Antidepressants Blog

Air Conditioning. Pollen counts in a closed, air conditioned room plummet to around zero. In an unfiltered room, with the window open, pollen levels are about one-third the outdoor level – enough to aggravate symptoms in anyone with pollen allergy. So air conditioning definitely helps allergies. Whether one-room, window-mounted air conditioners or central, whole-house systems are better at filtering out pollen is not exactly clear. In general, pollen and mould levels tend to run lower in houses with air conditioning of any kind than in houses with no air conditioning whatsoever, largely because the doors and windows are closed. Whether you go in for a whole-house system or individual window units simply depends on what you can afford.

Backed up by a separate HEPA unit, air conditioning of any type is optimized. Be sure to clean the coils and filters, however, to prevent mould contamination. And don’t run the air conditioner too high: too-cold air can aggravate respiratory allergy.

Negative Ion Generators. These gizmos generate negatively charged air particles (ions) – which are theoretically good for us – and thus replace positively charged ions – which are supposedly bad for us. Scientists haven’t exactly rushed to support the health claims made for negative ion generators. But if you’re allergic to particles such as dust, pollen or smoke, you may derive some benefit from their use. That’s because negative ions travel around the room scavenging larger contaminants, which are then electrostatically attracted to walls, carpets, curtains, furniture and other surfaces closer to the ground – and away from our breathing space. Some do a better job of cleaning than others, however. The units equipped with a disposable collection pad are probably somewhat better.

Dr Falliers describes negative ion generators this way: ‘In current scientific studies in which one group of asthmatics used a negative ion generator and another used a machine that did nothing, there was no significant difference in their symptoms. Yet individual cases of improvement are so impressive that I certainly would like to give anybody the benefit of trying one.’

Miscellaneous ‘Tabletop’ Air Purifiers. You may have noticed small portable fan and filter units – marketed as purifiers – in the house wares department of your neighborhood department store or advertised on TV. About the size of a desk telephone, these appliances come in all shapes and colours. Most feature a small, electrically driven fan which draws air through a filter. Some contain activated charcoal or chemicals to absorb odours and contaminants. They sometimes claim to control formaldehyde.

We wish we could recommend these devices, but not much has been done to study their ability to clean the air. Considering their small size and the big job they’re supposed to do, researchers say you’d probably be better off with an HEPA filter or air conditioning.

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Natural gas is touted as the clean fuel. And that’s probably true in terms of its low contribution to polluted air in comparison with burning oil, coal or wood. But for chemically sensitive individuals, gas-fired furnaces and appliances are big trouble -they vent combustion fumes back into the household atmosphere. Pilot lights add to the problem. Burning nonstop, they continually discharge gas into your air – gas that contains carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, as well as a group of compounds known as hydrocarbons (including benzene and acetylene).

No need to remember all those chemicals. Just follow the advice of Dr Randolph: ‘The most important thing you can do is to get rid of the gas heat and range.’

Clothes dryers and cooking ranges should be electric and vented to the outside to reroute gas emissions. The same goes for a self-cleaning oven. Refrigerators, too, should be electric. In fact, Dr Zamm states strongly, ‘A healthy house should not even be connected to a gas line.’

If you suspect gas fumes are a problem at your house, try this. Spend a few days at a friend’s house, where there is no gas heat or appliances. If you feel better there, but experience symptoms again when you return home, gas may be the culprit. Perhaps you’ve already noticed an improvement while away on a business trip or holiday, or during the summer when the gas heat is turned off.

If you are sensitive to gas – or other fossil fuels, for that matter – consider converting to an electric hot-water heating system and electric appliances. If you rent or for some other reason cannot easily convert, here are some alternatives.

• Ask your gas company to turn off the pilot light on your stove so it doesn’t needlessly give off fumes when it’s not in use. Light the stove with a match when you want to cook.

• Install an exhaust hood above the gas stove. This can eliminate up to half of the fumes generated while you cook.

• For the remaining fumes, use an air filter in the kitchen during and after cooking meals.

