Miele
: "Red Star - with Hepa" Vacuum Cleaner
This vacuum
is for all us cat fans who keep allergists in business and insist
on keeping their cats. So , while it isn't the cat hair to which
we are allergic [it's the dander]but vacuuming up all that hair,[spoken
as a cat owner] which seems to get everywhere, is a major priority.
So when Miele
announced the "Red
Star - with Hepa", it had our name written all over it.
Advantages
We liked the neat but effective power-head. There was no task that
it did not tackle with superlative efficiency. There were no visible
lint particulates left on dark colored carpets and we could literally
hear the light weight power head suck up the dirt from our carpets.
The onboard tools are top class. We found we could change the tools
on the fly and vacuum all those hard to reach places-picture rails,
baseboards, pleated lampshades, upholstery and all sorts of nooks
and crannies. We did find we needed to use the optional mini powerhead
for removing layers of cat hair from dark velvet cushions since
the regular upholstery attachment was not up to the task. The dusting
brush is soft enough even for your most delicate antique furniture.
The tools are perfect for serious dirt removal in your car after
along hard winter. Other neat features include parking when not
in use, and a bag which automatically seals itself when you change
it[no dust blowing back in your face]and a post hepa sealed motor
which has consistently been rated as one of the most effective in
the industry.
Its Disadvantages
Now, compared to the White Star, our other favorite Miele allergy
machine, this model is a little more complex to use as you have
to disassemble the power head in order to attach the hand tools.
The process is not complex or time consuming but it is just not
so simple as the Medivac .We had to peer under a bright light to
reassemble the power head after using the tools, since the socket
is placed on a slant. Our other gripes were that Miele does not
have one of those handy dirt alert lights such a used in the Eureka
or Panasonic uprights. In our house, the vacuum bags seem to need
to be changed every two weeks[read buy lots of spare bags]and two
of our testers needed to consult the manual in order to change the
bag the first time. The bags are not very big in order to accommodate
the on board tools. Once you read the instructions in the manual
,changing bags was very simple-but to two dumb new users it was
not intuitive. Moreover, depending on how you look at it, the Miele
seemed to stop working when the bag was full-a good safety feature
but when it first happened we almost panicked!
Our overall
summary
Another winner from Miele.
Light, easy to use and effective.
If you prefer to order online - the internet equivalent is the "Red
Star - with Hepa" with the HEPA filter sold in our
store. There is an optional mini power-head for upholstery [great
for cat hair] but unnecessary for most people.
Be warned you need a ton of the replacement bags, they fill up fast.
Allergy buyers club members get a specially packaged machine with
a hepa filter which does not come standard with this machine from
other vendors.
More
Info on the "Red Star"...
Top
Survival
Guide to Remodeling
by Mercia Tapping
Just in case
you are in any doubt, remodeling is extra stressful for allergy,
asthma, and sinusitis and MCS sufferers. Not only do we have to
deal with the inconvenience of rooms of furniture under dustsheets,
contractors who are running over time and budget, contractors ignoring
our instructions or the specifications BUT the process is designed
for most of us to make us PHYSICALLY SICK. Children, the elderly
and the rest of us with compromised immune systems are especially
vulnerable. Three years ago, this author, a remodeling veteran decided
it was easier on her health to move house.
Together with
great deal of patience, fortitude and a number of products to be
found in our online shopping you can preserve your health. Here
are some survival tips to reduce the stress and preserve your health.
1. Spend
as much time out of the house as possible. This means schedule your
remodeling for the summer months.
2. If
you are a "stay at home Mom" - find activities out of the house.
Breathing in that dust and toxic makes you sick.
3. If
you have an asthmatic
or allergic
child, schedule them with lots of after school activities.
4. The
bedrooms
are the most important rooms in the house. We spend 8 hours a day
in there. If they are not being remodeled-have your contractors
tape up the doors each day to prevent dust from entering.
5. If
you have forced hot air heating close down the vents in your bedrooms
during the day time.
6. Vacuum
out the entry to the forced air heating system in your bedrooms
on a daily basis.
7. Use
very fine filter material on the entry to your forced air heating
system. This prevents a good deal of the dust from entering the
bedrooms.
8. Use
a high quality , completely sealed hepa vacuum on a daily basis
to vacuum every inch of all bedrooms. Use a vacuum with on board
tools to vacuum walls, crevices ,furniture, floors. We recommend
in particular the canister models from Miele
and Eureka
or the Eureka
Sanitaire. Wear an allergy face mask as an extra precaution
while you do the job.
9. Use
a really good hepa filter in the bedroom and choose one which not
only deals with particulates [the dust] but one which deals with
toxic fumes. Top of the line models by Austin
Air, Allertech
and IQAir
are offered on the Allergy Buyers Club site. Have those filters
going on high all day long. Turn them down to low at night so as
not to be disturbed by the fan noise.
