Jet lag and dust mites

3 weeks has passed since I came back from Birmingham.
The first thing I needed to overcome was the jet lag.
I could get only 2-4 hours sleep a day and would be dizzy in the afternoon till the late evening on the first few days when I was back to Japan. That went on throughout the weekdays. So, when the weekend finally came, I decided to sleep whenever I felt sleepy to at least release the sleep deprivation I was having.

Let me rewind my story back to about 6 weeks back when my landlord decided to repaint the whole building. It was 3 weeks of hell! With the smell of paint which triggered my hubby's migraine every day and me with dizziness due to the strong smell. So, we decided to close the windows and doors to minimize the contact with that environmental hazardous paint. For the whole 3 weeks, our apartment was closed without much ventilation. Urrgghh....


Fast forward back to the weekend when I decided to sleep throughout the days....
So, while my son was happy that I let him play the computer game so that he wouldn't disturb me sleeping, I slept soundly from about 10am to 3 pm. When I woke up and greeted my son, he said, 'Mommy, what's that butsu butsu (raised red dots) on your face and neck?' I quickly looked on the mirror and noticed insect bites on my face and neck (more than 10 areas).
When I checked my body, both my arms, hands and legs were bitten as well. It was later estimated by my hubby to be about 50~60 raised red mosquito like bite on my body. I gasped at the look of myself. The first thing I thought was, Gosh...the marks would remain for at least months and it's summer soon! The diagnosis: Dust mite allergy! Any doctor could diagnose that! Plus the itchiness, it was terrible sight to see. Just imagine, more than 50 mosquito bites on your body... x 10 times the itchiness!!! So, there I was, scratching away while frantically looking for medication to release me from that disastrous itch!


After taking an anti-histamine, I spent the whole afternoon cleaning and ventilating the house. From washing the pillow cases, blankets, mattresses, bed covers to putting everything I could thought of in the sun. When my hubby came back from work, he looked at me in surprise though trying to keep his cool, 'Darling, whatever happened to you?'

I told him of the diagnosis. He laughed and ensured me that I still looked beautiful. Ok, so he is being sweet as usual, I thought. (But I recently suspected that he's secretly been reading Uncle Lee's blog and started to apply on me...hihihi)

The story continues. Though not as worse, I got a few new butsu butsu every morning. It was not until we applied commercialized products for dust mites that the new butsu butsu stopped to appear. But I was still phobic. Two nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night scratching my hand and found a new butsu butsu and I was frantic. Luckily my hubby looked carefully and decided it was probably just a mosquito bite. True enough, the next morning, the mosquito bite did disappear.


The lesson here, ventilate the house. In my case, 3 weeks of no ventilation made me suffer! I still could not believe that I am the only one who got it. My son and hubby didn't seem to get any butsu butsu. Not even one! Another good tip, get a good vacuum cleaner which can filter dust mites. Myth: Some people thought that by putting blankets in the sun would kill the dust mites. NO...they survive! They would just move from the surface to the bottom where the sun cannot penetrate and sit there. So, what you can do is, after you hang up your blanket, take the blanket indoor and vacuum it. This is the best way to get rid of the dust mites. It seems.

All the best and may your life be dust mite free!