Allergy Consumer Review Issue #57
Allergy Consumer Review Issue #57Dear Everyone,
It is Thanksgiving time and my husband, who is doing a great deal of volunteer work right now, remarked the other day that coming home to our house was a sobering contrast to the people he works with who struggle to have enough to eat and pay their basic living expenses. It is good to remind ourselves to count our blessings at this time of year, and help those less fortunate.
Our biggest news is that the archives of this newsletter are finally launched at www.allergyconsumerreview.com. Just click on “Editors Top Picks” on the bottom left hand column of the home page for links to some of the best articles we have written on various topics over the last few years.
We also have a new print catalog featuring some of our best-selling products you can download as a pdf file or you can request one here to be mailed to you.
I have also gone on a cleaning rampage at our company, so there are lots of additional items on our Clearance page. So for the bargain hunters among you, this is a good time to check this page out.
In This Issue
- Editor’s Gift Ideas For The Holidays
- Allergy Consumer Review Now Has Its Own Web Site
- Humidifier Update
- Vacuum Cleaners Buyers Guide For Allergy Sufferers And All Others Who Hate Vacuum Cleaners
- Health Hints For Those In Fire Areas
- Snoring Remedies Do Work Contrary To What You Think. Doctor Tells How And Why
- Shop Talk
- Editor’s Gift Ideas For The Holidays
- Vacuum Cleaners Buyers Guide For Allergy Sufferers And All Others Who Hate Vacuum Cleaners
- Allergy Relief Products
Mercia Tapping
President / CEO AllergyBuyersClub.com
Contact Information
Disclaimer: Product and solution information reflect information available at the time of publication, including prices, availability, and reviews. To get the latest information, contact us or join our newsletter.
Editor’s Picks For The Holidays
1. WhiteWing Vapor Steam Cleaner. This value priced steam cleaner packs a big punch. If you want it, order early as I can reliably predict we are going to run out well before the holidays.
2. Euphoria Wool Comforter or Ming Dynasty or Imperial Delight Comforters. For sheer sensual luxury, nothing quite beats a silk comforter and ours are incredibly reasonably priced. If you live in a warmish climate, I would have nothing else on my bed. For us Northerners the Euphoria wool comforters are a wonderful find. I used to think of wool as thick, heavy and clumpy. Wrong think again! My lightweight Euphoria comforter is just joyful to sleep under and for those of us- shall we delicately put it who “overheat at night” – both wool and silk fill fabrics are delightfully breathable. I have a silk duvet cover to my comforters just to finish off the self-indulgence.
3. Diva Dots 400 TC sheets or 500TC sheets. High thread count sheets were a winner with my step-children last Winter and they put in their order to their Dad for more this holiday season. Once you get used to these sheets, you are simply spoiled for life. Be warned, most people grumble if they only get one set as a gift, because they have to wash and wear the same set of sheets week in and week out!
4. Vista Wool or Elite Mattress Pads. Euphoria Mattress Pads for oneself or ones parents. The Vista wool is a super mattress pad. One of my Siamese cats is so enamored with it, he will determinedly pull back the sheets until the pad is unconcealed and he can snuggle down. I, on the other hand, am encouraging my husband to improve his bed making skills so the cat will not be successful. Guess who is winning that war? The Euphoria Mattress Pad is the gift you should give yourself. It transforms a good but perhaps too hard mattress into something unbelievably comfortable.
5. Silk Sheets. Silk Sheets are just purely decadent. I have gone so far as to indulge in a silk duvet cover but I am hesitating about trying silk sheets as I suspect that it would spoil one for life. We have some exceptionally pretty ones that are moderately priced and I know that people love them.
6. Full Spectrum Reading Lamp. I am a great believer in the beneficial effects of full spectrum lighting. I own a HappyLite lightbox and all the light bulbs in my house are full spectrum. A full spectrum reading lamp is also on my own wish list. The floor lamps are rather nice too as an alternative and I have not made up my mind which I prefer.