10. Try
to remember to seal off your closets daily so your clothes remain
dust free.
11. Open
your windows for several hours a day but not during 5 to 10am in
Pollen season. Get in that fresh air. Fresh air is much better than
the toxic fumes of renovating materials! This is not the time to
worry about heating bills.
12. Use
a high quality electrostatic
filter on your furnace, or a pleated disposable filter and change
weekly if needed during the remodeling process.
13. Wear
an allergy face mask walking around your house in the day time to
avoid the dust [forget feeling like a hypochondriac].
14. If
your kitchen was remodeled, wash all your dishes afterwards and
throw out any "open boxed" foods.
15. Talk
to your contractor about using toxic free paints and varnishes.
There are plenty on the market such as by Glidden, even available
in places like Home Depot. MCS sufferers already know you may have
to go to extra steps to find materials to which you do not react.
16. Doing
the remodeling yourself? You are crazy, but wear a mask at all times
and make sure your materials are toxic free. The mask is to help
you not breathe in dust.
17. Make
sure your contractors use your natural cleaning materials. Don't
even think of using the regular supermarket products. Plenty of
good brands are available in your local health food store .Our favorite
mail order natural cleaner product is "Lifetime"-a review is the
August
1999 issue of Allergy Consumer Review.
18. Step
up your vitamin and exercise program. Anything you can do to boost
your immune system can only help.
19. Have
your ducts cleaned after all the remodeling has finished and get
a professional cleaning company to rid your house of every inch
of dust - it is worth the expense after all the stress you have
been through.
20. Read
some of the articles in our Library,
Paint
Product Sheets is a useful one.
And finally
spoken as someone who has been there - good luck!
Top
Reader's
Question
Q. Dumb
question I know, but what is the difference between dust and dust
mites?
 A.
Dust is the accumulation of very fine particulates, the kind that
you can sometimes see floating around the air when the light streams
through the windows late afternoon. It is not healthy to breathe
in dirt. Dust mites are live creatures, millions of them that inhabit
our bedding, carpets and upholstery. They feed off our dead skin
shedding , mostly happening at night. Many of us are allergic to
their feces[this is the most common allergy of all].To keep it simple,
dust
mite proof covers on your bedding cut off their food source
and so they die. Also they tend to thrive in moist environments
[over 50% humidity], so even if you have sinus problems do not over
humidify your bedroom. The cheapest way to keep dust mites at bay?
Keep
the air reasonably dry, a 20 or 30 percent level of humidity
will do the trick.
Top
Interview
with Dr Sheldon Spector
Ever
wondered whether Immunotherapy is worthwhile or just a lot of trouble
for questionable results?
Dr Sheldon Spector
is one of the most preeminent and respected internationally known
allergists in the field. In an interview with our staff he answers
your questions on Immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy
Q. What exactly
is Immunotherapy?
A. Immunotherapy is commonly known as " getting allergy
shots". It is the process of administering by injection increasing
amounts of substances a patient is allergic to , such as pollen
and dust mite, with the aim to eventually build tolerance to these
substances and prevent them from causing symptoms. Immunotherapy
is especially useful against substances that are difficult to avoid
such as pollen or dust mites.
Q. Is Immunotherapy a "cure"?
A. Immunotherapy is not a cure but can significantly lessen
symptoms caused by specific substances. For example, a person with
allergic rhinitis may no longer react to Bermuda grass or Olive
trees but will always have a higher tendency than the general population
of manifesting allergic symptoms to other substances.
Q. Does Immunotherapy
mean I would no longer suffer from allergies?
A. Immunotherapy improves symptoms to substances contained
in the immunotherapy injections to different degrees. For example,
some patients with cat allergy may no longer have symptoms around
cats while others will need much less medication to prevent symptoms.
Q. Are there
different types of Immunotherapy?
A. Yes. Immunotherapy is given most commonly to improve symptoms
from aeroallergens ( inhaled allergens ). Venom immunotherapy is given
to patients who have experienced systemic or life-threatening reactions
to stinging or biting insects.
Q. What is the success rate of Immunotherapy?
A. Studies showing the effectiveness of immunotherapy ,show
that roughly 8 out of 10 patients benefit from immunotherapy.
Q.
Does Immunotherapy work better for one kind of allergy more than
another?
A. Immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in allergies
to pollen, cats, dogs, molds, dust mites as well as stinging insects.
Immunotherapy is not effective for food allergies.
Q. Are there
different types of Immunotherapy? When I go to a doctor are they
all going to use the same formulas?
A. Although there are community mixes that include common substances
from a specific region, the most effective formulas or mixtures
are made especially for the patient to include all specific substances
or allergens he or she is allergic to.
