I do like to be beside the seaside....I'm new to this forum

[nancyminder]

I live in a rural area in the Vale of York and this year has been my worst ever asthma- wise. I am allergic to grass pollen and I'm also badly affected at harvest time. For the last 20 years we have gone to the South of France for a month in the caravan mid august to mid September and I have been fine but this year we didn't. It's the first time I had to have the emergency ambulance and it took 40 minutes to reach us. I keep thinking I should move to Scarborough as we had a week there and I was much better. Or maybe I'd be better in York or Harrogate? It's so difficult to decide as I might not be any better but at least I'd be nearer a hospital. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Junglechicken]

Hello and welcome. So glad you decided to join the community we are a lovely bunch of people. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been poorly and it must be worrying that it took so long for an ambo to arrive. I’ve had a rough time with my asthma after a dose of pneumonia which has made my asthma so much worse and at times very unpredictable. Had my first asthma attack in 25 years. I can’t really advise where might be a good place for you to move to but you might feel more secure if you do live closer to an A and E. This may reduce stress levels which can trigger attacks if high. X

[nancyminder in reply to Junglechicken]

Thanks for your reply and welcoming words Junglechicken, it does seem to have been a bad year for people with asthma. Just hoping it's a one off but given the warmer damper summers maybe not. Yes I'd be happier nearer to a hospital! xx

[twinkly29]

I'm on the Yorkshire coast. Still screwed by grass pollen but the air moves here (sometimes too much ha ha!) which I find much better than being inland. I can vouch for the hospital here too if that's any help.

[nancyminder in reply to twinkly29]

Hi twinkly29, thanks for your reply. Is that Scarborough hospital? I think we are going to have a break in Scarborough next month to see if we can tolerate the wind and wet! I was a student at the North Riding teacher training college in the 60s - it's now part of Hull University. For the three years I was there i had no chest problems at all!x

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

I’m on the N Norfolk coast, and can definitely notice the difference as I love inland. Downside is I’m 45mins from nearest hosp, upside is it’s a really good hosp for asthma

The North Sea wind and be strong and chilly but overall moving to the seaside is probably in if the best things I’ve done for my lungs

[hmmltd in reply to EmmaF91]

I am in North Norfolk too and do notice the difference when I have to go inland for work. N&N have some really good asthma nurses.

[nancyminder in reply to hmmltd]

Are you far from a hospital? The only thing that puts me off Norfolk is that my daughter's first visit to her prospective inlaws who live near Sandringham resulted in her being rushed to hospital within minutes of her arrival! She'd never had asthma before, only hay fever. Not how you'd want to make an impression!

[nancyminder in reply to EmmaF91]

Thanks Emma, that sounds very promising x

[Wheezycat]

I live in York. One of the first things our GP said when we moved here around 20 years ago was how the Vale of York, being in the bottom of a prehistoric river, tends to bring on chesty conditions. I don’t know how true that is but York can be pretty dank. Mind you, I love living here. And we do, of course, have a local hospital

[nancyminder in reply to Wheezycat]

I've often wondered if I'd be better in the middle of town. I worked in York for 30 years and my symptoms have slowly worsened since I retired. At least when I worked I'd be away from fields of crops for 8 hours a day. we've even considered moving in to York and perhaps getting a holiday home on the coast, but that might be difficult financially.

[Wheezycat in reply to nancyminder]

Yes, York is a nice place! I don’t have any noticeable problems from outdoor air pollution here. Indoor air pollution is more my difficulty.

[nancyminder in reply to Wheezycat]

What is the source of the indoor pollution? Pets? Household chemicals?

[Wheezycat in reply to nancyminder]

For me scented candles, air fresheners, many things out of a pressurised canister, solvents , anything burning, like wood burners, toast being toasted, incence,, basically I am wary of many PMs and VOCs.

[nancyminder in reply to Wheezycat]

We had two wood burning stoves fitted in 2017. I know that the are not supposed to be good for asthmatics but I'm sure they must be better than the two open fires we had before. We don't have gas in our village so have to burn some form of solid fuel.

[Wheezycat in reply to nancyminder]

Sure, and that is reality! But if anyone is thinking of it AND has a choice perhaps choose something else. I live in town and I would love it if we had something like ground source heat, and solar panels, but not sure we could afford it. And, of course, better insulation without reducing air circulation. But it is all costly,

[Statch]

Lived on the coast most of my life and cant say I notice a difference. Mine is occupational asthma though so might be a few years until it calms down

[nancyminder in reply to Statch]

That's a difficult one. Did you work in agriculture?

