4 ms·

I have air purifiers and humidifiers in every room (I'm in horribly dry CO) and I still just live life sniffling and with a dripping scratchy throat no matter w

by swozey 3y ago

I have air purifiers and humidifiers in every room (I'm in horribly dry CO) and I still just live life sniffling and with a dripping scratchy throat no matter what I do. I take antihistamines, NAC (n-acetyl-..... cystine?) helps a lot, mucinex/gauff. I was hoping my big air purifiers would catch a lot more dog hair than they do. Have purifiers/humidifiers been a huge change for some of you? I can't prove that I wouldn't be worse right now without them. I love my huge humidifer it lasts about a week keeping a 10-20% humidity townhouse at 65%. But I think I'm expecting too much out of purifiers. Or have other respitory/sinus problems.

thaumasiotes 3y ago
> I have air purifiers and humidifiers in every room (I'm in horribly dry CO) and I still just live life sniffling and with a dripping scratchy throat no matter what I do. I take antihistamines, NAC (n-acetyl-..... cystine?) helps a lot, mucinex/gauff. I caught a cold seven years ago and there's been phlegm dripping into the back of my throat ever since. Medical opinions have been pretty uniformly "sucks to be you, huh? Now go away".
lispisok 3y ago
Ultrasonic humidifiers (the ones that generate the fog) generate huge amounts of particulate matter to the point I'd argue they are a health hazard and shouldnt even be sold. If you have any ultrasonic humidifiers replace them with evaporative humidifiers. I actually discovered this independently when I used my air quality monitor to check the humidity in my house after buying a humidifier and saw PM was in the unhealthy range despite having my very large HEPA filter running in the same room. After some googling I discovered why. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020318572 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202... https://www2.purpleair.com/blogs/blog-home/ultrasonic-humidifiers-a-source-of-pm2-5 https://www2.purpleair.com/blogs/blog-home/ultrasonic-humidi...
- s0rce 3y ago
  You just need to use distilled/deionized water in ultrasonic humidifiers. You should not be using tap water as that creates hazardous particles, and you'll pretty soon notice dust over everything. They should come with more clear warnings regarding this issue as its severe and not everyone knows. Additionally the systems could have a simple conductivity sensor to stop running if the conductivity (ie. the TDS is too high).
  - amluto 3y ago
    You also need to sterilize them. Frequently. So frequently that you shouldn’t be using them in the first place.
    - s0rce 3y ago
      I've never experienced this issue, I assume the symptoms are mold growth or odors?
      - amluto 3y ago
        Or just tiny little potential pathogens being aerosolized very efficiently. If you take a plastic container and keep it wet for a while, it will grow biofilm.
baq 3y ago
Get yourself checked for reflux, especially so if it’s worse in the morning.
oh_sigh 3y ago
CO resident here also. I'd recommend stopping everything you're doing except the purifiers and getting a whole house humidifier, because of mold and particulate issues with most portable humidifiers. Stop the antihistamines because you build a tolerance and they lose their effectiveness - they should really only be taken in one off situations, not regularly(can't actually tell from your post if you regularly take them or just sometime take them). Air purifiers won't suck up any macro objects like dog hair more than a few inches from them, so you probably want to invest in a vacuum with a built in HEPA filter(i can recommend the dyson gen5 detect, but it is quite pricey) Also I would check your filters on your HVAC, and get an indoor air quality monitor. It's also possible you're allergic to something in your house, like mold, or your dog.
- swozey 3y ago
  I rent so I think I've done all I can. The water here in denver is horrible, I've never lived anywhere with hard water anywhere near this bad where I have to pumice stone lime/calcium off of toilets. I'd 100% have a house water purifier and humidifier if I could. I looked into installing one in a portable manner that I could just bring to places I rent but something about it made me not do it, like a permanent connection or something, I forget. Only take the antis when I'm bad (maybe for 2 weeks this month, then not for the last 6 months). I've had some respiratory thing going around denver a lot of people are getitng. My purifiers show indoor air quality and I don't think I've ever seen it not report good. I also just checked the monthly outdoor air on it and that never left good either. Could be the dogs. Oh well.
  - turtlebits 3y ago
    If your AQ is not good even with filters, you probably need higher performing ones. Check the CADR rating on them to see if they can handle the space you need filtered.
turtlebits 3y ago
Your humidity might be too high, 40-50% is recommended for those with allergies.