7. Shower filters and water filters. We had great success with shower and water filters for my step-children last winter. One of my employees told me that she had recently bought one of our shower filters and found her skin rash problems immediately cleared up.
8. Blueair Air Purifier. Give the gift of health, by giving this quiet air purifier to a loved one. I gave one to my brother-in-law this year. He is one of those “tough it out and feel crummy and miserable” during allergy season kind of people. My sister told me that her husband was quietly thrilled that after using a Blueair this year and he could actually sleep at night. Even wrote me a nice note about it!
Allergy Consumer Review Now Has Its Own Website
| For those of you who missed the announcement last month, Allergy Consumer Review has its own website. This is where we archive all our articles to make things easier for you. I have picked out some of our new Information Guide pages that provides you with a great list of our best articles on air purifiers, humidifiers, vacuum cleaners, and much more. Take a look and be sure to bookmark those pages you want for reference: |
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It is now humidifier season. If you want my bottom line personal choice, I like the Hunter Humidifier with a digital humidistat, and we have reduced the price this season. This is a list of some of the best articles we have written about humidifiers and will help all those who cry “help me choose”! It contains three brand new articles (the last three on the list) which we wrote for our own staff training.
 Best Articles and Charts on HumidifiersFor your convenience, we have listed our “golden light bulb” informational articles and charts below on the subject of humidifiers. |
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Vacuum Cleaners Buyers Guide For Allergy Sufferers And All Others Who Hate Vacuum Cleaners
By Mercia Tapping
President,AllergyBuyersClub.com
This article is written from the perspective of a consumer who hates vacuuming, dislikes changing vacuum bags, abhors the usual vacuum cleaner noise, and wishes his or her house would never get dirty! That being said, how does an allergy sufferer like myself make a wise choice of vacuum cleaner since now we are all told that a hepa vacuum cleaner is the thing to buy?
Nowadays, allergy sufferers can choose from a wide selection of models and brands. It is my experience that this is one of the few appliances where paying a bit more, yields dividends in terms of reliability and performance. Choosing a new vacuum cleaner can now be a daunting prospect, as all the major vacuum cleaner manufacturers seemingly offer the same choices and it is only when you take a closer look do you start to see the fine differences between so that you can choose a vacuum cleaner that best suits your needs and tastes.
The first things to consider include:
1. Basic Style – Do you want a canister or upright vacuum cleaner? Do you have mostly carpets? If you a ton of carpets, then a traditional upright vacuum cleaner might be the best choice for you as uprights have a beater bar which churn up dirt embedded below the surface of carpeting. On the other hand, if you have mostly bare floors and a few scatter rugs, then a canister can move seamlessly from one to the other and not make wheel marks on your hardwood floors.
2. More Vacuums – Central and Handheld. I feel compelled to mention both these types of vacuum cleaners. Handheld vacuum cleaners to my mind are only good as gifts for Father’s day or if you live in an apartment and it is the only way to clean your car. Some people swear by them but for sweeping crumbs up off the counter a paper towel does well and just one of those Swiffer mops or equivalent does quite an adequate job on a few extra floor crumbs. I suppose that vacuuming the stairs in a hurry could be a use but I just do not like them. They last for about 10 to 15 minutes and then you have to shake the dirt out of a microscopic container.
Central Vacuums are wonderful for allergy sufferers and all those who want to change the bag only twice a year. The hose also extends a long way, somewhere in the region of 30 plus feet. My cleaning lady loves our central vacuum cleaner- but I blow hot and cold about mainly because she has hidden the tools [which tells you something!] and I can never get used to carrying around yards of hose which is never hung up in a nice orderly fashion [is your garden hose?] and even with the improvements to the weight of the hose they are just inherently awkward. That being said, central vacuum cleaners are the most allergy friendly vacuums of all, because there are no local room emissions of particles of any kind, that all takes place miles away and probably in the basement where the noise is deafening. They also last for years but need professional installation. Believe it or not they can be retrofitted to an existing home.
