Have you experienced the same problem? :[ (asthma/smog-related) (transplants, how much)

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by xani

Asthma and bronchitis go hand in hand, and unfortunately can be one same animal. There's a thing called "asthmatic bronchitis".
Each person's asthma expresses itself differently and reacts to different triggers. Some have chocking attacks mostly, and wheezing, some have dry cough, some have constant bronchitis with mucus, some have painful air ways irritation (burning). I was diagnosed with asthma and unfortunately bronchitis is just a part of it. Often, one form of asthma crosses into another form. Today, I can have bronchitis symptoms, tomorrow this can escalate into lack of air and feeling of my lungs being filled with something on top of everything, then I can have burning in bronchii and throat.

I was always told they were two different things. After reading your post I suspect the definition of asthma has been expanded/changed. So today I've learned something.

I'm sure we can both agree it sucks.

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by miyu

You probably need a steroid inhaler if you aren't already on one.

Which is not tolerated by every asthmatic!

See your own doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment options.

[rgb123]

Originally Posted by allenk893

I do agree with you and admit that San Antonio DOES have a pollen problem. But that's JUST San Antonio. None of the other cities I have been to like Austin and Dallas has that problem. And if people were taking their vitamins like they were suppose, it's highly unlikely that they would catch the flu. And San Antonio air quality is excellent where I live in medical center. Besides, I don't believe San Antonio is exactly a place for young people anyway. It's a military/family-centered city.



What part of LA? I'm guessing it wasn't LAX. Because LAX has a whole sky of smog floating above it and I've read dozens of accounts of people coming in from whever USA and crying because the sky was brown coming into LA. I'm guessing you flew in to Burbank.



I disagree. Obviously the air quality is bad in most places in LA if they consistently make it to #1 for most polluted city in the U.S.A. Only one Texas city made the cut and that's Houston. Compared to at least 8 different California cities. So I have no clue why you think the air would be somehow better there than anywhere in Texas based off the ocean coast. You could only compare Texas air quality to Florida in that regard.

oh noooo it's not just San Antonio. Texas is well known for being an allergy center for Native Texans but especially newcomers. Have you spent the winter there yet? I've never experinced anything like it and the doctors there are well aware of it -- and certainly not limited to San Antonio! Austin has very smiliar air.

The air quality is pretty bad, Texas is not known for good air except maybe West Texas in terms of clarity. But you don't have to "see" the air for it to be bad, or for it to have problems in store for people with allergies.

Oh and no, I realized I could breathe in LA at of all places a gas station near the freeway. Sure the air is dirty, but whatever I'm allergic to in Texas is not in LA. LA has pollution, but pollution doesn't bother me in the same direct way, especially if an ocean breeze is invovled.

[Ampersanderson]

Originally Posted by miyu

You probably need a steroid inhaler if you aren't already on one. Also don't live within 200 yds of the fwy on the upwind side, or within 1 mile on the downwind side.

^OP whereabouts in LA do you live?

[xani]

Originally Posted by rgb123

San Antonio is great for jobs -- terrible for air quality!!!! people who never had allergies get them when moving to Texas (like me...in fact the OP's dilemma sounds like my first winter in Texas, back to back lung problems of which I never had before). Turns out claritin solved my issues, much to my suprise as the doctors finally realized I'm terribly allergic to Texas (like many, many people are). They get the winds there bringing in all of God knows what all winter long. When I flew to LA I could breathe! seriously!

If you live near the ocean in LA the air has GOT to be better than Central Texas. Sounds to me like you might have allergies, which is a different thing. Try allergy meds.

I know... the thing is I don't want to live on allergy meds, I live all-natural lifestyle as much as possible. Doctors did suggest Claritin, but this medicine doesn't even have any effect on me. Wow, you were able to finally breathe when you moved to LA! Yeah, I guess I'm allergic to LA air... it also takes some time to develop a reaction to particular allergen.

[xani]

Originally Posted by Miss Pip

I had weird little bumps forming in my arms so I went to a Naturopathic doctor and that's where I found out that I have a range of heavy metals in my system. My ex would get rashes on his back and shoulders each time he would have a shower. The water caused yellow patches on my thighs for the first year. The sun caused damaged to my thighs as well, I tend to hang out mostly in the evenings now, plus the heat can make me quite tired too. I eat 90% raw food now so things are practically back to normal. If I was on the standard American diet like before then things would not be improving as much and more problems would occur. The food has played a huge part in my health too.