Q. How long
does Immunotherapy take?
A. Immunotherapy is usually given for three to five years for
long-term benefit.
Q. Is there
a chance that I could go through all this trouble and it make no
difference?
A. Improvement in symptoms is usually observed in most patients
after 6 months to 1 year of immunotherapy. It is not effective in
all patients and if no improvement is seen within the first year,
the allergist may decide to stop or change the therapy.
Q. If I went
through Immunotherapy would I still need to use HEPA filters and
the like and take special environmental precautions in my house?
A. Yes. While the body is developing tolerance to allergens
by increasing doses of immunotherapy, it is advisable to continue
avoidance measures such as HEPA filters or dust mite covers to increase
the chances of successful immunotherapy.
Q. I have
an HMO as medical insurance. Do HMOs pay for this kind of treatment?
A. Most HMOs today consider immunotherapy effective and pay
for at least part of the treatment. Please check with your HMO
to find out specific policies.
Q. How
bad do your allergies need to be before your insurance will pay
for it?
A. Most insurance companies will pay for immunotherapy if
your primary care doctor refers you to an allergist and the allergist
recommends immunotherapy as part of your treatment. Even patients
with mild symptoms may be recommended immunotherapy to avoid
worsening of symptoms, if they cannot avoid the things they are
allergic to, such as pets or specific native trees.
Q. If Immunotherapy
has such a good success rate why doesn't everyone do it instead
of taking medication and spending a ton of money on allergy control
products?
A. The time and commitment involved in starting and undergoing
immunotherapy is still seen as an obstacle by many patients looking
for a "quick fix". In time , more and more patients realize
that the long term benefits of immunotherapy are much better than
being on medications for the rest of their life.
Q. Any future
new developments in Immunotherapy that I should be aware of? I heard
of a cat vaccine that was due to be released and then it seems to
have disappeared-any update on that?
A. The promising "catvax" vaccine is still being studied.
It is being touted as a fast-acting vaccine that would induce tolerance
in allergic patients after only about 6 injections as opposed to
the two to three year conventional cat immunotherapy.
With grateful
acknowledgement to Drs Spector and Tan in this interview.
Dr Spector's web site together with his partner Dr Tan and bibliographies
are at Calallergy.com
More
Info...
Top
Recall
of Allercare
If you have
not heard already, Johnson and Johnson have voluntarily recalled
Allercare, their new anti dust mite spray and powder that recently
debuted on your supermarket shelves. They recalled it after reports
of adverse reactions to the perfume by asthmatics and chemically
sensitive people. Well, all we can say is duh..how dumb can you
get?
Top
Want
a dust free bedroom? Want to get rid of dust mites?
Here are our
tips for attaining a dust-less and dust-mite
free bedroom.
- Clear out
your bedroom of all surplus objects. Aim for that "Spartan" bare
look. Less objects less dust collects.
- Keep your
humidity level at less than 50%. A humidistat
will do the trick in measuring this.
- Eliminate
all the dust with a good quality Hepa
Vaccum Cleaner such as the Miele
White
Star or Red
Star - with hepa featured in this newsletter. This means using
the special onboard tools to get into those hard to reach places
such as tops of pictures ,door headers, corners, blinds, lampshades,
underneath the bed or furniture. Use the vacuum twice weekly.
Do not use a cloth dusting rag it just redistributes the dust
and aggravates your allergens.
- Use a 'Swiffer'
or 'Grab It' to keep down the dust bunnies on hardwood floors
in between vacuuming. You will be surprised at how much dust it
picks up even on a daily basis.
- Take out
as much carpets and draperies as you can possibly stand, they
are a prime harbinger of dust mites. Just use a little washable
cotton rug by your bedside to save your feet from freezing in
winter.
- Wash your
bedclothes weekly in 140° degree water [turn up your water heater
setting] it kills dust mites. You can add tannic acid or use one
of commercial cleaners containing tannic acid to eliminate the
dust mites. Just look on the label for the ingredients.
- Use very
fine wafer thin filtration material at point of entry to your
bedroom for force air heating systems. If you use fabric that
is too thick the air will not be able to pass through effectively
and your bedroom will be cold.
- Have your
duct work professionally cleaned every three years. Be careful
and choose a certified duct cleaner. Read some of the articles
by Bob Baker in our Member Library on this topic. All duct cleaning
services are not made equal.
- Don't forget
to change the filters for your Room
Air-conditioner. Do you really want to breathe in mold
and dust blown out by a dirty air conditioner?
- Change the
filters on your furnace once per month. Use the pleated disposable
kind such as put out by 3M or better Electrostatic
Filters.
- Close your
closet door. Clothes are collectors of dust and particulates.
