Are Cockroaches Causing Your Asthma To Flare?
If you have seen a cockroach in your home, you have probably tried every home remedy you can find in an effort to ensure that there is not more where they come from. If you are like most people, they creep you out in addition to being nasty. What you may not realize is you may have a cockroach allergy. This means having roaches in your home may pose a significant risk to your family's health, especially if any of you have asthma. The good news is a good pest control company can help you get rid of this nasty nuisance.
What Is A Cockroach Allergy?
Cockroaches give off certain proteins that can be an allergen for people who are susceptible. Their secretions and body parts can easily become airborne. This will result in you inhaling them, which in turn will allow them to set off an allergic reaction. If you already have asthma, this allergic reaction especially within your bronchial tubes could in turn cause your asthma to flair.
Signs and symptoms of a cockroach allergy very often mimic those of a common cold. These include but are not limited to the following:
- Coughing
- Sneezing
- Wheezing
- Postnasal drip
- Red, itchy eyes and nose
- Respiratory infections
- Skin rashes and more
Because you are being exposed to the cockroach allergens year round, unlike a common cold, these symptoms may have a hard time going away and may actually become worse over time. If the allergens cause your asthma to flare, you could experience other signs and symptoms that are more classic to your asthma condition. You may experience
- Difficulty breathing
- Tightness in your chest
- Chest pain
- Whistling or wheezing when you breath
How Do You Reduce Your Exposure?
The first thing you need to do to reduce your exposure is to get rid of the cockroaches. While there are a lot of do it yourself items on the market that will assist you with getting this done, they all have drawbacks in addition to taking a lot of time and expense to apply them. These include:
- Bombs
- Gels
- Bait
- Hotels
- Boric acid powder and more
These methods will often only work on your existing cockroaches and will do nothing to address their eggs, They will also often result in numerous dead cockroach bodies laying around your home whose decaying body parts could produce more of the allergens you are already having trouble with.
For the best results fast, you need to call a pest control company like Fowler Pest Control to come and assess the situation in your home. They will know how to look in all the places that cockroaches have a tendency to hide and have professional grade tools that will not only kill your existing cockroaches, but that will kill the eggs the dead adults leave behind. Many exterminators will trap and vacuum up the bugs they kill.
The second most important thing to do is to eliminate the food source the roaches may have in your home. Some tips to assist you in this are as follows:
- Maintain a clean home - Wipe down your counters, sweep and mop your floors, vacuum your carpets
- Don't leave food out on your counters - Secure it in airtight containers
- Eliminate sources of water - Fix drips, leaks, and other small sources of water throughout your home
- Dispose of cardboard boxes - Many times the cockroaches are attracted to the glue used to seal the boxes
- Avoid piles of paper- This includes newspaper, magazines, old school work, etc.
When you do this and work in conjunction with your pest control company, your roaches will soon be a thing of the past.