3. Hepa Filters – I used to sneeze like crazy when I vacuumed, but nowadays a good post motor hepa filter and if possible an entire sealed unit, [the encasing] will do the trick. One nice recent enhancement is the washable hepa filter by Eureka which you will not find anywhere else – they made sure of that.
4. Weight and Comfort – Some vacuum cleaners feel like you are moving a huge rock around which is why I personally favor canisters, but even some canisters are like great lumps with no real swivel ability and others obey you without a hitch. Some handles fit into my hand nicely, and my favorites have all the speed and mode controls right on the handle which has me actually use the controls as the manufacturer intended rather than battle my arthritis in bending down all the time to adjust the controls. Of the uprights the Sebo Automatic X4, X5 vacuum cleaners are by far the lightest.
5. Attachments – Are you a basic floor only type of vacuum cleaner user? If so, then attachments, their number and quality, will not make any difference to you. On the other hand, no good self-respecting clean freak should be without a small army of cleaning attachments. In regards to attachments, I have found that Miele vacuums offer the best selection and in the uprights the honor belongs to Sebo. Canister vacuums are much easier to use with attachments. As for upright vacuum cleaners, it is clearly an afterthought since the tools have to go in the closet instead of the vacuum and the hose is so short that the vacuum cleaner tips over when you use the attachments. Once you have decided you are an attachment user then be mindful that some manufacturers offer nice big soft dusting brushes and there is a huge difference in the quality of floor attachments. I personally use my vacuum cleaner on my tile floors in my kitchen and bathrooms.
6. Noise – Where I come from in the UK, people do not think a vacuum cleaner is doing its job unless it makes the noise of small train. One UK manufacturer I know actually made their vacuum cleaners noisier in order to have people think they were doing their job. In the USA we like them quieter and we think noisy means cheap and low quality so for the US market some manufacturers muffle the noise with insulating materials.
7. Features:
- Performance Motor Power (amps) – Measures the amount of current used by the motor. Higher amps doesn’t necessarily mean more cleaning power. Airflow is a truer test of effectiveness. Interesting facts on air flow: Bags clog up and should never be used until full.
- Powerhead or Turbo head? My rule of thumb is that if you have mostly carpets and a few scatter rugs, you should get a turbo head because they can go seamlessly from carpet to bare floor. On the other hand, a power-head has a brush roll and an additional motor which gives it extra power when it comes to sucking up the ground in dirt in carpets. Turbo heads are purely air driven.
- Emissions – We have tested the room emissions right at the exhaust of a hepa vacuum cleaner. The newest hepa models now say that the room particle count actually goes down after using their vacuum cleaners so you get some air cleaning benefit as well.
- Ease of Changing Tools – You will use tools if they are conveniently stored on board your vacuum cleaner, and if you can get them on and off easily. I particularly dislike those tools, which expect me to squeeze and push them to get them to fit or fall off once I have started vacuuming. Miele vacuums win the ease of changing tools prize along with Sebo.
- Automatic Height Adjustment – Need to keep going from bare carpets to rugs? This feature will make life a lot easier.
- Air Volume Adjustment – Tired of sucking the curtains off the window or your precious Persian rug off the floor? This is a really necessary feature especially if you intend to use your accessories.
- Intuitive Controls – When I test out vacuum cleaners one of the first things I look for is whether I can just plug it in and go without looking at the manual for assembly instructions and whether I can figure out the on/off switch and how to change the bag without it being a major production.
Performance – Let’s face it you want to get up the dirt as fast as possible so you can put the vacuum back in the closet. One of the most annoying demonstrations by those door to door sales people is to have you vacuum your carpet until you think it is clean, and then show you how theirs then picks up more dirt. Actually that trick will work with all vacuum cleaners because none of them do a perfect job. I have literally got on my hands and knees after testing a vacuum to inspect the microscopic specks of dirt left behind. And then of course there are those pathetic vacuums that leave so much dirt behind it is very clear to the naked eye from five feet away [your head height].
