Round 61, Hour 17

[lolmac]

It's a shiny new hour!  Complete with 60 pre-installed minutes, each topped up with 60 fully functional and anatomically correct seconds.  They're all yours!  What will you do with them?

Comments

[lolmac]

*hands you brolly*

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

hellooooo?

I have escaped temporarily from the endless chores and work to say hi and good luck to everybody. I hope to write a little this weekend but I'm really swamped with revamping the house. I've been diagnosed with asthma and I have to reduce the dust in the house. It means upping the cleaning ten times more and changing over a bunch of stuff. And I might have to work tomorrow. Still, I live in hope that I can do some writing; I only did about three hundred words all month. Also, blocked on one story. So, off to make coffee and dust and vacuum and sweep and mop and strip beds and do laundry. I wish I could just blow it all off till later but the only thing that stuck with me from my Catholic upbringing was a sense of guilt; I can't get in a writing frame of mind right now till I do those things.

Drat it.

Laurie

[lolmac]

Best of luck with it!

As a longtime sufferer, I have personally come to regard the kind of dusting spray that actually traps allergens as one of the better creations of the industrial world. Also HEPA filters on vacuum cleaners.

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of fond of the Swifter dusters, they seem to work pretty well. What's the dusting spray that you use? I have the absolute worse luck in vacuum cleaners. My latest lemon was an expensive Miele, that spits the dirt back out on a consistent basis, no matter how many times I've taken it to a shop. So I actually use an ancient Electolux that belonged to my grandmother, so it doesn't have the Hepa filters. One more thing to try to change about the house and my cleaning routine.
I've ordered a couple of air purifiers, and am trying to eliminate or put into easily dusted plastic containers the stuff that collects dust. My desk is now a thing of efficiency and beauty. You can actually see the woodtop now that it's not buried in a bunch of papers. So, there's some silver lining to all of this.

I just got diagnosed three weeks ago, but I've had problems for at least two winters ago. I'm sorry to hear you've had it for a long time.

Laurie

[lolmac]

I've had bad allergies since childhood; the diagnosis of asthma finally occurred in early adulthood, along with a thorough rundown of which things are the worst. Dust is one of the biggest, and it's one that I can't simply avoid altogether (cigarette smoke is an even worse allergy, but I can at least try not to be exposed to it).

The spray is Pledge Dust & Allergen, and it actually seems to work. I spray it on a rag and then wipe the surface, and the dust stays on the cloth and does not fly into the air and blind and strangle me.

The vacuum cleaner we have is a low-end model from Costco -- it cost about a hundred bucks, and every so often we have to take out the filter, which is soft grey foam, and hand-wash it. It's as good a vacuum as any other I've had, and I don't have allergy attacks after using it, so score! The worst problem is emptying the cup when it gets full, since it's full of what my system regards as concentrated toxins. Usually, Missy empties it; when she's not around, I take a thin scarf, soak a section in water, and tie it firmly over my nose and mouth. I also use the scarf method when I have to work in a dusty environment (cleaning out storage cupboards, for example).

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

I use medical masks, the kind nurses and doctors use. My husband is mostly useless in all of this, so I'm the one who has to do the cleaning and emptying stuff. They help. I don't think I had allergies as a kid. As an adult, I knew I had a little with pollen, and that I was allergic to cats, although I only figured that out about three years ago. Turns out I'm allergic to a bunch of stuff, but no food or chemical ones. Dust mites, cockroaches, mold (inside and outside), tree pollen, weed pollen, Ragweed pollen, cats and dogs. Cigarette smoke would send me into coughing fits and I've now asked my clients to not smoke while I'm at their houses. They've all been cooperative, but the problem is that they're smoking when I get there, or their relatives are smoking and don't give a damn that it bothers me. Also, some of the houses I go to are chock full of the things that I'm allergic to. Cockroaches, pets, really dirty houses, I've had to use my inhaler after being there. It's not going to improve, so I made the decision to retire in two years when I can take early retirement. I'm going to see if the allergy doctor will write something for work that lets me use my own judgment if a house is too toxic for me to go there, so I can do phone visits or ask that they meet me somewhere else.

I'll look for that spray. It sounds useful. I'm using disinfectant wipes in the bathroom, where I know mold is a problem, because it is supposed to help retard mold growth. We're going to replace part of the floor when the weather turns nice.

My kids use a Dyson vacuum and like it a lot. I'm thinking of that one, except it too uses a cup. I'll have to do more checking. Things are not under control yet, and we haven't even started the outside pollen, not really. And I live down in the woods.

Laurie

[lolmac]

[Entirely my own opinion] I don't think medical masks really do anything for dust and other airborne allergens -- they're great for stopping germs from getting sneezed or exhaled into your face, but they aren't designed to block really fine suspended particulates. At least, that's my impression and experience. I do get very good results with a wet scarf. (Actually, it's a lack of results: no sneezing or gasping or eyes getting so swollen I can't see.)

I've had good results from the newer generation of over-the-counter antihistamines -- Allegra and Claritin did nothing for me, but I take Zyrtec every morning. (Actually, I take the dirt-cheap generic version bought in bulk at Costco.) Hismenal was the best, but it's no longer available in the US.

When I was in Seattle, I got allergy shots, and that was really good also, especially for the pollen and the dust: but I had to keep getting them. I haven't even tried since I moved out here; I don't trust the Florida medical establishment to do much of anything right.