Symptoms
Symptoms of house dust mite allergy
House dust mite allergy can cause anything from mild discomfort to having a significant impact on your daily life. The most common symptoms are in the nose (allergic rhinitis, also called hay fever), with a runny, blocked and itchy nose.
It is also common to experience allergy symptoms in the eyes (allergic conjunctivitis or eye inflammation), with watery eyes, red eyes, swollen eyes or itchy eyes, and you may also experience symptoms elsewhere in the body, such as an itchy throat, or asthma-like symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath, etc.
Most people who become allergic to house dust mites experience their first symptoms in childhood and adolescence.
Allergic symptoms can affect your daily life. You may sleep poorly, resulting in you feeling tired and unmotivated during the day. Becoming tired because of house dust mite allergy may not be something you immediately think about, but it is important to be aware of it, both in adults and children.
For the same reason, your allergy symptoms can affect your ability to concentrate, make decisions and your memory.
House dust mite allergy can also affect your mood and cause feelings of low mood, restlessness and irritation. It is also important to be aware of asthma symptoms in combination with allergy symptoms. If the allergy affects the airways, you may experience coughing and breathing difficulties.
You know the feeling of having a cold, with sneezing, a runny nose and the general feeling of illness and discomfort. These symptoms are very similar to allergy symptoms in the upper airways.
Allergies that affect the upper airways cause irritation and inflammation in the eyes, nose and throat. It can therefore sometimes be difficult to know whether it is a cold or an allergy.
With house dust mite allergy, symptoms typically occur all year round, but they can be particularly troublesome during the humid autumn and winter months, when house dust mites move indoors while you also spend far more time indoors.
|
Symptoms |
House dust mite allergy |
Cold |
|
Nose and throat |
Sneezing attacks – several sneezes in a row. |
Occasional sneezing. |
|
Eyes |
Red, ithrax, swollen, irritated |
Often no symptoms in the eyes. |
|
Body temperature |
As a rule, no fever. |
Low-grade fever may occur |
|
Duration |
Can last for several weeks, returns often |
Often goes away on its own within a week |
|
Lungs/Breathing |
Cough, especially at night, hoarseness, wheezing, easy to lose breath, difficulty breathing, tightness in the chest. |
Cough – mucous, dry or tingling cough. Wheezing sound when breathing, discomfort/pain at the sternum when coughing. |
Source: ALK-Abelló
Allergy symptoms mainly occur in the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes and lungs, and you notice them as:
- Repeated sneezing
- Blocked nose, itchy and/or runny nose
- Red, watery and itchy eyes
- Tiredness
- Poor sleep
- Headache
- Eczema
- Asthma symptoms (shortness of breath, wheezing, whistling breathing or coughing, especially at night)
- Shortness of breath after making the bed or changing/emptying the vacuum cleaner bag
Hay fever causes many allergy symptoms
Both pollen and house dust mites can cause hay fever (also called allergic rhinitis) with “classic” allergy symptoms such as a blocked nose, itching in the throat, sneezing and eye inflammation with itchy, watery eyes. These symptoms can be reduced with symptom-relieving allergy medication. The allergy itself can also cause tiredness. The main difference in the symptoms is that pollen causes seasonal reactions, while house dust mites cause allergy symptoms all year round.
Allergy causes extreme fatigue and affects everyday life
People with allergies often highlight three areas as particularly troublesome. The allergy has the greatest impact on sleep, work performance and outdoor activities.
One of the most important problems is disturbed sleep and its effect on performance at work and school. Although many people who suffer from hay fever go to work and school despite their problems, this usually reduces their performance. Not only can the allergy itself make us tired; not being able to sleep properly at night drains even more energy, both mentally and physically.
Source: ALK-Abelló
High disease burden
Although hay fever and allergies are regarded by many as minor illnesses, studies show that the disease burden is high. Two out of three patients experience, for example, allergy symptoms caused by house dust mite allergy as a “major handicap”, according to a European study.
The majority of the costs associated with house dust mite allergy come from indirect costs – i.e. lost productivity and reduced quality of life – rather than medical expenses.
For a person with a moderate house dust mite allergy that, for example, causes rhinitis or asthma, there may be several costs (direct + indirect), depending on the severity of the condition, treatment and country.
Around 150 million people in the EU (250 million across Europe) live with some form of allergic condition (such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic eczema or food allergy).
