AK climate and health issues question (Anchorage, Fairbanks: dermatologists, home, buy)

[CG23]

Hi. I have the opportunity to interview for a job in Anchorage. I'm still in the process of weighing everything, and have found answers to a lot of my questions reading through the archives here. The one thing that I haven't seen is how a move to AK impacts certain health issues. One of my children has a rare platelet disorder, asthma, severe food and environmental allergies, and severe eczema. His eczema is bad enough to cause frequent MRSA infections and cracked/bleeding skin throughout the winter especially (and that is in OK where the winters are quite mild.) However Oklahoma has been terrible for his env allergies. Does anyone know how the climate in AK would impact these kinds of health issues? Is the air very dry in Anchorage? Are there plenty of specialists available - pediatric hematolgist, allergists, dermatologists, etc? TIA!

[Arcticthaw]

The best answer I can give is that when someone is really sick or requires special care and several specialist, we send them to Seattle.

Another thing of interest is in the past Anchorage and Fairbanks due to weather inversions had poor air quality with advisories. Check the municipality of anchorage web site.

With more and more people burning wood to lower their heating costs the level of particulate matter is going way up! North Pole over New Years looked how I imagined Fairbnaks did in the 1800s and early 1900s.

[CG23]

Thanks Arcticthaw. I'm used to travelling for health care for my son - we've been all the way to the NIH in Bethesda, MD and have spent two weeks at a hospital in Denver. Still, it gets expensive travelling for specialized care! I'll be sure to check the municipality website for air quality information. Where we live now there are many high ozone alert days in the summer, so might not be much worse than what we deal with in OK. Thanks for the information.

[bongo]

Originally Posted by CG23

Hi. I have the opportunity to interview for a job in Anchorage. I'm still in the process of weighing everything, and have found answers to a lot of my questions reading through the archives here. The one thing that I haven't seen is how a move to AK impacts certain health issues. One of my children has a rare platelet disorder, asthma, severe food and environmental allergies, and severe eczema. His eczema is bad enough to cause frequent MRSA infections and cracked/bleeding skin throughout the winter especially (and that is in OK where the winters are quite mild.) However Oklahoma has been terrible for his env allergies. Does anyone know how the climate in AK would impact these kinds of health issues? Is the air very dry in Anchorage? Are there plenty of specialists available - pediatric hematolgist, allergists, dermatologists, etc? TIA!

I have a friend who has a platelet disorder & swears by her local Anchorage hematologist. Plus, with the computer technology, hematologists & other specialists can get outside expert opinions sharing patients' data. Plus, we have come a long way the past 10 years in getting excellent specialists in Anchorage.

The air in the winter here can be very dry. I am a teacher & am always telling my students to keep well-hydrated to keep lips from cracking, skin from flaking, etc. Water, water, water!!

[DannyL]

what does your child's doctor have to say about all this?

[Rance]

Growing up in Sterling our neighbors were from Oklahoma. Seems like all their kids had allergies. They could never go home to visit as they would all get sick from pollen etc. Living up here was much more tolerable for them than Oklahoma. The oldest boy still has to get a shot for the summer months here...but says it would kill him if he ever went back to Oklahoma. The trees here give off alot of pollen...particularly the aspen/cotton wood trees.

[CG23]

Thank you for the feedback. So far my son's doctors think it's a mixed bag - that his allergies will probably be much less of an issue there, but that his eczema might be worse - and tomorrow we see the doctor who manages his asthma so will get an opinion there. His platelet disorder really doesn't require much in the way of care, as there is no routine treatment (except in the event of an emergency or before surgery), but since it's rare, it's hard to find specialists who know much about it.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by CG23

Thank you for the feedback. So far my son's doctors think it's a mixed bag - that his allergies will probably be much less of an issue there, but that his eczema might be worse - and tomorrow we see the doctor who manages his asthma so will get an opinion there. His platelet disorder really doesn't require much in the way of care, as there is no routine treatment (except in the event of an emergency or before surgery), but since it's rare, it's hard to find specialists who know much about it.

The really dry cold may affect him. The winter I was in Anchorage, all my dogs, who had all been born either in the Interior or the Far North, got really flaky itchy dry skin and I fed them a lot of linatone and bacon grease before they got enough oil in their systems to counteract it.

[CG23]

Thanks Karibear. I wonder if linatone and bacon grease would work on a six year old as well? LOL - just kidding of course, although he would happily consume all the bacon I could buy if I let him. In all seriousness, this is helpful, because I need to be aware that I will have to be very vigilant about keeping him hydrated, and keep up with all of his oral and topical meds.