Reducing allergens

My husband and I both have asthma and allergies. I'm interested in finding practical ways of reducing the allergens in the house. about 70% of the house is carpeted- which we can't afford to tear up right now. Is there any way to reduce the allergens in the carpets? How about bedding and other fabrics? I clean thoroughly once a week but it seems there could be something more I could be doing to help the allergies. We have a dog- which my husband is allergic to- but we love her way too much to get rid of her.

Hi Ashton, welcome to Healingwell :) A few tips to help you guys. What sort of mattress do you sleep on? You can put a hypoallergenic liner over your mattress and also get hypoallergenic pillows. If you have carpet in your room, is it possible to remove that only? We spend so much time in our rooms that by eliminating the allergens in there can really help. Do you keep the dog out of the room? If not, then that's a start too. Also, sometime a humidifier in your room at night can help reduce allergies. You can also put cheesecloth over the heating vents to trap any dust plus insert a hypo allergenic filter in your furnace. If your dog is long haired, you can try having him/her shaved and have him/her shampooed frequently at the groomers (or at home) with allergy shampoo. This helps keep the animal dander down. As for the carpets, I forget who makes it, but they have an allergy reducer powder you can sprinkle on your carpet. But one tip about vacuuming, is that you should dust after you vacuum because vacuuming stirs up stuff that is in the carpet. Also, if you have a carpet cleaner, you can clean your carpets once a month or every other month with allergen shampoo.

I hope that some of these tips help you!

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Thanks for all the great tips!
We just have a regular mattress. I'll have to pick up a liner next time I'm at the store. Do you know how much they cost generally?
There is carpet in the bedroom. I don't think we can rip up that carpet quite yet though. We just moved into the house about a month ago and with all the other projects going on, I'm afraid it will probably have to wait until springtime.
Yeah, the dog sleeps in the room with us. But not in the bed, beside the bed- but next to my husband's side of the bed. I'll talk to him but I doubt he'll agree to her sleeping anywhere else. She's slept by the side of the bed since she was a pup. And I'm not sure I could bear to hear her cry either. I do try to clean her dog bed as often as possible, so hopefully that helps a little.
I never thought of putting cheesecloth over the heat vents, that's a great idea. I'm not sure what kind of filter our furnace has, I'll definitely be checking though.
The dog is short haired and she gets bathed as often as we can with our hectic schedules. But we could probably step that up a notch. We don't use allergy shampoo though, it's a moisturizing shampoo. I'll have to look for the allergy stuff. She does get brushed on a regular basis so hopefully that helps a little.
Anyway, thanks so much for all your tips. I really appreciate it, Ashton.

No, I'm sorry. I don't have a clue how much the liners cost. I personally have a waterbed so I've never had to get one. I got the cheeseclothe idea from my son's pediatrician. When he was little, he was horribly allergic to dust, cats and dogs. You will be surprised just how much stuff accumulates on the cloth though! Good luck and trust me, I know about stubborn men! My hubby's the same way unfortunately.

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Thanks again! You've been such a help. :D

 hi ashton.I started chronc asthma 8 months after i got my 2 king charles dogs who slept on my bed from pups.my asthma got so bad that i had allergy tests and discovered I was allergic to there danter.It took a month to settle them to sleeping in the kitchen,even though they were howling, crying and scratChing at the doors but i spent lots of time walking them and tried to tire them out before bed time.it broke my heart to shut them out but the difference in my breathing was amazing.I change the bed every week and when weather good hang pillows and duvet on the line.In winter the pillows go into the freezer for 10 minutes ,long enough to kill off the bed mites.I have no carpets in bedrooms and have put down laminate wood flooring...again made a big difference.Luv groovey...a happy and breathe easy christmas to everyone out there.

Thanks groovey. I'll definitely keep that in mind.
Convincing my husband that it'll be healthier for us (him especially) if the dog slept elsewhere is the challenge. He doesn't even go to the doctor for his allergies/asthma- which has me worried as well.
Thanks so much. Hopefully he'll come around. Ashton

Post Edited (Ashton_3) : 12/9/2007 1:57:58 PM (GMT-7)