Humidifiers yes or no

[BreathlessB]

My constant cough dry tickle is getting me down, I am not coughing up any phlegm.I am interested in your views / benefits of using a humidifier, before I purchase one.

[peege]

Hi, I can only say that I used to stay with someone for one week in four, the flat was extremely dry with underfloor heating (under dusty carpets) plus air duct heating. Neither could be turned off so I used to wear summer clothes & bare feet inside in tge depths of winter. It all made my asthma much much worse. There was an egg shaped humidifier on very low which helped a tiny bit so when tge owners were in a bathroom or asleep I'd turn it up and it wax utter bliss to be able to breath properly and deeply. So I'd havd one if I needed to although I know I'd never allow myself to live in an environment like the above (a very expensive retirement estate). Another thing you can do is put a container of water on or by a radiator. I used to do that for my asthmatic son (we lived near the Sahara, very dry indeed).

However, I must emphasise that encouraging too much moisture & damp is a definite nono.

Steam helps some (ie me & my son) but definitely not all, for some it can exacerbate their lung diseases. P

[Ergendl]

I have an Avalla dehumidifier which also appears to be able to increase the humidity if necessary

I got it because we get mildew in the bedroom in the summer. It has a handy humidity sensor which shows the percentage, and you can enter the percentage you want to achieve.

[Pachira]

I only had one experience with humidifier. A neighbor was a nurse so I asked her to look at my son who wasn’t well. She gave me a humidifier and after one night I had to take him to the doctor. I don’t like the moisture bug we’re all different. I’ve been diagnosed with asthma and Mac disease about a year ago. I’d been coughing non stop and felt I had no quality of life. The pulmonologist put me on a nebulizer with abuterol. I think you call it ventolin. I also used hypertonic saline. My coughing continued. About 6 months ago my pulmonologist prescribed trelegy and lo and behold I have my life back. The cough is completely gone. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far so good. I saw you were on a med that maybe something similar but I did look on this site and anyone using trelegy was happy with it. The Infectious disease doctor wanted to put me in the big 3 antibiotics but I refused. I also have stage 4 breast cancer since 2017 so I’m reluctant to take too many meds. Good luck and keep researching!

[Patf1]

Hi I am not sure about the humidifier but from the the month that I was given a salt lamp and also prescribed regular Azithromycin, I have only had a few chest infections and my coughing is greatly reduced. This was in December 2019. I don't know which one is working, but I feel that it might be a combination of both changes. I do now drop the Azithromycin in the summer months and all seems well. I hope that you find something that works for you.