by swozey 3y ago

thaumasiotes 3y ago

> I have air purifiers and humidifiers in every room (I'm in horribly dry CO) and I still just live life sniffling and with a dripping scratchy throat no matter what I do. I take antihistamines, NAC (n-acetyl-..... cystine?) helps a lot, mucinex/gauff. I caught a cold seven years ago and there's been phlegm dripping into the back of my throat ever since. Medical opinions have been pretty uniformly "sucks to be you, huh? Now go away".

lispisok 3y ago

Ultrasonic humidifiers (the ones that generate the fog) generate huge amounts of particulate matter to the point I'd argue they are a health hazard and shouldnt even be sold. If you have any ultrasonic humidifiers replace them with evaporative humidifiers. I actually discovered this independently when I used my air quality monitor to check the humidity in my house after buying a humidifier and saw PM was in the unhealthy range despite having my very large HEPA filter running in the same room. After some googling I discovered why. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020318572 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041202... https://www2.purpleair.com/blogs/blog-home/ultrasonic-humidifiers-a-source-of-pm2-5 https://www2.purpleair.com/blogs/blog-home/ultrasonic-humidi...

s0rce 3y ago
You just need to use distilled/deionized water in ultrasonic humidifiers. You should not be using tap water as that creates hazardous particles, and you'll pretty soon notice dust over everything. They should come with more clear warnings regarding this issue as its severe and not everyone knows. Additionally the systems could have a simple conductivity sensor to stop running if the conductivity (ie. the TDS is too high).
- amluto 3y ago
  You also need to sterilize them. Frequently. So frequently that you shouldn’t be using them in the first place.
  - s0rce 3y ago
    I've never experienced this issue, I assume the symptoms are mold growth or odors?
    - amluto 3y ago
      Or just tiny little potential pathogens being aerosolized very efficiently. If you take a plastic container and keep it wet for a while, it will grow biofilm.

baq 3y ago

Get yourself checked for reflux, especially so if it’s worse in the morning.

oh_sigh 3y ago

CO resident here also. I'd recommend stopping everything you're doing except the purifiers and getting a whole house humidifier, because of mold and particulate issues with most portable humidifiers. Stop the antihistamines because you build a tolerance and they lose their effectiveness - they should really only be taken in one off situations, not regularly(can't actually tell from your post if you regularly take them or just sometime take them). Air purifiers won't suck up any macro objects like dog hair more than a few inches from them, so you probably want to invest in a vacuum with a built in HEPA filter(i can recommend the dyson gen5 detect, but it is quite pricey) Also I would check your filters on your HVAC, and get an indoor air quality monitor. It's also possible you're allergic to something in your house, like mold, or your dog.

swozey 3y ago
I rent so I think I've done all I can. The water here in denver is horrible, I've never lived anywhere with hard water anywhere near this bad where I have to pumice stone lime/calcium off of toilets. I'd 100% have a house water purifier and humidifier if I could. I looked into installing one in a portable manner that I could just bring to places I rent but something about it made me not do it, like a permanent connection or something, I forget. Only take the antis when I'm bad (maybe for 2 weeks this month, then not for the last 6 months). I've had some respiratory thing going around denver a lot of people are getitng. My purifiers show indoor air quality and I don't think I've ever seen it not report good. I also just checked the monthly outdoor air on it and that never left good either. Could be the dogs. Oh well.
- turtlebits 3y ago
  If your AQ is not good even with filters, you probably need higher performing ones. Check the CADR rating on them to see if they can handle the space you need filtered.

turtlebits 3y ago

Your humidity might be too high, 40-50% is recommended for those with allergies.