Concerns Heat Up
Some people may feel relieved as pollen season ends, but they could encounter an equally irritable threat to their sinuses in their own homes during cold season.
Dr. Kathryn Szabo of Butler Health System Primary Care in Seven Fields said when furnaces begin turning on, she usually sees spikes in allergy patients, especially at this time of the year.
In the fall, some allergens still exist outside, even when it gets colder. Szabo said the leaves keep the ground moist, enabling mold to grow and send its spores, and windy weather can carry ragweed.
“Ragweed catches in the wind,” she said. “It can just catch on the breeze and spread everywhere.”
Once the snow begins to fall, furnaces blast hot air and dust particles through houses. Szabo said the dust, pet dander and mold spores that could circulate through the house have nowhere to go.
Jerry Kennihan, a certified energy management consultant of Kennihan Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning in Valencia, said some homes are built and sealed too tight.
He said tight homes tend to build up humidity, giving dust mites the perfect environment to grow.
Kennihan said mattresses are the best example of dust mite colonies. The mites feed on a person's skin, defecate and die in the mattress, and accumulated over 10 years, the mattress can almost double its weight.
Kennihan said the mite colonies are a reason to change a mattress every decade.
But he said dust mites are preventable by keeping the house 35 to 45 percent humidity, while anything above that range allows the mites to grow.
“I think a lot of people put up with it,” Kennihan said. “Most people's houses are above 50 percent.”
Kennihan said humidity is also the best way to determine a home's problem.
He said if a house or room is too hot and stuffy, the area is sealed too tightly. This prevents fresh air from circulating into the house and instead circulates dust and volatile organic compounds, also known as VOCs, such as acetone and benzene.
Kennihan said tight homes aren't always bad and are usually energy efficient. He said there are ventilation systems that use timers to bring fresh air in periodically. Some ventilation devices can also be fitted with a humidifier control system to give a person further control.
Kennihan said he recommends duct cleanings every five years to diminish allergens and keep a furnace healthy. He said people with respiratory conditions also may need special air purifiers, which attach to ductwork. The system blasts a UV light on the air just before it passes through a specialized filter, which kills germs and catches more particles.Kennihan said he also sees loosely insulated homes, but they also have additional financial risks. If a home is too cold, the house is not air tight, which allows it to breathe, but also allows heated air to escape. It also allows an airborne backwash of allergens.Kennihan said the average American house only gets 57 percent of the heat the furnace makes.“Your house is a chimney. All that hot air you paid to make is going up (through the attic),” he said. “That's money they paid to heat that's just going right out the window.”Kennihan said the first action people need to take is seal the house, then focus on further improvements.“Seal up the holes in your attic,” he said. “That's going to make a big difference.”Szabo said about 20 percent of Americans have allergies, and the symptoms correlate with a common cold. She said colds usually have acute symptoms that are harsh and quick while allergies last much longer.“There is a lot of overlap,” she said.Szabo said there is a range of available allergy treatments. She said over the counter allergy medications treat mild symptoms on a day-to-day basis, and nasal steroids also without prescription.Szabo said people experience severe symptoms on a regular basis may want to attempt immunotherapy, which begins with identifying the allergen through skin or blood tests.After recognizing the allergen, the patient is injected with the allergen at the doctor's office. Szabo said a majority of patients only get in-house injections a few times before they inject themselves at home, usually once per month.Szabo said day-to-day allergy medications do not cure allergies. Those medications cover up the symptom.Immunotherapy teaches a person's own immune system to recognize the threats.“You're exposing your immune system to those allergens,” she said.Szabo said the goal is for the immune system to no longer need the shots to attack the allergen.Kennihan said hiring a professional doesn't always fit into people's budgets.“You don't have to replace all the ductwork,” he said.“There's little tweaks you can do to make that better.”He said people who like to use heated scent devices should be wary of their fumes, which add to household VOC totals. New furniture and new homes also need time to empty out their VOC reserves.He said people need to replace their air filter every month and try to keep their ventilation fans running, even when the heat isn't on. This helps stir the heat up and it forces the air to pass through the filter more often, catching more particles.“That filter system is only working when the air is running,” Kennihan said. “If you get into the rotation of changing (the filters) all the time, it's going to help.”
