Asthma in Alaska (Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer: insurance, home, school)

[missiek35]

I did a search and didn't come up with an answer to my specific question. My husband and I have an 11 year old daughter who has asthma. She usually has several trips to the ER or admitted every year due to complications. We currently live in Tennessee and her doctor told us this is a terrible place to live if you have asthma and allergies and said she would be better off living somewhere with fewer asthma triggers. So we have decided to move. One place we are considering is Palmer, AK. (My husband applied for a position up there).

I have read reports from the American lung association and studied air quality reports. Over all Alaska seems to have the best air quality I have seen (average overall). My only concern is the cold....which can send some people with asthma into bronchiospasms.

Can anyone share with me how it is in Alaska with asthma? Have any of you relocated there from the lower 48 and found relief? I have seen the Asthma and Allergy clinic in Anchorage and already found doctors who take our insurance who deal with pediatric asthma in Palmer and surrounding areas.

We are researching many different places and my husband will be applying to several jobs. I know everyone says desert or Arizona would be best but the air quality in AZ is worse than AK and a few cities in AZ are ranked in the 100 worst places to live if you have asthma. We are very lucky in my husband being a GS employee so he has several jobs he can apply for through military and government facilities. So, we can take time and make the best decision where to move for her health.

Thanks!

[mongazid]

Don't move to Palmer!!!!!!!!!!! I have an 8 year old with asthma. In the winter there are strong winds that blow down the Matanuska Valley, over 100mph are possible. This picks up glacial silt along the river (which is a very fine but abrasive dust) and blows it into the air. The road crews also spread sand, (dirt and dust) on the roads all winter and it is picked up and blown all over by the winds too. It is the main culprit for our Dr. visits. Cottonwood pollen and the fuzzies it creates are minor for us but worse for others. We have since moved farther west into Wasilla and the asthma problems have improved some but we still take precautions on windy, winter days..(inside recess, and gym at school and no outdoor activities after school. I believe the Mat-Su borough has map that shows the worst areas for the wind. You might want to take a look at it before moving.

[jdhpa]

You might consider Juneau, which is warmer. Best of luck to you

[stiffnecked]

You can't move to southeast Alaska if her asthma is triggered by mold. I have asthma and moved up here from Oklahoma years ago. I do much better in Anchorage then I did down south. Only a few times I'm bothered much by it here. That's when the pollen is thick in the spring and right after break-up before the city has a chance to clean up all the dirt on the streets from winter. After a few good rains that's cleared up. I probably wouldn't move to Palmer as mongazid already mentioned. But then again it all depends on what triggers her asthma.

[4brynnenjosh]

I moved to Arizona from Wisconsin, and my asthma has almost completely gone away. I was using Advair daily and I haven't used it at all in over two years. I live in Phoenix, and the air quality is not always great, but that doesn't appear to be a trigger for me. I think it's the dry heat and lack of vegetation here. Good luck.

[grandma4mom5]

I have an 8 yr old boy with asthma. we lived in Haines/Skagway for a couple of years, and I think the mold there in the winter brought it out, partly depends on your housing. i've heard C-section babies have more trouble with asthma. we moved to Anchorage and the first summer was constant coughing. one doc at a clinic in Anchorage said he just sick, but a real pedi here gave him a skin test, and the basic test showed grass a trigger. we got on the night time inhaler and the daytime rescue inhaler. after several weeks, the rescue inhaler wasn't needed as much, and after a few months we slowly weaned him off the night time inhaler. he has a spare rescue inhaler at school, and now rarely needs it. it helps when he does have a cold, which is rare and usually at the start of school being with kids from all over the world here, which doesn't help. 96 different languages in ASD. we're a refugee city.

[HannahTravels]

Greetings from someone else with seasonal allergies/asthma! I relocated to SE Alaska from the lower 48 a few years ago. I had hoped to find relief from my allergies there as well. The mold that comes along with living in a rainforest (Juneau) didn't do me any favors though. I was still being pumped full of allergy meds, inhalers, and nasal spray. With that being said, my allergy season was MUCH shorter than it was when I lived on the Illinois-Kentucky border, which I assume has a somewhat similar season to Tennessee. Alaska could potentially be a good choice, but the SE probably wouldn't be your best bet. I'd look at some of the less moist areas of the state. Hope that helps a little

[ericathynes]

The air quality is pretty phenomenal up here. There are some areas of Wasilla that aren't as windy as Palmer, and that is the next town over. The dust and glacial silt you find in a Palmer home will be much higher than that of other areas. You may want to consider Chugiak or Eagle River which would be a reverse commute maybe 30-40 minutes, and the wind is significantly less than Palmer and Wasilla. Does the cold induce your daughter's asthma? Some triggers are worse for some people.

[bortstc37]

I used to use my inhaler several times a week in the lower states.
Up here? Maybe once every couple of months.

[grandma4mom5]

My son was born in TX near the Gulf Coast. We lived there until the month after he turned 4. I didn't know he had asthma until living in Alaska really brought it out.