• Ask a furnace installation firm to ensure that your gas furnace is equipped to funnel all exhaust fumes up the chimney so that no vapors are allowed to escape into the house or ductwork.

• An air filter hooked up to the central heating or cooling system will also help dissipate gas fumes.

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If you’ve tried everything and still can’t pin down the cause of your problems, give some thought to the water you’re drinking – and cooking with, and brushing your teeth with. Tap water is likely to contain chemicals that are deliberately added (chlorine or fluoride), plus industrial wastes and agricultural chemicals (like formaldehyde) that inevitably seep into local water supplies. And that goes for wells, springs, rivers or reservoirs, too.

(Incidentally, if you find you are allergic to fluoride – only a few people are – you’ll also have to avoid fluoride in toothpaste, vitamin supplements and dental treatments.)

As a vehicle for so many substances – even in amounts well below so-called toxic levels – tap water has been known to aggravate allergy in highly sensitive people.

William J. Rea, a cardiovascular (heart) doctor in Dallas, Texas, specializing in environmentally triggered reactions, has seen a whole slew of symptoms squarely attributed to something in the water – everything from hay fever, post-nasal drip, bronchitis and asthma to mouth pain, mouth ulcers, nausea, diarrhoea, bloating and urinary problems, among others.

We hope you aren’t that sensitive. But water is certainly something to take into account when trying to solve unexplained problems.

The ideal method of testing for water allergy is to fast for two days in a controlled setting – a hospital unit free of airborne contamination – and then sample various waters such as tap water, bottled water and so on to determine which do and which don’t cause problems. For home testing, you can start by substituting bottled spring water for tap water for four or five days and see if your symptoms subside. Be sure to buy bottled water in glass containers, not plastic, which leaches chemicals into the water. Even that precaution may be in vain, however. ‘Bottled spring water is transported in plastic-lined trucks and stored in plastic vats, then bottled in glass,’ says Dr Rea. So if symptoms persist, switch to another brand until you find one you can tolerate.

‘We try to encourage people to drink the least expensive water they can tolerate, because they have to not only drink it, but cook their food in it and wash in it,’ says Sue Herbig, R.N., assistant to Dr Rea and general manager of the Ecology Unit at Carrolton Community Hospital in Carrolton, Texas, a small community near Dallas.

Of course, anything you can do to purify your tap water is likely to be cheaper in the long run than going through stockpiles of bottled water daily. For some people, ousting allergenic substances from their tap water is as easy as boiling it for thirty minutes or storing it in an uncovered glass pitcher in the refrigerator overnight to allow the volatile chemicals to escape. Others will have to look into home water-treatment equipment.

Running your tap water through ordinary charcoal filters won’t do the job unless the charcoal is combined with some other purification material, such as activated carbon. In fact, you might as well skip the charcoal and just use the carbon. Activated carbon is charcoal that’s been specially treated with heat and steam in the absence of oxygen so that particles cling to it like a pollution magnet; water that passes through it is as clean as mountain dew. Studies show that activated carbon filters effectively remove chlorine, industrial chemicals and some pesticides, as well as bad taste and odours. Of course, a carbon filter must be replaced every three weeks or twenty gallons of water (whichever comes first) to avoid recontamination.

The best activated carbon filters come in double canisters that are installed below the sink and then attached to a separate tap that bypasses the existing water line. They’re more expensive than the small filters that hook up to your tap. But if you have a water problem, they’re worth it.

Dr Rea says that some water-sensitive people do equally well on distilled water. Distilled water is heated until it turns to steam, and then re-condensed into water. Presumably, the chemicals and other debris are left behind. In truth, only ‘fractional’ water distillers actually get rid of all objectionable particles.

Water distillers have several drawbacks. They require a lot of water and they’re hard to keep clean. If you decide you want a water distiller anyway, look for one that’s easy to maintain.

Once your tap water has been filtered or distilled, store it in clean, glass containers in the refrigerator. Or you can buy bottled distilled water – just make sure it’s been ‘fractionally’ distilled.

If you are indeed allergic to something in your water, the most practical arrangement of all probably would be to purify your tap water and drink bottled water away from home.

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