Chalk and Asthma

[elanaoali]

Has anyone else had a reaction to chalk? I work in a primary school and the children were using chalk today colouring in snowmen. I walk into the classroom and had an immediately reaction. I started coughing and had to leave the room. Four puffs of ventolin put me right. I must admit I was suprised.

[Yatzy]

The chalk dust, I expect, set you off. Because of my asthma, I was glad when whiteboards and pens took over from blackboards and chalk. Glad you made a rapid recovery but I bet that chalk dust hung about a while. Be careful!

[elanaoali in reply to Yatzy]

I have adult onset asthma so glad I didn't have it when I was a child. Like you I grew up with chalk boards.

[Yatzy in reply to elanaoali]

Yes, adult onset asthma here too. When I was a child, attending a rural village school, we had individual chalkboards to practice our spellings and similar. Moved into a bigger town at 8, and never saw them again. The individual whiteboards and pens used now remind me of them and their usefulness, though quite a gap in years between the two. I enjoyed using those small blackboards but like you, it wouldn’t have worked for me had I had asthma as a child.

I hope your asthma flare has settled, but don’t take risks, your health is worth more than anything else. I hope the chalked snowmen are finished with now! Asthma has such a habit of creeping up on us and becoming very urgent. Take great care, elanaoali 🎄

[elanaoali in reply to Yatzy]

I was absolutely fine after taking some ventolin. My asthma has been rock solid for nearly 2 years now in most part thanks to the panademic. Except for a cold last month when I need a course of prednisolone. But your right it can be easy to forget you even have it until it gives you a wake up call.

Thankyou for your kind wishes.

[runcyclexcski]

sounds like particulate matter sets it off. Whiteboards can be problematic, too (because of solvents in the markers).

[elanaoali in reply to runcyclexcski]

I never had a problem with with white boards. The children use them mostly not me. But thanks for the heads up.b

[Riddickfan]

Yeah chalk is bad, chalk dust. It was all bad when I was a kid in the early 80s. Chalk boards, people smoking everywhere, asthma barely understood by anybody. I was practically living on ventolin. Whiteboards where a blessing in the late 80s and eearly 90s.