- Cover your
bed with Dust
Mite Covers, and vacuum the bedding on a weekly basis.
We are in process of doing research on the relative effectiveness
of different manufacturers dust mite proofing products. Much to
our surprise there is quite a variation in effectiveness between
them. You want bedding that is impervious to the mites and just
does not allow the dust mites to breed-plain and simple.
- Use a Vapor
Steam Cleaner on your bedding to assist in killing dust
mites between washes. One of the new vapor steam handheld devices
like the Hot
Shot by Eureka is ideal. It is hot enough to kill dust
mites. See our review this month.
- Take advantage
of the freezing weather. Put pillows, stuffed toys, any thing
that could host dust mites into plastic bags and put them out
side in the deep freeze. Yes, the frost kills those little bugs.
- Use a high
quality Hepa
Air Filter to filter out allergens. Find one that will
do the job at low frequency so that you do not have to live with
noise of a filter at high speed.
Several good air cleaners can be found at the Allergy
Buyers Club Store.
More
Info... Top
Electrostatic
Stick Cleaners: 'Swiffer' and 'Grab It'
In the last
few months, two competing products have appeared, 'Grab It' by
Johnson and Johnson and 'The Swiffer' by Proctor and Gamble. Both
these products work on the same principal. They use a disposable
electrostatically charged disposable cloth which is easily attached
to the head of the handle. Then using the stick you move around
the head to pick up dust bunnies, dirt and the like from your wood
or tile floors. You can also use the cloths by themselves for dusting.
We were rather skeptical when we began testing these products and
became reluctant enthusiasts! We liked that they are unbelievably
light-weight, compact and easy to assemble and use. Top marks for
user friendliness. We were suitably chastened at the amount of dust
and fine dirt particles they both pick up. In fact one of our testers,
a "vacuum cleaner hater" found herself using the 'Grab It' every
day. All our testers gave both these products rave reviews but could
not discern any particular difference in effectiveness between them.
Our panel of testers used these products for both "in between vacuuming
cleanups" and in one case for a tester who did not have a really
good bare floor attachment to his vacuum for a "post vacuum clean-up".
All testers agreed that both the 'Swiffer' and 'Grab It' pick up
an "unbelievable amount of stuff ". So the disadvantages? Remember,
nether the 'Swiffer' or 'Grab It' are vacuum cleaners and large
dirt granules simply get pushed around and not picked up. Also our
testers found in a month of usage they tended to use quite a disposable
few cloths and the extra cost of about $5 every two weeks or so
is a small cost that adds up over time. We were less impressed with
them for dusting purposes on furniture- we could see the film of
dust left behind , started to sneeze, and all in all, prefer our
damp cloth or vacuuming methods for a more complete job. This is
not a substitute for vacuuming, but hey for $15, we all gave the
'Grab It' and 'Swiffer' a triple thumbs up.
Both these products
are available in your local supermarket or hardware store for an
initial cost of around $15 and less than $5 for refills.
Top
Eureka
Hot Shot
The Eureka
Hot Shot is a handheld vapor steam gun and is a new entry
into the market for Eureka.
Advantages
This machine is light -weight and easy to use. We found it works
best with splattered tiling, dirty windows, baked on crud in the
microwave, and spills in the refrigerator interior, dirt marks on
walls, food spills on countertops. It is also superb for taking
wrinkles out of clothes. In all these circumstances, the Hot Shot
does an excellent job and lifts off dirt with ultra hot steam and
no extra cleaning fluids. We found it cooled down quickly when empty
and was easily refilled.
Disadvantages
This machine lasts about 15 minutes without a refill and with
larger tasks this can be an irritating delay [the price of lightness].
We also found that with an old, very dirty fiberglass bathtub, the
Hot Shot worked best if the tub had been presoaked with a cleaning
fluid.
Summary
For those with multiple chemical sensitivities, vapor steam cleaning
is the ultimate in non toxic cleaning methods. For the most part,
we found the improvement in using it over natural cleaning fluids
to be somewhat marginal. To be fair there were some, as noted, exceptions
to this assessment.
Bottom line, if you have some of the applications noted in our review,
you may want to try this gadget out. If you already have a spotless
house, then pass. The Hot Shot makes a good gift to the those who
are "clean compulsive".
The
Hot Shot can be purchased in our store for $99 including
shipping.
More
Info...
Dust-free Bedroom, Miele HEPA Vacuum Cleaners, Eureka Hot Shot - Allergy Consumer Review - Issue #3
|
It
is now winter, with forced hot air heating systems, dust bunnies
appear overnight, driving even the most casual of housekeepers
to distraction. Ever wondered how your rooms are covered in
visible dust less than 24 hours after the big weekend clean
up? For most of us, the important room in the house to keep
dust free is the bedroom. 
= poor 
= fair 
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