Air Purifiers?

Ok, I'm not recognizing any of the brands on Amazon, and the people leaving feedback (or at least a great number of them) seem to be... not the brightest bulbs in the string, as it were...so I'm not feeling comfortable with their recommendations.

Can anyone recommend a small air purifier, something that will take care of pollen and dust (probably a Hepa would be best) in a room of about 15' x 15'? We'd prefer something that is relatively quiet, but reliable.

Thanks!

BlueAir has a good reputation but they can be ££. We have whole hog top of the line iqair healthmate 250 but that's overkill for you!

We have an IQ Air and love it.  My husband can actually mostly survive pollen season now!  We've had it for 2 years and wouldn't hesitate to purchase another one.

www.iqair.com/international

Thanks to both of you - I'll investigate them.

I had a scare last night. Several years ago I developed a serious immune reaction to bird dander. (I had pet parakeets, finches, and a dove.) My lungs became seriously inflamed and my 02 levels dropped to the point that they were about to have me on oxygen round-the-clock. I was so weak I'd be exhausted just trying to get around in my own home. They put me on massive doses of steroids, which brought the inflammation under control, but that wreaked havoc on other body bits. It did make it possible for me to breathe. They told me I had a 75% chance I'd make it five years, if the meds hadn't worked.  Took me the better part of a year to get weaned off the steroids, had to give up my beloved pets, and had to move to an apartment that had no latent bird dander in it. (Tried painting the bedroom and replacing the carpet, but needed more.) But things settled down - I just have to avoid bird dander. So, holding my breath when in pet stores that have budgies, that sort of thing. Other than that, I now and then have a bout of hayfever that I use an antihistamine for and life goes on.

Anyway, last night I woke up in the middle of the night having a hell of a time breathing, just as before. We'd been vacuuming most of the day, and tidying up the Daughter's incredibly dusty (she's not a neat-freak) bedroom. The Vax hepa-filter vacuum did a great job, but there's still dust in there on the book cases and dresser. I had no problems all day. (I'd also put a kerchief around my face to kind of try to help, just in case.) But, after all that, late in the evening she put on an oil diffuser with a new essential oil (Neroli?) It smelled nice.

I went to bed, and a couple of hours later woke up coughing and then couldn't breathe. Had to have her shut it off, opened the windows to my bedroom and stuck my head out into the "fresh" air, and almost immediately got a lot better. Spent the night with my bedroom door closed and the windows wide open.

Doing ok today, other than that I've got a slight wheeze on exhalation (very familiar with that) that I'm monitoring, my 02 levels are in the low 90s (which is acceptable) and have had a chat with the Daughter about not running the diffuser so much. Went ahead and ordered a hepa-filter purifier off of Amazon, a relatively cheap one, to hold me over until I can source something more powerful.

Interesting that the Neroli set it off. Or perhaps just the combination of pollen, then house-dust, and then the Neroli. She's used other diffuser oils in the past that have not caused me any trouble, and I used to have Neroli and Patchouli oils around when I was a teen. Oh, well. Better now, and will be very happy to have a hepa air-purifier in the house anyway.

I always wear an n95 mask when cleaning even with the HEPA vacuum. Might be worth having a few on hand. I'm glad you're doing better today!

There's an inhaler called Intal that might help too if this keeps being an issue - it stabilises mast cells. Please make sure you have this on record with your docs here! It can take a while to see an allergy/immunology consultant if you need one.

I'm really sorry to hear of your problems.  That sounds incredibly scary.

My husband has terrible problems with reactions to ... well, actually we don't know.  We bought our own flat 2 years ago.  We have no carpets or rugs.  No used furniture and most of what we have is wood or leather.  We don't have curtains and no clothes can brought into the flat from shops without first going into the wash.  We don't visit his parents or my parent's house without an unhealthy dose of drugs for him and trying to persuade them to clean well (their standards are very different to ours )We know he's effected by pollen, but we aren't sure which ones so tend to keep the windows closed around this time of the year.

We've been using various air filters over the years, but when we finally got out of rented places into our own fairly new build flat husband researched and purchased the best air filter he could find.  I fear we'll never own the older style house I crave, but at least husband is able to breath!  Holidays are a pain, staying in hotels and cottages can be difficult for him.  I wish we knew what caused a reaction in him.

Oh, gosh, can they not test?  I had a blood test and it came back positive for several of the bird types that I'd been keeping, so that confirmed the docs' suspicion as to what was happening to me back in 2010.

Margo - Yes, I should get some dust masks. Thankfully we are in a place with pergo floors, so it's easier to keep clean, but as mentioned, the Daughter is somewhat lax in her standards and so it's tough for me to keep everything as it ought to be.

I just dug through my stuff and found the CDs that have the actual CAT and MRI scans, plus notes, for all my tests done at that time.  I have a feeling I should not give them to the NHS, but will try to print off the results (there are notes attached) and send them to my GP, for what it's worth.