Air Flow – Usually measured in cubic feet per minute [CFM] Bigger is better.- Fully Electrified and Adjustable Wand – This is a biggie for me and for the vacuum cleaning neophyte you will never know what the difference is unless I tell you. An adjustable wand allows you to vary the length of the wand according to the task at hand and the fully electrified wand allows you to use the accessories for vacuuming everything else but floors. If you use tools you will care deeply about these features. Miele Capricorn S5980 and Sebo Air Belt K3 canister models have both these features.
Dust bags or Bagless – type of bag and size of bag. Bagless vacuum cleaners in our opinion are very allergy unfriendly and the non-allergy sufferer in the family should handle the dirt disposal. The quality of the bags does make a difference and the bags offered by Miele are exceptional and improve the performance of the vacuum cleaner.
Construction Quality – ABS plastic-non shiny finish When I have spent a lot of money on a vacuum cleaner I like it if the finish is such that it is scratch resistant and does not have a banged up look within a month. It is like having a new car with it its first scratches on it- it always feels like a let down…
Cord Length and Automatic Rewind – Putting your foot down on an automatic rewind of twenty feet of vacuum cleaner cord can be a startling experience! A longer length cord is handy if you do not want to plug and unplug. Upright vacuum cleaners do not have automatic rewinds and you have to remember to neatly wind up the hose after use- some members of my family always forgot to do that and drove my father mad when I was growing up.
Brush Agitator (roller brush) – The roller with bristles under the machine that spins when the machine is on. It increases the cleaning effectiveness on carpets.
Edge Cleaner – Some upright vacuum cleaners models have a special edge extension tool for carpet edge cleaning; Canisters simply use one of the attachments.
Optional Tools – Never be so foolish as to think if you have tools which you do not carry on board you will ever use them but in the case of car cleaning or computer cleaning Miele has special tools and is king of the tool options but Sebo is closing in on them in terms of tool selection.
Small Niceties – Place to hang the floor tool, parking, under the bed fold down flat. The Sebo upright also can fold down flat for vacuuming under furniture which is something very few uprights can do, although all canisters can get at dust bunnies underneath furniture very easily.
Durability and Warranty – If there is one thing I hear often it is how people hate it when their vacuum cleaner breaks down every couple of years or so and they have to replace it. Your choices are simple; pay less and replace the vacuum cleaner more often and be frustrated when it does not pick up the dirt very well or pay through the nose and keep the vacuum cleaner around for years until you wish it would break down so you could have an excuse to buy a new one. Those people who are into durability should opt for Miele, EIO canister vacuums or Sebo upright vacuum cleaners. These vacuum cleaners will last almost forever, often 10 to 20 years.
 BEST ARTICLES AND CHARTS ON VACUUM CLEANERSFor your convenience, we have listed our “golden light bulb” informational articles and charts below on the subject of vacuum cleaners. |
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Health Hints For Those In Fire Areas
By Murray Grossan MD
Smoke is very dangerous. Most people die in fires from smoke, not burns. As the fires sweep through Southern California, consuming hundreds of thousands of acres, a huge amount of smoke in being inhaled and will have unfortunate effects on the health of many persons in these locations. The weather forecast is for warm Santa Ana winds, aggravating the spread of the fires, with no relief in sight (as of this writing 10/29/03). For the many asthmatics and allergy patients, these fires are especially serious.
The ill effects of smoke exposure have been carefully studied since the terrible fires in Kuwait and Indonesia. The incidence of asthma in 10-14 year olds was much higher than normal as well as a higher incidence of sinus conditions.
The by-products of forest fires include chemicals such as carbon monoxide and various aldehydes that act to impair cilia function. In the respiratory tract — the nose, sinuses, trachea (windpipe) and the smaller airways of the lungs, there are millions of tiny “oars” called cilia. These beat to remove foreign material out of the sinuses. In the nose they beat backwards and move the foreign materials, such as smoke particles, out of the nose to the stomach. In the chest they beat upwards to move the unwanted material out of the lungs to the throat, where the end up harmless in the stomach. If you can keep the cilia active, you can avoid the problems that come from smoke inhalation.
