Is cold weather a trigger for your As... - Asthma Community ...
Is cold weather a trigger for your Asthma?
Does cold weather trigger any asthma symptoms for you? Take a look at our updated page on this subject https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/living-with/cold-weather
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I tend to cough and get tight chest when its very cold and dry. The link you provided is helpful. Thank you
i wear a mast so tat I'm not breathing thecold air direct otherwise i might get a coughing fit
I have to wear a scarf or mask over my nose and mouth in very cold weather (probably under 5 C), and even that's not enough sometimes.
Wet or damp weather is my trigger
I have other lung and heart conditions and this weather at the moment is not good for me at all!
It used to be my worst trigger, then I felt like that trigger had reduced and hot weather was more of an issue. It's still not my worst trigger, but it's absolutely there and I do need to cover my mouth/nose when it's cold.
The temperature difference has always been an issue for me too. I got bitten by that yesterday. Warm pub, very cold air and despite covering my face I ended up with an epic asthma coughing fit when coming outside, which scared the people I was with until I fixed it with several puffs of reliever. (I was mostly just cursing that I hadn't covered my face well enough!).
Most definitely. I’ve been dealing with a crushing tight chest, barking like a walrus, trying to sleep sat up so, am constantly exhausted. It’s certainly not helping my fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis. Have resorted to hitting the prednisone in my emergency kit, to hopefully, ensure things don’t get any worse. At 78 years old, I don’t want to put any extrapressure on my heart….😵💫🥴😵💫
I voted 'no' because damp is my trigger rather than cold, so although I tend to be worse in winter, it's rain, mist and fog that cause the problems, not cold. I'm much better on a cold, crisp day with a hard frost or thick snow on the ground than I am on a much milder, foggy day!
I'm more affected by the pollen in summer but very cold windy days can make me gasping for breath if walking in it .I wear a scarf round mouth to help stop this
When it is cold and dry.
Yes always off work can't go outside, it hurts chest. On biologics 3rd one still effecting me same
it does trigger to some extent but nothing that cannot be dealt with by a couple of puffs of my ventolin inhaler. Thank you for your care
I have to have a loose scarf around my face. I am triggered by any sudden temperature or humidity change. I can find I can acclimatise to cold weather when out walking (for leisure) and lower my scarf after 20 minutes or so, only breathing through nose of course and if it isn't windy too. But the trigger is there again the next time I go out.
It's not so much cold weather that's a trigger for me. It's fungus (spores) and mildew that come along with the start of the Autumn/Winter season when everything's wet, damp and starting to be cold.
Its more like the changes in temperature that affect me. Out of the cold into the warm and vice versa
Going from a warm atmosphere into the cold triggers my barking cough. Just bought a thermal "snood" which is brilliant. Keep it around my neck and when I go out just pull it over my nose and mouth - saves having to hold on to a scarf!
cold weather is a big trigger for my asthma, breathing in cold air even with scarf on is difficult as it tightens my chest too ,
Cold outdoor air generally means dry indoor air (even if the outside weather is cold AND damp). I have good ventilation, right now it's 0C outside and snowing (i.e. the outside relative humidity 90%, pretty damp). Inside, it's 21C and the relative humidity is 25% next to the vent supply, and 30% elsewhere. This is dry, and I can feel it. If I do not increase the humidity, I need to take my rescue inhaler all the time.
I could stop ventilation and let the breathing humidity raise the RH. But we also need fresh air to breathe, and the high indoor humidity (as others here have noticed) brings in the mold. So I use a boiling humidifier to raise the RH to 50%, but not higher than that. I think a large wet blanket would work fine, too, but it does not have the feedback mechanism, and it needs constant attention. The humidifier needs to be refilled once a day.
I think the higher humidity would be much more of an issue in my case! My asthma does not like humidity.
Just goes to show it's very difficult to have a one size fits all for asthma - think this is often not well understood by some medics and others.
Lysistrata, I do not think it's a question of high/low humidity, it's a question of "optimal" humidity. I never let the RH go above 50%, b.c. I know that water droplets in the air ("high humidity") are also a trigger (showering, for example). Dry and cold air is a trigger for most asthmatics; high humidity and warm air is not a trigger per se, but plants and fungi grow during warm weather, and NOx and O3 pollution is high. Autumn is the best for me, b.c. pollen is over, but the air is not cold enough yet.
Optimal is certainly best, but a bit confused that you say that water droplets in the air/'high humidity' are a trigger, and then that warm air and high humidity aren't triggers in themselves.
For me, the humidity from a bowl of steam or a steam room indoors is definitely a trigger. Outside it could be pollution, yes, - I won't say pollen in my case because for me, that doesn't seem to be an asthma trigger. Flowering roses and lavender etc are, but only when I'm actually near them.
Hot dry weather for me personally seems ok. And my hayfever is much better in summer (separate from asthma in my case, oddly, but my hayfever triggers are pollens active in spring and maybe autumn).
I also find a change in temperature is a trigger, either way. And being in cold water, whereas I have a friend with asthma who finds cold water swimming helps her.
I meant to say that if it's so humid that vapour condenses into (microscopic) droplets that can be inhaled, it's bad news for me. A bowl of steam or a steam room would be triggers for me, too. Or a shower in which droplets are atomized (when I measured particle counts next to a shower it was essentially as if being in a "smoke").
Being next to a big body of water, interestingly, does not automatically mean humid air: I've measured the relative humidity right next to the Pacific on a sunny day in San Francisco, when it was 50% RH "in general", and the RH was not very different right next to the ocean. It takes hot weather and warm water to bring out the humidity, and the Pacific is pretty cold (10-12C).
I cough badly when I come from the cold to the warmth and vice versa
cold dry air is awful. I can feel myself drying out, eyes, mouth, ears, skin and it causes awful coughing that makes me feel that I'm choking. I have a couple of humidifiers and an air purifier in the house. I keep my house very warm. Today when I shopped at the supermarket it was particularly cold in there. I started to cough. It was difficult to stop and embarrassing too. Though that's probably the least of my concerns!
I have had 4 asthma attacks over the last 4 weeks all due to cold damp weather. The last one landed me in A&E on Friday evening. My inhalers were not suffient. Can't wear mask or scarf around my mouth / nose as that also sets off my asthma. Now waiting for appointment with asthma nurse at hospital.
My chest is highly sensitive to cold weather and cold air. My gets really tight and I get cough and shortness of breath. Thank you for the link to your cold weather page.