Oh, gosh, can they not test?  I had a blood test and it came back positive for several of the bird types that I'd been keeping, so that confirmed the docs' suspicion as to what was happening to me back in 2010.

Margo - Yes, I should get some dust masks. Thankfully we are in a place with pergo floors, so it's easier to keep clean, but as mentioned, the Daughter is somewhat lax in her standards and so it's tough for me to keep everything as it ought to be.

I just dug through my stuff and found the CDs that have the actual CAT and MRI scans, plus notes, for all my tests done at that time.  I have a feeling I should not give them to the NHS, but will try to print off the results (there are notes attached) and send them to my GP, for what it's worth.

Yes, don't let go of the originals but give them copies of the information.
Glad you are ok now, that must have been scary!

Oh, gosh, can they not test?  I had a blood test and it came back positive for several of the bird types that I'd been keeping, so that confirmed the docs' suspicion as to what was happening to me back in 2010.

Margo - Yes, I should get some dust masks. Thankfully we are in a place with pergo floors, so it's easier to keep clean, but as mentioned, the Daughter is somewhat lax in her standards and so it's tough for me to keep everything as it ought to be.

I just dug through my stuff and found the CDs that have the actual CAT and MRI scans, plus notes, for all my tests done at that time.  I have a feeling I should not give them to the NHS, but will try to print off the results (there are notes attached) and send them to my GP, for what it's worth.

Yeah, only give copies to the NHS not originals.

The NHS can do blood tests for some allergies, but for me... Most of the things I'm allergic to don't show up in them and I have non IgE reactions. Your husband sounds like me Larissa I learned the name for it when I was diagnosed with EDS, mast cell activation syndrome. There is also mastocytosis but that's more severe and the tests are a lot more conclusive, MCAS is more a diagnosis of exclusion and what treatments you respond to (mainly avoiding the things that make you sick and taking antihistamines). I'm still struggling in our rental because I cant get the scent the previous tenant used out of the blinds!

Oh, darn it. There isn't a "print" feature on these DVD thingies that have my records on them. I can view the actual scans, and the reports, but not print them out! I am assuming that I need to figure out how to print the reports, as the GP is not going to take a burned copy of a CD/DVD with them on it, right?

Oh, darn it. There isn't a "print" feature on these DVD thingies that have my records on them. I can view the actual scans, and the reports, but not print them out! I am assuming that I need to figure out how to print the reports, as the GP is not going to take a burned copy of a CD/DVD with them on it, right?

I had to copy and paste into a word document sometimes you have to be creative. I burned copies of the imaging CDs too.

Yeah, I had tried that. It won't let me highlight the text to copy it. When I do a "print screen" I get all the surrounds. Will have the daughter give it a try - she does more computer stuff than I do. She got her latest, long-awaited shipment of perfume samples yesterday by mail. Today she opened them up and put one on, and I had to shoo her out of the room and open the window again. She washed it off in the bathroom, and now I can't go into that bathroom because she kinda must not have rinsed it down the sink properly. All windows are open and a nice breeze is airing the house out.

I hope this stops soon - the hypersensitivity to scents. I'm afraid to go in anywhere shopping. Went into a SuperDrug with the Daughter a couple of days ago and came out wheezing from all the fake chemical perfumes in there.  It's getting rather old! 

[It's rather odd, looking at one's innards on a MRI scan, slice-by-slice, but interesting!]

Yeah, I had tried that. It won't let me highlight the text to copy it. When I do a "print screen" I get all the surrounds. Will have the daughter give it a try - she does more computer stuff than I do. She got her latest, long-awaited shipment of perfume samples yesterday by mail. Today she opened them up and put one on, and I had to shoo her out of the room and open the window again. She washed it off in the bathroom, and now I can't go into that bathroom because she kinda must not have rinsed it down the sink properly. All windows are open and a nice breeze is airing the house out.

I hope this stops soon - the hypersensitivity to scents. I'm afraid to go in anywhere shopping. Went into a SuperDrug with the Daughter a couple of days ago and came out wheezing from all the fake chemical perfumes in there.  It's getting rather old! 

[It's rather odd, looking at one's innards on a MRI scan, slice-by-slice, but interesting!]

See if your computer has “snip it” or if you can download it.

See if your computer has “snip it” or if you can download it.

Snipping Tool has been part of Windows since 7.  I keep a shortcut on my quicklaunch bar.  It's the best for quickly getting images from my screen.  You use your mouse to click&drag to select the areas you want to snip.  Plus, you can "write" on the image or highlight parts of it if you want to, before saving it as a jpg.  https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/13776/windows-use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots

Cool. I'm on Windows 7, so I'll try that shortly. Thanks!

[Edit:  It worked!]