Dust Mite Allergy: What Causes It?

The dust mite is a small, eight-legged, microscopic creature that lives in your home. It is related to the spider and likes to nest in warm humid environments. The dust mite feeds on dead skin cells and microscopic molds. Their favorite places to nest are in the carpeting, furniture and your bedding. A female dust mite can lay 40 to 80 eggs at a time and a single dust mite lives for approximately four months. It is estimated that there could be anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million dust mites in the typical household mattress.

The residue that the dust mite leaves behind from its feces and decaying bodies mixes with household dust and becomes airborne. This is not harmful to you if you are not allergic to dust mite residue. But if you are allergic to the dust mite, then you probably experience allergy symptoms all year round.

The signs and symptoms of a dust mite allergy are the same as hay fever and may include:

• Sneezing
• Runny nose
• Itchy, watery eyes
• Nasal congestion
• Itchy nose, roof of mouth or throat
• Swollen, blue colored skin under your eyes
• Postnasal drip
• Cough
• Irritability
• Facial pressure and pain

If you are an asthmatic you may also experience increased symptoms such as lung congestion, wheezing and shortness of breath. Your asthma attacks may worsen at night when sleeping in a bed infested with dust mites.

A dust mite allergy can range from mild to severe. A mild case may be a runny nose and occasional sneezing. A severe case would be chronic persistent wheezing, sneezing, congestion and facial pressure.

As with any type of medical condition there are risk factors that increase your chance of developing a dust mite allergy. These risk factors include:

Heredity. If dust mite allergies run in your family, you are more likely to develop a sensitivity to dust mites yourself.

Exposure. Being exposed to high levels of dust mites, especially at a young age, will increase your risk of developing a dust mite allergy.

Age. You are more likely to develop dust mite allergy symptoms during childhood or early adulthood.

During a process in your body called sensitization, your immune system identifies the inhaled dust mite residue as an invader and produces an antibody to fight against it. The next time you are exposed to dust mite residue the body fights back by releasing a chemical called histamine. This will cause swelling of the mucous membranes in your lungs, nose, sinuses and eyes. The result is wheezing, runny nose, sneezing and watery eyes. As dust mites multiply, so does the residue. The more residues in the environment, the more frequent the symptoms.

If you experience any of the above signs and symptoms and you suspect dust mites or other allergen are to blame, see your doctor to be evaluated. He can perform an allergy skin test to see if it really is a dust mite allergy. You are more likely to develop asthma if you are already sensitive to environmental allergen, including dust mites. If you already have asthma, exposure to dust mites can worsen your asthma symptoms.

It is hard to believe that such a tiny, microscopic creature has the ability to cause such huge problems.