Your sleep will not be healthy and relieve fatigue if you have pillow mites. It is impossible to see them on your bed with an ordinary glance. Dust, down or lint eaters - it is more correct to call them, are found in almost every bed. As a rule, mites live in places where dust accumulates, including pillows, mattresses, and carpets. Most people don't even realize that every night they lay their head on a pillow that is "infested" with mites.
Doctors assure that every sixth child with bronchial asthma suffers from an allergy to feather mites . Sleeping on pillows infected with feather mites is not at all safe, because the mite can crawl into a person’s ear, the parasites themselves can feed on the scales of the epidermis (dead skin), and their excrement corrodes and poisons human skin. As a result, a person actively develops various allergic reactions or a disease, which is popularly called scab.
Where do mites come from in bed linen?
Poison eaters are constant companions of humans. Their small size and choice of secluded habitats determined by their feeding habits allow them to remain invisible in our home.
Scientists conducted an experiment and examined soft pillows for pathogenic microorganisms and insects. The results were disappointing: they can contain up to 16 species of fungi, and up to 200 mites can live in 1 cm of a feather!
It’s scary to imagine how many parasites, in addition to mites, can be contained in one standard sleeping pillow.
It is worth saying that insects come along with its filler - feathers and down. Feather mites are widespread in nature; they are inhabitants of chicken coops and poultry farms, where they feed on feathers on live birds.
Insects also lay eggs in the feathers of birds. Thus, if the feather and down intended for filling are poorly processed, there is a high probability that along with the sleeping item you will acquire a whole colony of mites that parasitize humans and domestic animals.
When the parasites' nutrition (feather and fluff) runs out, then the insects may well switch to a sleeping person.
Parasites are also found in padding polyester pillows; these individuals are deprived of the opportunity to receive their usual nutrition, so they are focused on feeding on humans.
Control of parasites
Before you start fighting ticks, you need to know about some features of parasites. You need to know that parasites need special conditions in which they can reproduce and thereby increase the population. Such conditions are created themselves, and we don’t even suspect it. The fact is that feathers and sweat, which is secreted by human skin, create the necessary temperature and humidity for insects. In addition, when we ventilate a room, we don’t even realize that we are creating all the conditions to support the vital activity of the parasite, since they cannot do without fresh air.
If you use a pillow or other feather or down product incorrectly, it will become much heavier in a couple of years. The heaviness comes from saws and living mites, of which there can be up to 200 pieces per centimeter. They can come into contact with human skin and cause discomfort.
This problem is quite common all over the world. If we talk about developed countries, then feather products, as well as down ones, are prohibited from being used in most institutions, for example, kindergartens, hospitals, hotels, etc., all for the reason that it is almost impossible to completely get rid of these mites.
There are now synthetic fillers on the market that have many advantages. You do not need to regularly care for them and devote a lot of time to cleaning. In such fillers, the possibility of mites appearing is virtually eliminated. But if you prefer natural materials and avoid synthetics, then you can choose, for example, coconut or bamboo fibers, pine needles or buckwheat. Such products are updated once a year.
Symptoms of a tick in the bed
As soon as a person’s immunity decreases, malfunctions appear in the body’s important defense systems, and then ticks in pillows will make themselves felt, showing symptoms such as:
- Itching on the body, especially at night;
- The scalp and face become slightly gray with enlarged pores and redness;
- Skin oiliness increases;
- A rash appears on the skin;
- Hair fall out.
If the symptoms remain and are not noticed, then the disease enters the next stage, which manifests itself in the form of an allergy to feather mites:
- Atopic dermatitis, characterized by itching, peeling, and redness of the skin. Requires long-term treatment.
- Urticaria, which appears as pink spots on the skin with severe itching.
- Allergies accompanied by lacrimation, runny nose, cough.
- Unpleasant symptoms disappear after eliminating contact with the pillow.
- A tick in a person suffering from asthma causes frequent attacks of the disease./li>
- Swelling of the airways can be fatal.
If symptoms of insect exposure are detected, you should not self-medicate; a visit to the doctor is necessary.
What is prohibited to do
If a person is infected, some recommendations must be followed to prevent complications, namely:
- You cannot squeeze pimples, scratch them, or perform any other actions to get rid of them yourself; all treatment should be carried out strictly according to the doctor’s recommendations. Because there is a risk that the infection gets into the deep layer of the skin and then complications cannot be avoided.
- If you are ill, it is forbidden to use decorative cosmetics. When applied, larvae remain on the cosmetics, and this leads to repeated infections.
- Remember that mites need an oily environment, so you should not use creams during this period, thus creating ideal conditions for the infection to multiply and spread to other areas of the skin.
- Massages, scrubs and masks are prohibited.
- During this period, you cannot visit the pool, bathhouse, or sauna.
- When washing, the water should not be hot.