Wow. Sounds scary... I'm noticing too that I have a reaction to shower water in LA area: my skin that is normally perfect develops allergies here. I eat only organic and natural, unprocessed... a lot of raw recently too (not from America originally, so unprocessed food is the only one I'm used to anyway). As to the sun: I cover up everything in SoCal, wear a hood and long arms outside and wear gloves while driving.

[xani]

Originally Posted by allenk893

Ok, maybe that was stretch.

The only Texas city with as much humidity as Florida is Houston. I would NEVER live in Houston based off the weather alone. Texas has dry heat just like California. Humidity + dry heat are not my cup of tea AT ALL. That's the ONLY I don't like Houston. But it has jobs. And incredibly hospitable people. And summer is the only time you really need to worry about the weather. The other Texas cities do not have that amount of humidity at all.

I will address what you were talking about with the oil refineries and chemical factories. I've been living in Texas for 5 years and so far, none of the factories have had ANY effect on the air quality except Houston. Houston was on the list of most polluted cities btw. I've been to Dallas, Austin, and live in San Antonio, and the air has always been clean. Coming from a Floridian, I can definitely tell you and confirm that it's as clean as Florida's. And with wide-open skies and plains, it's simply beautiful.

Oh yeah and buying a condo? Like I said, that was a stretch. I think I was typing too fast. That was crazy and I don't know what I was thinking.

There are low-priced condos and townhomes all over the state however. You could definitely do a situation like rent-to-own and pay off your townhome or condo in a few years based on how low the cost of it actually is. Having a two-person income definitely helps the situation and makes it easier.

That's true, most of Texas is a semi-desert or desert. True also that most factories are near Houston, cause that's where the source of oil is, in the Gulf. Real estate doesn't even compare to CA, yeah... wouldn't be able to pay off a place in a safe area of LA, even on engineer income--not having two-person income situation and being close to 40 y.o. now with asthma... and frankly, knowing about the smog being bad for me I wouldn't invest in housing here. I just feel like moving back to East Coast again could be too much of culture shock for me... I'm more used to Western states, you see, having lived here most of my time in the US.

[xani]

Originally Posted by allenk893

What part of LA? I'm guessing it wasn't LAX. Because LAX has a whole sky of smog floating above it and I've read dozens of accounts of people coming in from whever USA and crying because the sky was brown coming into LA. I'm guessing you flew in to Burbank.

The irony is that Burbank has horrible air quality.... (just looking up air quality charts on city-data shows how bad it is, if you compare with the other parts of LA. Burbank is suffocated by I-5 and I-101, I-170 and itself, the city is located on top of huge superfund site. There's been big settlement out of court about health damages from superfund site chemicals to city residents. The problem is that the chemical fumes from underground float upwards and infiltrate the buildings sitting on top. EPA is considering inclusion of these run-away fumes into it's danger rating of superfund sites and public hearings had been recently opened. Personally, I experienced a lot of lung problems in Burbank. So yeah, whatever you pick: LAX or Burbank--it's bad. One'd think Santa Monica has better air quality... not according to air quality data charts (posted on this very website, city-data). Air quality indexed in Santa Monica are as bad as downtown LA pretty much.

[xani]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

This is not accurate. LA has some of the strictest water filtration requirements in the country. Although it may not taste good, LA tap water is some of the cleanest water anywhere.

Oh this is accurate.

Cleanest water? WOW. Look up superfund site data and maps and instances of water contamination from superfund sources. A lot of this stuff CAN NOT be cleaned from water properly. Also, when water doesn't taste good... it's usually an indicator that it's not a good water to drink and something bad is mixed into it. That's why we have our natural feeling of taste, to protect us from poisons.

Specifically, the water that is running from the tap where I am right now: I WOULD NOT give it to an animal even, not to mention human. It stinks like chemical solution and after I fill the sink with water I have to thorughly air the space to remove the stench of chemical stuff. Having very bad eye vision, I have extreme sense of smell and can detect poisonous junk pretty well. Water in SF was nothing like this polluted water.

[xani]

Originally Posted by miyu

You probably need a steroid inhaler if you aren't already on one. Also don't live within 200 yds of the fwy on the upwind side, or within 1 mile on the downwind side.

Totally true--I'd say 2 mile rule for freeways is the best in either upwind or downwind (I saw some study related to that). However, even busy roads can be like a freeway....especially with cars parked on roads in peak hour, basically just idling a lot.
Steroid inhalers don't help me and I'm against the use of steroids in general (very bad on a long term). Looks like the environmental source of a problem has to be removed for me, that's all, since I did fine in SF bay area.