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When Marnie Riches first moved into her new home, she was beyond excited to renovate and decorate each room to reflect her personality.
The three-bedroom house did need several renovations, including new drapes and carpets, but Marnie was ready to take on the challenge.
According to The Mirror, shortly after moving in Marnie quickly began sneezing “about 20 times a day,” though her two children felt just fine.
Soon, Marnie felt so sick and drained that she thought she must have been suffering from an ear infection.
“At first it felt like something was lodged in my ear but when I went to the doctor he couldn’t see anything,” she explained. “As time went by, my hearing got worse. Voices were very muffled and I was sometimes almost lip reading what the children were saying.”
As time went on, it became clear to the 44-year-old mom that something seriously concerning was happening in her left ear.
By the time she finally visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist, Marnie had already lost 80% of the hearing in her left ear, and her right ear wasn’t far behind.
It took months before an allergy specialist finally discovered what was poisoning Marnie in her own home: dust mites.
After installing an air filter, the specialist realized that Marnie’s home was infested with about five times the average level of mite feces, left behind by the previous owners.
“Basically insects were walking around and pooing everywhere and it was that poo floating around the house that was making me poorly,” she said, The Mirror reported.
Marnie had been suffering from severe allergic rhinitis, an inflammation of the nose and throat, the entire time.
Because it took so long to diagnose the allergy, the Eustachian tubes that link Marnie’s nose to the middle ear had completely fallen apart, forcing doctors to place grommets inside her ears to drain the buildup of fluid.
Although Marnie is finally in recovery after undergoing surgery, she still can’t believe how quickly dust mites in her own home destroyed her health.
“I can’t believe I was allergic to my own home. Who would have thought something as simple as house mites could cause such devastation,” she said.
