow is what is up around your face all night? Maybe if you started with a pillow and got good results, you would know that some kind of allergy is causing the problem. But maybe you already do this.

9 years ago

karymk

Veteran

I bought a really crinkly mattress cover (and ones for my box spring too, and pillows!) from Walmart and Bed Bath and Beyond. It helped to put on a good plush mattress pad over the crinkly cover.

9 years ago

stainedglass

Active Member

You can purchase fancy dust mite covers that aren't as noisy from places online like allergyasthmatech.com. However, as Astrid stated, it's not just a simple matter of a mattress cover... it's a cover on all pillows, carpet removal, and regular washing of all bedding materials on high temps regularly to kill the dust mites. It might be worth your while to see an allergist and get tested to determine your allergies. They can do skin tests for both environmental (dust mites, cockroaches, animals, pollen, molds) allergies and food allergies, and blood tests for food allergies. Also, if you do have a dust mite allergy, you can get treatment with allergy shots or allergy drops.

9 years ago

MTBGirl

Veteran

I was the same way, poor quality sleep, waking up with lots of congestion, taking a long time to "clear" my head each morning. With testing I found allergy to dust mites and other things.
What has helped me, as the others have suggested, is to keep a dust-free as possible room, wash the sheets more often. High quality American made products can be found at this site, it's the one my holistic doctor recommended:
http://www.natlallergy.com

Their mattress and pillow covers protect from the mites, bedbugs and pet dander. I have since covered our pillows, mattress, boxspring and comforter. I also invested in an air purifier which the doc said to turn on three hours before bed and leave on all night. I don't always turn it on beforehand.
These changes, which I made in financial baby steps, have made a huge difference for me. I hope this helps.

9 years ago

Aquamarine

Veteran

I have dust mite allergies, along with about a million other allergies. What has really helped me, along with shots, is to wash all my bedding frequently AND vacuum my mattress each time with a HEPA filter vacuum.

9 years ago

elpgal

Veteran

Thank you all for the links and suggestions. To answer some of your questions - I have not scheduled my specialist visit yet, it is later this month. I have seasonal allergies so we run the Hepa filter each night all year round (because I am used to the white noise). I wash bedding every week but our bed is kind of large and the bedroom is small so I don't get round to vacuuming under the bed every week.

Based on your advice, I will hold off investing in a better quality one till I get tested.

9 years ago

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