Asthma in Colorado - Compiled Thread (Denver, Evergreen: home, live, moving to)

[gpraceman]

I hijacked my dh's logon to answer this.
Is your Asthma currently under control? Is it allergy, illness or excercise induced? I grew up in Denver with it and have found that since we moved back I have a lot more trouble. I have excersise & allergy induced. How fit are you? If you run/power walk and are arebocialy fit you should do ok. Just give yourself lots of time to adjust before going into the mountains. There are a number of good asthma docs and of course we have National Jewish which is the best in the nation (imho) for asthma research/treatment. If you plan now to coordinate care you should be able to transition with few problems, Just keep in mind that you will be living a mile (or more) above sea level and that means less O2 so you may be tired/grumpy untill your body adjusts. BTW If you have SEVERE asthma I'd talk to my doc before moving here. gpracemom

[moving from Fla]

gpraceman,

The last time I was in the area, Oct, I had no problems. The longest time out there was a week. I was up in the mountains with really no problems. Only once did I use my inhaler. I have never had exercise induced asthma. Mine is believed to be related to allergies. I notice, especially if there is mold or mildew. At times it has been severe, but never out of control. I am hoping that it will not be a problem. How do you like the Highland Ranch area?

[gpraceman]

Originally Posted by moving from Fla

The last time I was in the area, Oct, I had no problems. The longest time out there was a week. I was up in the mountains with really no problems. Only once did I use my inhaler. I have never had exercise induced asthma. Mine is believed to be related to allergies. I notice, especially if there is mold or mildew. At times it has been severe, but never out of control. I am hoping that it will not be a problem. How do you like the Highland Ranch area?

If you haven't already, you should go to an allergy doctor and get some tests done to see what you are alergic to. Compared to FL, there is probably less for you to be allergic to here. CO has such low humidity that molds and mildew are not usually a problem, except in indoor environments from water leaks.

We do like HR quite a bit. We are close to everything, in a good neighborhood and our kids are in excellent schools.

[josher_m]

Hello,

We just moved from Chandler to Denver in Nov. The traffic here . .well there is none. None compared to Phoenix anyway! I don't actually live or work in Denver but my husband has had to drive from Brighton to downtown Denver and/or Aurora during rush hour and it has never taken more than 25-30 min. You know how in Phoenix, you listen to the radio and it's backed up and accidents are everywhere. Not here . .most the accidents I hear about are only during the snow storms. No comparison at all. I too researched and it seemed locals complained about traffic in Denver, but it's really not bad for a city of it's size. Nothing compared to LA, Bay area, Seattle, Portland or Phoenix--all places I've lived. And they actually have a decent public transportation system, including light rail, unlike Phoenix! My husband and I joke about it--there is NO comparison imo. I get to sleep in an hour extra now because I'm not sitting in traffic in Phoenix!! lol

Haven't noticed aggressive drivers too much. Seems they do drive a lot faster than we do in these snow storms but that's probably cuz we're not used to it--pretty intimidating to us rookies!

Cost of living seems comparable. We're renting for now until we get settled but housing definitely seems cheaper, at least if you're looking to buy. Rents are comparable.

I thought AZ schools were bad but my research so far shows CO to be even worse-no offense guys!! lol There are some good districts but they are far and few between. If you look at www.greatschools.net you can research different areas . .if that's a concern.

Our car insurance dropped by half . .so that should tell you about the traffic--or lack thereof--and theft rates and whatnot!
DMV is a little screwy, compared to other states we've lived. You have to actually go to 2 different locations--one for registration and the other for licensing. And depending on which week it is (haha) they'll require a certified copy of your birth cert to get a driver's license. Never had that before. My husband went down there a few weeks ago and had his AZ license and our marriage cert (cuz he didn't have a birth cert) and they wouldn't give him a license. So we had to order his birth cert. He went down there yesterday and now they don't need it. Huge debate going thru the courts right now, apparently.

Air quality is great also! We mostly moved because air quality in Phoenix was awful. I developed asthma after moving there (we only lived there for 3 years--3 years too long haha). My husband and son had it terribly tho. My 4 yo was on a nebulizer and we just didn't want to raise him in that environment if we could move to better quality. Not sure how spring/summer will be, but so far it's definitely better. Haven't had to use the nebulizer since moving here and my husband barely uses his inhaler, let alone the other meds. And we've stopped taking all the daily allergy meds we had to take just to breathe in Phoenix too. Much healthier! Everyone said it takes time to adjust to the altitude, but we haven't had any problem. And we're your stereotypical couch potatoes--not in the best of shape!! lol

So far, people here are friendly. We've met neighbors on both sides of us already--that didn't happen in Phoenix--and some nice ones even helped push us out of the street when our car got stuck during the first or second (can't remember now) blizzard. Everyone I know says they LOVE it here and would never move. I don't know if we quite love it yet, but it's definitely better than Phoenix. Course, imo, just about ANYthing is better than Phoenix--I hated everything about it.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Sherrie

[josher_m]

We moved here from the Phoenix area about a month and a half ago. Primarily for health reasons. My husband, myself and our 4 yo son all have asthma. My husband could barely breathe in Phx, my son was on a nebulizer machine so we decided to give Denver a try. Definitely worked so far. No nebulizer treatments for my son since moving here. My husband has only used his inhaler a handful of times (as opposed to a handful or more daily in AZ) and only used his Advair 4-5 times. He was using it more than once a day in Phoenix. Plus he was on steroids and other meds because it was so bad.
We all were on 2-4 meds daily for allergies as well since most of our asthma is allergy related. Stopped taking the meds (except flonase) since moving here and we are all breathing fine--well at least, much better than we were in AZ. Not sure how spring/summer will treat us but so far the move was worth it. We were on meds year round in AZ and so sick all the time from our immune systems being run down all the time with allergies--we would catch every virus making the rounds.

Good luck!

Sherrie

[moving from Fla]

gpraceman,

I have been tested several times. Sometimes I come back positive for mold, mildew, and a couple other things. Sometimes I test all negative. Glad to hear you like HR alot. Thanks for the input!

[moving from Fla]

Sherrie,

Thanks for the response. Glad to hear your famiily is doing better in Denver. It is ironic, they use to say move to Az if you have bad allergies or asthma. I hope your family continues to do well.

[doggiebus]

I live Miami and too are thinking of moving to Denver. My allergist says that when most people move to a new place, depending on which allergies they have, the allergies can go away. Because the allergies that are bothering them in one place may not be in the new place. She said, they may not have the allergies they had in the original city, but usually develope new allergies in the new place over time. She said that is why when I go on vacation out of Florida, it seems like I don't have allergies.

[moving from Fla]

I guess that is the difficult part of allergies, you never know. Thanks for the reply!

[krysybabeskazoo]

My daughter will be going to a youth camp in Fraser, CO in late July for a week and I'm a little worried about asthma problems she might have while there. When she was younger, she had really bad asthma problems but thankfully it's gotten better over the years (She is 15). She usually has it under control here in Michigan (She takes Advair) , but I don't know how bad it will be with the higher elevation. Any information would be great, maybe from someone w/ experience. Thanks!