Asthma and Eczema in Atlanta??? (house, buy, allergies)

[mclean]

Can anyone tell me what the ATL area is like for people with asthma, eczema, and allergies? Is any county better than the others?

[deathcabber]

Atlanta in general is pretty miserable for allergies. The air quality is extremly poor...I think we are neck and neck or have surpassed LA. I think to not be affected by the air you would have to be in a very outlying metro county. My husband has eczema but I dont think it is affected much by the climate here.

[pinetreelover]

I work with a pediatric pulmonology group in Atlanta. Atlanta is troubled with three major air problems - lots of trees (yeah!) that bring lots of pollen in the Spring and Fall, High humidity that makes indoor mold hard to control, and terrible urban air quality. If you had a choice, another city would be better, but there are no geographic areas within the Metro-Atlanta area that are any better or worse for asthma. At least we have great asthma health care!

[atlantagreg30127]

Yeah, a doctor friend of mine says he's actually seen an increase in asthma cases from those who live in the immediate intown areas - especially children. This is especially important to note if you're going to move into the area with kids, who's lungs are not fully developed. You especially want to avoid trendy developments like Atlantic Station which quite literally sit NEXT to the "Connector" - the most congested traffic area of Atlanta. Spillover smog from that area in his mind, will have health effects on those with ailments, or, with kids. The entire area pretty much gets smoggy/foggy, but housing developments right along side the busy roads are going to have more spillover pollutants that you're breathing in all day than if you're a bit further out.

As far as allergies, just be prepared to start taking Benadryl in March through June (or so) if you're a sufferer. Sometimes there is also an Autumn burst of certain things too, causing a shorter-term allergy outbreak. This year was particularly bad for me - I LIVED on the stuff.

Your best defence - as mentioned, Benadryl, and buy a couple of good HEPA clean air filter machines for your house - or if you can afford it, have one of those air filter systems installed directly on your A/C unit. He told me to avoid the ones (whole house or standalone units) that have those ozone ionizer zapping features on them - something about they create ozone or something and are actually bad for you in small indoor spaces - just stick to air filters without electric ionizer features. Keep the carpets vacuumed, and use those lint rollers on your dogs/cats if they come in from being outside in Spring, as they bring in pollen you can't even see (they're cheaper in bulk at Costco or Sam's Club - the lint rollers - not dogs. LOL). That will help minimize at least, SOME of it.

[backfist]

Originally Posted by mclean

Can anyone tell me what the ATL area is like for people with asthma, eczema, and allergies? Is any county better than the others?

If you're not in Atlanta yet, you may want to consider seeing an allergy specialist in your current area, and before moving to the ATL. We have kids with asthma, and we moved here from Colorado--one of the better climates for asthmatics. Well, the kids have had zero problems with their asthma. And on the contrary, I had my first asthma attack in over a decade. The difference was that the kids were already taking regular asthma meds before we even moved here.

So if your susceptible to asthma, you may want to get on that preventative medication before you get here.

Oh, and the eczema is a problem here, too. I guess it's the price we pay for living in such a warm and woodsy area.

[Chocoholic]

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[IllinoiZ]

I grew up in Georgia, and my allergies were pretty miserable down there, but it could also be due to the fact that I lived with a parent who was a smoker. I developed asthma around 13 or so?

However, when I moved to Illinois in 1993, I started getting horrible sinus infections. I never had those in Georgia.

Chicago, is ground zero, for new asthma cases in the US.

When I visited Georgia recently, my lungs did great. And my sinuses felt better. Now, this was a suburb outside of Atlanta. I've heard the smog in Atlanta is pretty bad. Maybe move to a suburb outside of the city itself away from the smog, and you might be ok even with asthma and allergies.