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Where would be the perfect place to live with asthma

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I am badly affected by the cold weather (not been too bad yet TOUCH WOOD) and usually after months of it I am so exhausted and tired 24/7. Here in England we have terrible winters, last year it snowed at Easter. But then again if we weren't here would somewhere else be too hot and humid and make it worse. I am wondering if there is somewhere with a happy medium.

Then theres pollution.... the never ending roadworks/building works.

Does anyone ever consider moving because of asthma? Then you'd have to consider access to the right medicine, hopsital, cost of medicine (i'm on NHS)..

17 Replies

Ha, good question! I've discovered that my lungs and I have increasingly different tastes and desires in life. If we were a married couple I'd be contemplating divorce as more and more what I like and what they like are incompatible! Maybe we need couples counselling? ;)

eg they love Cornwall and the seaside in general. And nice warm, dry places. Which I like too...for a holiday. I don't want to live somewhere like that all the time, and I'm very urbanised. I like living in London but more and more it seems they don't - this year they've protested every time I've visited London and have been kicking up more and more of a fuss since I moved here.

My GP once suggested the Outer Hebrides (I hope she wasn't just trying to get rid of me... ;)) but seriously, what would I even do there?! Plus it's cold. I just really love city life and it's driving me slightly nuts that my lungs are so keen on the rural dream. Or on living abroad somewhere where the weather is better. Don't mind the idea of living abroad, but not a huge fan of heat and again I'd want it to be in the city - I've actually done abroad in the countryside and aggghh, SO boring and you have to get in the car to go anywhere.

I also like cold, crisp weather, playing in the snow...guess what, they're not so keen on that either. Or on humidity.

Maybe the solution is a nice mask full of Cornish air or something?

oh dear, couples conselling make work at first philomela but those pesky lungs will always be one step ahead. lol

that sounds so frustrating. i'm still learning what my lungs do and don't like. i seem to be OK when I go somewhere hot in Europe but then again some countries don't have smoking ban yet I believe and those who do are more looser on the ban than UK for ex: cyprus last summer, sat in restaurant and although it had a sort of bed linen roof, it was so open plan it counted as outside. long story short: chain smoke of cigs+cigars=me having attack in front of lots of Cypriots.

the answer would be us being bored wouldn't it.... although if i sat around all day and didn't move and no triggers came near me my lungs would still find a way of bothering me (during a bad time anyway). i have same problem as you sometimes. i love to swim but now i can only swim in the sea abroad as chlorine makes it incredibly difficult. also i love to run.... oh no wait my lungs decided this summer that they didnt like that anymore.

yaf_user681_51802 profile image
yaf_user681_51802

Not New Zealand lol! Didn't have asthma until I came here to live from the uk. It's the temperate climate apparently. Still I'm not complaining. I love it here and summer is just around the corner. Woohoo - boogie boarding here I come! X

I can't go in to cities at all, my lungs just seize up. We have always lived on the coast which has been best for my lungs - I didn't realise how much difference that made until we moved to the Midlands, oh boy has that made a difference :( Much higher pollution and pollen, even though we live in a tiny village. Cant beat sea air if you have pollen and pollution issues. It can be the difference between me walking and needing to use my mobility scooter.

Marvin it could have possibly been coincidental? although mad weather is never good.

oh no nursefurby, would you ever consider moving back? i am not as bad as you and have always lived in cities - wonder what i'd be like otherwise. saying that though my dad lives at the seaside and the bitter cold of the air affects me. also i was terribly ill when the weather wasnt too hot or cold (it was just right) during the summer and i'm still not sure why.... possibly change of scenary?

we had to move because there were no jobs available for my hubby. Unfortunately the job he does isn't ten a penny. Im sure eventually we will move back if work allows. Bitter cold air is everywhere in the winter, to be honest its been colder here in the midlands than it was on the coast. The bugger is I love being in the Midlands as its so much easier to get to places! Its all a trade off eh.

yaf_user681_30355 profile image
yaf_user681_30355

Whilst watching an episode of 'A Place in th Sun,' Jasmin Harmin mentioned the Costa Blanca is the most healthy place to live according to the World Health Organisation. I had to look it up and they include for people with asthma. Apparently the humidity is extremely low compared with other places. I must try it one year...

Nursefurby thats annoying but a compromise i guess we all have to make: go where the jobs are.

JF, thats interesting, group trip to Costa Blanca/lets all move there and lead normal lives. although if they keep advertising that fact it might get over crowded.. lol

yaf_user681_30355 profile image
yaf_user681_30355

We could have a time-share village and take it in turns. I'm booking May to July! And just to be greedy, a couple of weeks in January for some winter sun!