One bad sign: when the cilia of the chest can’t do their job, coughing takes over. Either there is too much material in the lungs for the cilia to handle or the cilia aren’t moving enough to do their job. Or there could be a chemical irritation of the lungs. Besides avoiding the smoke, what can you do?
a. Breathe through a wet mask when you go outside. Drive with car windows closed.
b. Drink large amounts of warm/ hot tea. Tea stimulates the cilia. Decaffeinated tea is fine.
c. Chicken soup also activates cilia.
d. Drink enough of any liquids so that your urine turns light.
e. Use a nasal moisturizer spray. Be sure there is no benzalkonium or mercury preservative that might impair the nasal function. If possible, find an enhanced nasal moisturizing formula free of additives and preservatives. By cleaning the nose this way you can help preserve the normal nasal function.
f. Just as you wash your hands and face to remove soot and ash, washing your nose and sinuses can be very helpful. You can make a saline solution – 1/2 teaspoon of salt to 8 ounces of warm water with a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and gently sniff this in and out the nose until the return is clear. (It is OK if it comes out the mouth.) Or you can use the Pulsatile Nasal Irrigation — this is a machine that pulses at the “prime rate” to cleanse the nose/ sinuses and help restore normal function. If you continue to inhale smoke, it is OK to repeat the irrigation as needed. You can use salt solution or the prepared mixtures designed for these devices.
g. Most of the over the counter cough preparations such as Robitussin are fine for loosening thick phlegm in the chest. Try to avoid codeine preparations as these may slow cilia.
h. After exposure to smoke, use pulsatile irrigation, or gentle sniffing of nasal solution to help get the nose working well again. If the return from the nasal irrigation is clear, then just a nasal moisturizer is needed.
i. Caution: although antihistamines work well for seasonal allergy, they may cause additional drying of the mucus secondary to smoke exposure. Fine to use Sudafed and similar products for congestion after smoke inhalation, but caution in using the regular antihistamines. The congestion following smoke exposure is not necessarily an allergic response as it is an inflammatory one.
You must not neglect your chest symptoms. If coughing or shortness of breath persists, the earlier you contact your doctor about an inhaler for the chest, the better your chances are that you will not have any long term effects form the smoke. Your doctor will prescribe an anti-inflammatory product or combination and then you can breathe better with less cough.
Take care of your eyes as well. Here are helpful hints from a Los Angeles eye specialist:
1. Protective glasses or sunglasses are essential. There can be excessive glare from the sun filtering through the smoke, and anti-glare coatings can be very helpful.
2. In active fire areas, goggles can help prevent ashes or debris from blowing into the eyes, burning either the cornea or conjuntiva. If something should blow into the eye, immediately irrigate the eyes with cool water (or any water available) for at least ten minutes before seeking medical attention.
3.Dryness, burning and stinging can be helped by frequent use of over-the -counter Artificial Tears, available at any pharmacy or supermarket. These can be used as often as every hour, if necessary.
4.People with contact lenses are at greater risk for drying and irritation. It would be safer to wear glasses during the times of poor air quality. If contact lenses must be worn, non-preserved Artificial Tears should be instilled frequently.
5.If the eyes actually become painful, consult an ophthalmologist, as there is a greater risk for corneal abrasions or infections.
6. As with all risky situations, common sense is the number one protection against serious eye injuries. After the fires stop, many persons continue to have thick phlegm and mucus as a result of the smoke products affecting the cilia. Do daily pulsatile irrigation. If thick phlegm continues, fruit enzyme lozenges such as those from pineapple and papaya are helpful. Look for proteolytic enzyme tablets with both papain and bromelain in them, calibrated in enzyme activity units. These enzymes thin the mucus and can improve the moisture levels.. Fortunately they taste good.
