Salt spray on roads

[runcyclexcski]

Am I being paranoid thinking that salt spray of road surfaces in the winter sets me off? I try to keep the car air intake shut, but one still needs the air to breathe. So I end up wearing a respirator while driving during winter months, particularly during snow storms.

[Bevvy]

Hmmm from all your posts it sounds like (unfortunately) you have more adverse reactions than most people will have. Hence your need to make various pieces of equipment to make life bearable.

Having said which I would be surprised if the salt used on roads would affect you. Indeed many people with respiratory issues use salt caves on a regular basis to alleviate symptoms.

I hope you get some answers soon for your current symptoms.

[Patk1]

Perhaps it's what's already on the roads coming up in the saltspray + cold weather

[runcyclexcski]

Thank you, Bevvy and Patk,

Indeed, it could be other things that just time-correlate with the salt-spraying and the cold weather. E.g. wood-burning and, maybe, they also put other things into the sprayed stuff.

The salt they put on the road is not necessarily NaCl, and, if it is, it's not pure NaCl. Table salt is NaCl, but they can also use KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2 and others. Every single one of these, when shipped to my science lab as powder, says "lung irritant" on the can. And there can be other anti-caking additives in the salt.

Scientific American is not a proper science reference, but for what it's worth:

scientificamerican.com/arti...

I looked up the benefits of salt caves for asthma in Google Scholar. There is some evidence that it may help, but most references I found were in low-ranked journals. This one is not too bad:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

[four4]

I believe it may be true, as I used to have asthma attack immediately just after I used sodium chloride injection 0.9% to irrigate my nose. I tried this because it is recommended by some Dr for relieve of allergic rhinitis. However it is found not suitable to me.

Whatever the cause, I think if you find you react to the salt, it is best to avoid it.

[Bilka]

Hi , yes it possible to have adverse reaction to salt. I haven't had any of typical asthma attacks animal/dust related till i started being sensitive to chemicals-all sorts of airborne chemicals(air freshener , perfumes , cleaning products, smock, tree oils, grass, bleach..

... Only plain sea salt with no additives seems ok with me.

I have had a lots of allergy testing (under allergy consultant), surprisingly not try allergy. It could be more likely so called mast cell disorders , which is very complicated, under investigated and not fully understandable even by medics.

[Bilka]

Hi again ,could i ask what make of charcoal impregnated mask are you using and where you buy them from? Thank you in advance.