London air quality

Hi there

I have lived in central London for the last 10 years. Every year I feel my asthma is getting worse and I need more and more medication to manage it, which really annoys me. I hate the ""just up the steroids"" advice I get from my GP. I am sure that the air quality in London is contributing to the problem. Any ideas for improving the air quality in my flat?

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Hi Redskin's JBN and welcome to AUK.

If you believe the air quality in London may be the cause of your worsening symptoms then I don't think there is much you can do, apart from perhaps relocate

Even if you were to completely seal up your flat so that outside air could not infiltrate your flat through air vents, doors and windows, etc. and the only route for air intake was through an (extremely expensive) air handling unit fitted with specialist air cleaning filters that could filter out traffic pollution. I suspect that you would still not see much improvement in your symptoms unless of course you stayed in your flat 24/7.

As soon as you left the ""clean environment"" of your flat to go to work, shopping or to go for a walk in the park you would be breathing in high levels of traffic pollution.

Sorry, perhaps not what you wanted to hear.

Perhaps you can tell us a wee bit more about your asthma and triggers as there may be other things that some of the more experienced regulars may be able to suggest.

Take hair,

Derek

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air quality

it's worth trying things, have found I benifit from burning Lavinder in the house - though know some people are allergic to it,

and also realise reducing the stress I had to handle at work, has left me feeling stronger generally, think it's easy to blame something in the house as it can be confusing when you come in and find yourself feeling worse during the evening, this might mean something else is causeing difficulties.

have also found it important to keep my house warm and dry, any molds get to me very quickly.

also green tea and fresh coffee keep me going, so am worse at work, as only get a coffee during coffee break.

do you find anything helps?

all the best, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels better when the weather improves.

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Hi Guys

Thanks for replying to my post.

I have had asthma for the last 26 years (since I was 5) - who was that doctor who said I would grow out of it?? Anyway, I ""control"" my asthma with salbutamol, beclomethasone and seravent, with monitoring via pf. I think I have grown used to weezing pretty much everyday to some degree or other. My triggers are (in no particular order!): dust mites, laughing, any physical exercise, orange juice, kiwi fruit, fresh onions, dog and cat hair, my horse's hair :-{, pine trees, alcohol (don't drink anymore), stress. I try to avoid the above when I can or do things to mitigate it (get someone else (thanks Liz!) to groom my horse for me; don't drink OJ and avoid citric fruits etc).

I raised the question about air quality because I notice when I blow my nose (sorry - bit gross) that it can be pretty black and sooty, and the windows in our flat gets covered in a fine dusty black film which I must be breathing in too.

I think that you are right that stress may also factor heavily in this - I have a stressful job, and I often find that coming from an air conditioned office into the London streets can also trigger an attack.

My husband has noticed that when I sleep my breathing can be really noisy - I often have a totally blocked nose and then with wheezing on top of that, he gets a pretty bad night's sleep. We have hypoallergenic bedding to try to minimise the dust mite impact, but I just reckon it must be the air generally. Any ideas for improvements at night would be a real help.

Any thoughts would be gratefully received by me and my long suffering husband

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Just wondering if you've expereinced any beifit when on holiday? I know I like to take a holiday on the Atlantic coast, as that brisk, salty, sea air has been a real tonic somtimes. I also know I need to live in a warm, damp-free flat.