Bronchiectasis and cold weather

[24cc]

This is my first winter having been diagnosed with bronchiectasis. I have been very careful with hand hygiene and have so far managed to avoid catching any coughs/colds. I take 2 puffs of Fostair twice a day and 1 carbocisteine twice a day, and feel fine in myself. I'm still in the preliminary rounds of hospital appointments. I get puffed walking uphill and now the weather is particularly cold I'm finding I get even more breatheless, even on just a slight incline. Is this to be expected when the air is cold? Many thanks in advance for any advice.

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

Hi and welcome to the site, yes the cold weather does make it harder to breath and we get more breathless. The best thing to do is wear a nice soft scarfe around your nose and mouth, it will help your breathing. Hope this helps you, take care have a good night and keep posting as we love welcoming new members. 😊 Bernadette xx

[24cc in reply to Damon1864]

Thanks for the tips. Let's hope it gets warmer soon.

[Hidden]

Hi 24cc and welcome. The thing about bronchiectasis is that we are all different. Weather conditions don’t affect me. In fact, today I was out in the cold really enjoying that fresh cold air. Other people really suffer from it. Damon is so right. If you get breathless in the cold air wearing a scarf or a buff over your mouth and nose is a good idea.

My big bugbear is the virus donators! I never go into public spaces without some form of cold and flu blocker up the nose, down the throat ( depending on type) and around the mouth and nose. And- hand gel always in the pocket. Wishing you a bug free, easy breathing winter.

[24cc in reply to Hidden]

Thanks littlepom. This site is a great resource.

[Yogibreath in reply to Hidden]

Can I ask what a cold flu blocker up the nose is??

[Hidden in reply to Yogibreath]

There are various products which help to prevent bugs getting into your airways and stop you catching colds flu etc. It is trial and error as to what works for you. Most people start with First Defence which is a spray and can also be used as soon as you feel a cold coming on.

Nasa Guard Cold and Flu Block is a gel in a tiny tube which you put around your nose and mouth. V expensive but only need a tiny bit.

There are other blocker sprays on the market

Coldzyme is a spray which you spray inside your mouth and throat at the first sign of a cold. It works by attacking the dna in the virus. I find this very goid at stopping viruses in their tracks.

All available at Boots.

[Yogibreath in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much. Your very kind to respond so quickly x

[Pjmf]

I find extreme cold really affects me, but it’s mainly cold wind that is a problem so I have a fine array of buffs and scarves and still go out. I’m off to Austria for some cross country skiing soon, but if there’s a blizzard I’ll stay in! Btw...I’ve just ordered the Cambridge mask to use on flights and if I’’m somewhere with lots of people coughing and sneezing. Has anyone tried it?

[24cc in reply to Pjmf]

Thanks. I love knitting and have a good selection! Enjoy the skiing - I'd so love to do that myself.

[shouty]

I find hot air bothers me not cold. High heat central heating is the worst. I always have a window open all year round in my bedroom. My family joke I live in the Arctic 😁

[24cc in reply to shouty]

Thanks for your reply. It's strange how different we all are

[Pjmf in reply to 24cc]

I find extremes of both bother me. Before my bronch diagnosis I was snow shoe walking in a blizzard and couldn’t breathe and needed help getting to shelter. Then in Turkey...very hot... I was dancing (mad, and in my late 60s) outside and couldn’t breathe...doc called and injection of prednisole given. I thought it was late onset asthma. Wrong!

[santisuk]

From a quick peruse of the patient leaflet I see that Fostair is a combo of corciscosteroid and a long acting bronchdilator, so I assume it's pretty much the same as the Symbicort inhaler I used to use. I say used to because I was given it at an early stage of my diagnosis when the docs were not sure what my problem was and for several years post-diagnosis I continued its use cos it was there and my lungs felt fine with it.

I gave Symbicort up 6 months ago and didn't really notice the difference. BTS expert guidelines suggest that corciscosteroid is not particularly beneficial for bronchiectasis and seems to imply that long term broncholdilation may only be helpful if (and maybe by implication only if?) "significant breathlessness" is an issue. I don't have 'significant' breathlessness, which prompted my experimentation without the Symbicort.

I'm not suggesting for a minute that you follow my lead, as my bronchX is at the milder end of the spectrum (I think). May however be one worth parking in the back of your mind if your situation improves to the extent that you feel like experimenting with dropping some of your drugs out of the equation.

