We must have been posting at the same time...... Sable - he does wheeze during his coughing attack. Luckily my FIL is a doc & he has come by daily to check his lungs. That is great about your son taking care of his own meds.....shoot, I'm just trying to get this boy to remember to brush his teeth daily when he wakes up!! Golddust - he has a major sinus infection now. They did a CT scan & showed the cavities or rather not showing the maxillary cavity b/c it is so congested. Segbrown - I am glad Flonase is working for you. My DH uses that also. We are using inhalers that have the fine powder that comes out - he was having a difficult time knowing when to inhale & push the inhaler. I find myself wanting to twist & cock the inhaler for him but he has to be able to do it himself & he does. Total fluke about getting tested for allergies.....I had an appointment b/c of a rash on my arm. Asthma doc & FIL worked together many years ago so FIL tells me to take my DS with me to my appointment just to make sure he was not missing anything. So, I call to ask if I can bring my son & Dr. says yes. Well, after they did that testing on his back - my rash was never mentioned!! I am so grateful that we took him and had him tested b/c this explains so much. I am totally rambling but I really appreciate the support. Smiles:)

CDO, You may want to look into humidity levels and dust mites growth. From what I understand, they don't grow in lower humidity levels so you may be able to add a dehumidifyer to your room. I think when the air conditioner is on, they don't live. It's when the hearter comes on that all the problems can start. The humidity level goes up so they can thrive. --but, low humidty can also aggrevate asthma and cause drying of throat and infections, etc so you have to be careful. --My poor little guy, I used to run a humidifyer in his room when he was sick and he would only get sicker--now I know why! Then again, maybe this whole humidity level thing is just an angle for companies to sell dehumidifyers. I don't know how bad your allergies are. I would think at some point you would be taking medicine and that a allergy sheet on your bed that may not be washed that often may not really matter all that much anyway. If you do try the vinyl, remember to try a heavier mattress pad on top of it. Although, I just don't know how much all this stuff really end up counting anyway. I know how the laundry goes. It's one thing to just wash the sheets every week, but to have to wash all the bedding especially in the winter, can take quite a while. I actually would try to find smaller pillows my son could use that could be washed with other stuff. And, I always like to have freshly cleaned bedding because I understand that even sheets and stuff sitting in the closet will attrack a big amount of dust mites over time just through the air -so you can't really wash it in advance. If I was sick or overworked and forgot to do my son's bedding, I would hear his night time coughing stuff going on (like clock work around day 10). Gosh, I would feel so guilty, but it just seems hard to get everything done sometimes. Of course, laundry was tops on my list the next day.

usually I'm in no rush to pull things out of my washer, and I run it again without soap. I might take a few things out to air dry them first. I might put something more in, to wash with the articles being re-washed. I have also improved my habits in terms of washing all bedding frequently. Pillows and Sheets more often than bedspreads and everything. I might run the washer again also (a third time). I'm busy doing other things and I don't want it to sit too long. It doesn't matter to me whether I use hot water or not. I don't worry about "killing" all dust mites in a specific sheet or pillow, because I know that dust mites reproduce fast, spread fast, and return immediately. No point trying to overkill. I used to have allergies. Indoor and outdoor. Now, I have the ability to smell things acutely. Very acutely. I'm like a dog now, except that I can also say what it is that I smell. I'm very good at helping people diagnose their building's problems. I can smell stuff coming from behind the walls. These are changes that took me about 20 years to figure out, to lessen my allergies gradually. About 25 years ago I asked an ORL and an allergy doctor if people had been known to "get rid of" allergies, or if it only went the other direction. When I saw they didn't have answers prepared for this kind of question, I started to look into it myself. Dust mites are not the problem; they are a signal to you that your habits are not good enough. Your washing habits are the big one to look at. I have wall to wall carpet in half my condo. Some of my furniture is upholstered. When I go to anyone's place, I can "tell" which of their upholstered furniture is used more than another, just by observation (dust mite odor and other observation). I can tell whether they vacuum the carpet a lot or a little. I can tell a lot. About ten years ago, when I lined up at a bank branch with a huge open area lobby and forced air, I mentioned to the teller that the previous customer must have been a smoker since I could detect a smell, she asked me to repeat that and explain what I meant, and then finally told me that it was the one before the previous customer who had smelt of old tobacco smoke. HTH

We purchased the Simmons Beautyrest Black Helena Pillowtop back in Dec 2006. I truly loved it for the first few months, and then it started with the body indentations. I thought the indents were from the mattress cover, so took that off, no change, turned mattress, nothing. It progressively got worse that we had 2 ditches in this King size. I called Boston Store Furniture Gallery, 20 months into owning it. Major back and neck problems set in. They sent out an inspector and sure enough, 1 ½ inch body indents and the sides of the mattress were busting out. Inspector told me that his report would reflect a defective mattress. I asked his opinion of how many defective mattresses he seeÂs and he said "off the record" to strongly fight for a replacement but to stay clear of this Helena as he has seen many defective mattresses. Simmons sold me on the single coils for less movement on the mattress as I flip a lot. In my opinion, those single coils are receiving a lot of strain. In order to get a replacement under the warranty, it has to be equal or greater than what I had spent. Well, I really donÂt want to get another Helena due to the problems I had on this one. The salesperson hasnÂt heard any of these complaints and actually had 3 other couples trying out the Helena as we spoke. She has sold over 100 of these w/o any other complaints. I have 21 days to decide if I want it replaced, or to try another mattress. She wants me to try it again, but I hesitate. Due to what I spent on the Helena, I would have to go with a Tempurpedic type bed but donÂt think that will work for us. Anyone else having problems with the Helena indentations? Suggestions on a Simmons or Sealy plush mattress?