JF, I'll have June or September plus time in winter. Too hot in July and August. Need to keep Vitamin D up too!

In terms of best place to live, there are previous posts on this so will bump them up later. I know a GP has said to me in the past, any areas that are bowl shaped in terms of geography can lead to pollen and pollution building up which is often not good.

yaf_user681_30355 profile image
yaf_user681_30355

I am wondering TJ how the heat will feel if the humidity is down as over here 23'C is my trigger point. I am happy to experiment and try it over there and return home if it gets too hot... lol.

Ooh, I am interested to hear about other places too. My asthma started whilst living in Bath (yes, in a bowl), on a main road in a very cold flat....

yaf_user681_15459 profile image
yaf_user681_15459

Hi all,

We live by the sea in Cornwall!!

Up until a year ago, we lived in rural cornwall and my daughter had loads of problems regarding her asthma. Our house was in a dip and surrounded by trees. Our house was also 200 years old and typically granite.

Then, as I said, a year ago we moved next to the sea. We can hear the waves from our house. We go to the beach every day, even when it's bitter. I feel that the sea/salty air has really helped. Maddie is on saline nebs so I'm thinking the salty air is fairly similar!!

It hasn't irradicated Asthma by any means as she is still brittle BUT its helped.

As for moving, I'd choose the Canaries. We go every year and have a fortnight almost attack free. It's miraculous. Put it down to the warm weather but the sea breeze stopping the humidity building. :)

Hi

Only one place to go for me Boracay in the Phillipines powder white beach clear warm blue sea

good food good shopping for the wife and cheap beer.

Flowruder profile image
Flowruder

Adding my 2 pence to this post.

I noticed location definitely has an effect.

Back in the 1980's I used to live in St Austell, Cornwall and had bad asthma with occasional trips to hospital.

In the 1990's I moved to Southend on Sea in Essex while I also started smoking O_O I noticed no difference.

In 2007 I gave up smoking and gradually my asthma almost vanished hardly using my Ventolin and never using my becotide. Then in 2014 we moved to Helston in Cornwall down in the valley and my asthma started coming back.

A year later we moved to Tehidy Camborne Cornwall (in the woods) and its getting worse.

We are about to move to Blackpool in Lancashire guess I will update this after a year or two up that way.

I think location has an effect weather its because of plant life pollen etc or humidity both very high down in Cornwall or sea air I just cant say. But I love Cornwall and will miss it terribly even if it makes my asthma worse :(

judith1957 profile image
judith1957

My asthma has been so unstable this last 3 years so I am going to move from Hexham , market town 20 miles inland from Newcastle upon Tyne. I am better in warmer less humid quiet places. I am going to give the Norfolk coast a go. Fingers crossed.

inr100 profile image
inr100

Good luck with Norfolk, Judith.

I live in east Berkshire and rarely get even a sniff of a wheeze. I run regularly and, when I registered with my present surgery I hadn't had a new ventolin since before we'd moved to the area 4 years prior.

We are also regulars to north Norfolk - visiting every summer. But if I stay for a prolonged period back comes my asthma. This time with a real vengeance. The weather has been pretty dry but with odd rainy days or over night. The late evenings get damp anyway. And I'm as wheezy as hell. My wife and I had a lovely evening picnic in a field followed by a few pints at the local one evening and I think that evening was the moment my lungs decided they'd decided it was all too much!

My wife has relegated me to one of children's beds so she can get some sleep while I wake suddenly to cough and fumble for my inhaler. I've been through the best part of a ventolin in a week.

I'm looking forward to getting home where there's less open ground which makes for less moisture. Yet I love the countryside and the coast. It's plain demoralising!

I'll be back to the docs for refills and because I used to have pinky-purple inhaler (can't remember the name) which the doctor said I clearly didn't need as I'd been without a refill of that or the ventolin for so many years. But I like that one cos it got rid of any hint of asthma just like that.

I wonder it being different for us all - I'm used to the town so maybe my lungs don't like the country. And those from the country don't like the city......!

Elspe profile image
Elspe

Yes! We lived in a very industrial part of a large city, with diesel trucks going to and fro right outside our house. Moved to a small town on the North East Coast, and my asthma (described then as moderate to severe) has improved to being (mild) and only allergic asthma. I no longer get chest infections and haven't used a steroid inhaler for years. The only thing we did is my son went online and looked at the Air Quality figures for the places we were thinking about moving to.

It's colder here, but also less extreme weather (because it's coastal I think).

My GP used to fantasise about sending me to live in India in the mountains...

People smoking/vaping in town here are pretty much my biggest trigger now. And mould.

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