[24cc in reply to santisuk]

Thanks. I'm due to see the consultant again next month and intend to say that the Fostair isn't making any real difference, apart from giving me more cramps than ever.

[Bella395]

24cc - I wonder if you have an asthmatic element to your disease. OH has bronchiectasis and also asthma. Cold air is a big trigger factor for the latter - he has tightness/shortness of breath.

I don’t know anything about Fostair so have just had a quick look. It would seem that management wise, you perhaps need a quick acting bronchodilator to take before you go out eg Salbutamol, Terbutaline.

[24cc in reply to Bella395]

Thanks. Yes, the Fostair isn't making much difference for me. I work on a steep hill, and would have to take a quick acting one to get from my car to the office and then again at lunchtime (I get a free lunch but it's even further up the hill), which seems to me to be too much rescue medication on a regular basis. I've been parking right by my office and eating at my desk in this cold snap, but our security team prefer cars to be left elsewhere due to access problems. Anyway I've got away with it so far, although eating at my desk brings its own problems with colleagues interrupting me.

[Hidden]

I have fostair 2x day. For ten years now. The joke with myconsultant is ‘why are we treating you as if you have asthma when the tests show that you don’t? ‘

It isn’t a base line treatment for bronch alone. I tried coming off it because I hate the skin bruising from the steroid and really don’t think that I breathe any better. I tried coming off it with my con’s blessing but within a month had my first exacerbation for two years. Coincidence? Who knows. So I am back on it. The steroid does reduce inflammation, which all bronchs have so as we are all different I guess we decide for ourselves.

[24cc in reply to Hidden]

Thanks. I was told that I needed the fineness of Fostair. Small airways disease??? Not really sure - it made sense at the time, but I'm not sure what the difference between that and bronchiectasis (which I definitely have) is. And yes, the cramps are driving me mad - prolonged and near daily at the drop of a hat.

[santisuk in reply to Hidden]

Yes - I relate entirely to that self-analysis littlepom. Should have mentioned that I have gone back on Symbicort for something like a week on a couple of occasions when I thought the breathing side of my condition had taken a slight lurch down

[watergazer]

Hi and welcome I think we all react differently to the weather. I find its the cold, damp and misty stuff that affects me most . The 2 extremes seem to be fine for me. Wrap up well as others have said with a scarf around your nose and mouth . I also get affected by the heat from gas fires and high central heating -can't stop coughing and quite violently. Take care. Anita x

[24cc in reply to watergazer]

Thanks. I love wearing scarves anyway!

[Leetorr]

I find that if it really extremely cold, I will get chest pains. I feel better with the cool weather. The things that really gets me is perfumes, carpet dust, cooking fumes, cleaning products and the things like this. Heat I don't deal well with at all.

[24cc in reply to Leetorr]

We all seem so different!

[Amina123 in reply to Leetorr]

Hi, with me i get all these symptoms and very bad chest pain and pain in my ribs as well i can't even go out side in cold it's very hard for me

[Horsepower1]

I was diagnosed in 2008. I take 3 azithromycin a week. Monday - Wednesday and Friday.

I find the cold weather worse, also when the pollen count is high.

I have just started to get a fluttering heart beat 6 or more times a day.

I stopped taking them last year to see how I would be and had very little energy and breath to walk very far.

[mbscbpmbscbp]

Hello 24cc I was born with bronchecsais in 1938 and had double lobectomies in the fifties.(In the Army) What I have learned about my condition is that variations in temperature affect me and can bring on a sore throat which can then develop into a full blown chest infection with all the complications that go with it.Also damp conditions cause me a lot of trouble and can culminate into heavy sputum production.(We used to get terrible fog years ago and I was hospitalised many times) I function best at about 8 to 15 degrees temperature in dry conditions but I cannot function properly in dry heat as it affects my breathing.I discovered that wearing a sleeveless woollen jumper underneath my outer garments helps me even in the summer.(This goes against medical advice) but I listen to my bodies messages and keeping my chest warm helps me enormously.The other thing I do is to wear a snood which keeps the throat infection away and consequently I have less lung infection.I was at the resperaratory unit in Leeds not long ago and was told that my lungs had grown since I had my double lobectomy This was sensational news to me and lifted my spirits I have managed to live all these years without using oxygen but I do use a nebuliser occasionaly.My belief is not to get addicted to using oxygen and have learnt how to cope without I am not suggesting that you refrain from using oxygen but I don't. There is much more I could say but I am tired and I am going to do my daily meditation All the best

[24cc]

Thanks. It's very handy to hear how others manage.