Treatment must be carried out comprehensively, so be sure to pay attention to your diet. Do not eat processed foods, very fatty and fried foods, exclude spicy and canned foods from your diet. Reduce your consumption of coffee and chocolate to a minimum.
Preventive actions
- It is very important to carry out preventive actions that will prevent population growth and reproduction. The most important thing is to carry out wet cleaning as often as possible and prevent dust from accumulating. Wash textile products as often as possible, be sure to iron them. When carrying out wet cleaning, folk remedies can be used as a preventive measure.
- In some cases, the right solution would be to replace the feather pillow with a synthetic one. They are much easier to care for, can be washed, and the likelihood that “neighbors” will appear in it is very small.
- To protect yourself and minimize the contact of ticks with your skin, you can use additional bed covers or covers. Remember that in winter, it is very effective to take pillows and mattresses out into the cold, which allows you to destroy pests with low temperatures. In summer, the same effect is achieved due to direct sunlight. Don't forget to knock out the products.
- When you regularly clean and monitor the cleanliness of the room, the likelihood that pests will increase the population is very small, since such clean conditions are absolutely unfavorable for them.
Folk remedies
The use of folk remedies is a fairly popular and even effective technique, which is used very often. For this disease, calendula, namely tincture, shows good results. It is used to wipe affected areas. An equally popular and effective method is to use aloe juice. In this case, the juice is applied to a piece of bandage and applied as a compress. When severe infection is observed, castor oil is used, but it is mixed with Trichopolum and compresses are made every day for up to 10 hours.
Remember that the use of folk remedies requires prior consultation with your doctor, since they also may not be effective, and in some cases dangerous.
Correct treatment
First of all, you need to understand that treatment involves a whole range of actions, each of which will affect effectiveness. It is necessary to remove not only the symptoms, but also to reduce the number of parasites to a minimum, prevent their reproduction, and also use treatment for skin diseases. Treatment is prescribed only after diagnosis and confirmation of the diagnosis; it is individual for each individual case, taking into account the degree of infection.
The patient is prescribed special ointments that help fight mites and at the same time have a beneficial effect on the skin; therapy also involves the use of vitamins, and possibly the use of antibiotics. The course of treatment will always depend on the stage of development of the disease, on average it is two weeks.
How to fight correctly
Of course, when parasites have reached enormous numbers, it will be quite difficult to get rid of them without the use of specialized means. Nowadays there is a huge assortment on the market that allows you to quickly and effectively treat a room and get rid of all types of parasites.
If we talk about the most popular ones, they include the following drugs:
- Digital. Shows good results when treating residential premises. It can be purchased in powder form, which is diluted with water in portions according to the instructions and the solution is treated with the surface.
- Sipaz. Released specifically for residential premises, the advantage is safety for people and animals. It has a prolonged effect, after treatment the effect lasts up to 1.5 months.
- Easy air. This product contains only plant components that have a detrimental effect on ticks.
- Available in the form of a spray that can be used to treat upholstered furniture, carpets, and mattresses.
In addition, there are a large number of sprays containing natural herbal ingredients that are suitable for treating bedding.
Remember that the use of any product must be carried out strictly according to the instructions, and be sure to follow safety precautions. In most cases, when treating a room, you need to leave the apartment for a day and upon return carry out a thorough wet cleaning. When processing bedding, they must be washed.
After sanitization, it is advisable to leave the premises for a day. Then carry out a thorough cleaning using chlorinated products. Wash and steam bedding.
Pillows must be dry cleaned; by the way, this procedure is mandatory and must be done once a year. Dry cleaning uses different cleaning methods, so always check this point.
In the event that it is not possible to dry clean it, you can do it yourself:
- We take a large container and in it prepare a solution of laundry soap and water.
- Next, you will need a bag or a large piece of fabric into which we transfer the contents of the pillow. It is important that the feathers are well separated; they should not be pressed or compacted.
- We tie the bag and lower it into the previously prepared solution.
- Feathers must remain in the solution for at least 4 hours. Every half hour, you will need to knead the contents of the bag and also shake the soap solution.
- Then rinse well in water, preferably running water.
- Hang it outside.
Prevention methods
Basically, demodectic blepharitis develops in people who have problems with the immune system. To prevent such a disease, it is necessary to strengthen the defense system by taking appropriate vitamin complexes and giving up bad habits and unhealthy diets .
This will help restore normal activity of the gastrointestinal tract, which also becomes an indirect cause of demodicosis of any type (chronic, meibomian, allergic, scaly, etc.)
After successful treatment of blepharitis, from time to time you can use a prophylactic drug such as blefarogel-2 .
This means for repeated and prophylactic treatment prevents the occurrence of relapses of the disease.
Important! The most important preventive measure is compliance with personal and general hygiene standards.
Even in the absence of signs of blepharitis, members of the same family should use separate towels so that the tick is not transmitted from the carrier to another person through household contact.