Are you suffering from smoke from the Southern California Fire? Let us know (ENTconsult@aol.com). We’d like to help, and we’d really like to hear from any rescue centers including medical facilities.
Dr Grossan’s Hydro-Pulse
Nasal Irrigator for sinus sufferers is available at AllergyBuyersClub.com
Snoring Remedies Do Work Contrary To What You Think.
Doctor Tells How And Why
By Murray Grossan MD
At the 2003 meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in Orlando, Drs Peter Michaelson and Eric Mair presented their results of testing widely advertised products that allegedly cure snoring. They tested the lubricating mouth sprays, the special pillows , the nasal dilator strips and others. They concluded that none were effective.
I don’t agree
I disagree with their conclusions that none of the over the counter methods are of value.
I have practiced Ear Nose and Throat for 40 + years. I am part of a 5 person ENT group – Tower ENT at Cedars Sinai Medical where snoring is a major part of our specialty. In our group Dr Martin Hopp has pioneered some of the current snoring innovations. We see lots of patients with this problem.
As to the dilator strips; certain persons have very weak cartilages on the sides of the nose. When they take a forceful deep breath, the sides of the nose collapse, causing obstruction and forcing the person to mouth breathe and snore. These strips that hold the weak sides apart can be very helpful to the individual who has a flaccid or weak sides to his nose. Or the tip of the nose can hang down. This depression causes the nose to block too. Simply taping the nose up can open the nose up for air passage and solve the problem. This simple method is detailed in the book, The Sinus Cure (Ballnatine) by Debra Bruce and Murray Grossan, and we get letters daily from readers thanking us for this “cure of their snoring”.
Nasal Dryness
Many persons have nasal dryness. This impairs breathing, causes unpleasant sounds and can be a serious factor causing snoring and other problems. Nasal dryness may cause secondary nasal infection, crusting and dry mouth as well. In a dry nose the body’s natural defenders – lysozyme, good white cells can’t get to the bacterial. A dry nose can’t wash out pollens and dusts. A home made saline spray – one teaspoon salt to a pint of water helps. A saline product that contains the body’s natural electrolytes, such as Breathe.ease®XL Nasal Spray, is highly effective in providing moisture here.
In addition it is important to keep the bedroom moist. I recommend pans of water that evaporate. The fancy vaporizers are impossible to clean and destroy the wallpaper.
Sleep Apnea
Snoring is not the same as sleep apnea. Here a person actually stops breathing during sleep. The partner hears the breathing stop, followed by loud sounds trying to overcome the blockage. This is a significant medical problem that requires more than simply taping the nose up. We can use special machines that overcome the blockage, called CPAP devices. Or some procedures to clear the weakness of the soft palate or open the nose and correct the blockage may be indicated. Some persons respond to jaw repositioning. If your partner feels that you do stop breathing in your sleep, get a sleep apnea test to find out if you are low on oxygen in your sleep. If you do have sleep apnea, treatment is necessary.
Try this
If that isn’t your problem, you might want to try gently taping up the tip of your nose, moistening the nose with one of the saline type sprays such as Breath.ease®XL nasal spray or homemade saline. Or you could try one of the moisturizing Gels. Important. Only the specified nasal moisturizing gels are safe to use in the nose. These are water-soluble. Any gel or ointment that is not water-soluble can land in your lungs and remain there and cause problems. For example Breathe.ease®XL Nasal Gel is water soluble and has the benefit of containing Xylitol which is especially moisturizing by virtue of its action that moisturizes at the cell level. The gel need only be used at night. I was concerned that too many persons would misinterpret the conclusions of the Michelson and Mair study, since we see patients daily who do benefit using some of the over the counter aids. Every day Ear Nose and Throat doctors recommend these simple solutions that can work, when they are indicated.
For more information, go to www.hydromedonline.com
Dr Grossan’s Hydro-Pulse
Nasal Irrigator for sinus sufferers is available at AllergyBuyersClub.com
Buy Allergy Relief and Control Products from AllergyBuyersClub.com
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