[Statch in reply to nancyminder]

Nope worked in the vitamins minerals and supplements industry. Prior to that was in the military

[nancyminder in reply to Statch]

Maybe there was a lot of dust in that industry?

[Hidden]

There are several sublingual immunotherapy hayfever products that have very good clinical results, the one I can remember is grazax but I think some of the others might be cheaper.

[ChrissieMons]

Maybe a consideration is how you feel about the community you live in now. Moving is a very stressful thing to do so if you like your current home and being away for a month is working for you, perhaps you can stay for a bit longer. There are lots of things to consider before you change your life! Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

[nancyminder in reply to ChrissieMons]

Yes it would be a big wrench as we've lived here for 40 years. But the house is old (17th century) and the garden is massive, nearly an acre. It is a wilderness this year as I haven't had the energy to do any gardening. Our new puppy is a cockapoo and so far I have't had a reaction to her, our previous dog was a springer spaniel and I was OK with her for 10 years. We did however inherit an obese elderly dachshund when a relative died who I reacted to with constant itchy eyes but he died a couple of years ago. I have a cat who lives outdoors so no problem there. However I have kept chickens for the past 6 years and I think that may be a contribution. So they are going soon which will be very sad. We've also eliminated a dust problem as we had 2 open coal fires so now we've got wood burning stoves and there is very little dust. Though i recently read that woodturners are bad for asthmatics.......

[SheilaC in reply to nancyminder]

A couple of our local pubs have woodburners so I am unable to use them in winter.

We are 15 minutes drive from the seaside so my chosen exercise is to walk briskly along the flat embankment. No pollen and fresh sea air blowing from the Snowdon mountains.

[Wheezycat in reply to SheilaC]

I went to this talk on indoor air pollution within the last year. Very interesting! It was held by someone who researches it. She stated that there is more air pollution inside an average home at rush hour than along Oxford Street in rush hour. And all indoor air pollution will join outdoor air pollution. So being aware of indoor air pollution matters, though we can’t fix it all, like stop the fact that cooking produces air pollution. This woman suggested that two things could be reduced immediately, and that would be to stop using especially plug in air fresheners (though I would say all air fresheners) and scented candles. Both would come into the ‘jam on the bread’ category - it might be nice to have them but we don’t need them.

I do feel strongly about this as I react on more things indoors than I do on city streets full of traffic , though that is not good either.

[SheilaC in reply to Wheezycat]

I agree Wheezycat, no air fresheners or scented candles in this house! We've just been for our walk along the prom at New Brighton and it was absolutely beautiful. I had put on my thick jacket ready for the sea breeze and there wasn't one. What a lovely day.

[nancyminder in reply to Wheezycat]

I don't think I react to many indoor pollutants, but I never use plug in air fresheners and try to limit the number of sprays. I rarely burn candles, only if given as a gift. Apart from this year my symptoms are definitely seasonal starting at the end of June and finishing in October. The only things inside that 'take my breath away' are mould on citrus fruit and Roses Lime Juice cordial, and I assume that's the sulphur dioxide. So my triggers are mainly outside and so the windows are kept closed in the summer! The talk on indoor pollution sounds really interesting. As we live in a very old house my doctor had me tested for old building materials, old paints etc but nothing gave positive results.

[Wheezycat in reply to nancyminder]

That’s good! And perhaps because they are old they are safer, as many modern things used in building materials can cause problems, apparently including possibly the fire proofing stuff they now treat furniture with! That said I know I have felt my lungs react, warning sign wise, to a few old wooden buildings. I assumed that it was moulds in he old wood. Not in this country by the way.

[nancyminder in reply to SheilaC]

That sounds amazing! We are about 90 minutes from the coast and wish we could visit more often x

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to nancyminder]

Wood burners like basically all triggers vary from asthmatic to asthmatic... personally I think wood burners/coal fired are usually ok for me (a minor trigger maybe), tho I’m sure there are people on here for whom they are major triggers l. Find out you’re triggers... so be aware what could affect you, then see if it does!

[nancyminder in reply to EmmaF91]

Yes, I don't think fires of any kind trigger my asthma as my main season is June through to September when we don't burn any fuel.