Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

I do genuinely think that the smoke from your flatmates will be contributing negatively to your lung problems. I am allergic to tobacco smoke, and any small amount sets me off. My point by mentioning that is that you don't need to be in a burning-house type of smokiness situation to have smoke affect you. I'm also a cyclist but it doesn't seem to affect my lungs - so I can't comment first-hand on that one.

Wiggle () sell masks (enter 'masks' in the search box), and you can order from them on the internet. I've tried one (only for about 10 mins - it was still warm from my friend, and the idea of sucking in his air gave me the willies). But it was comfortable, and breathing was easy - I mean that you don't have to suck harder to get air whilst wearing the mask. I don't know how it is done, but breathing is really easy, honestly.

You do look like a twat though when you wear one. Something to bear in mind if you have to cycle through housing estates, or past teenagers, with any frequency. Be prepared to not be ignored.

Ava x

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

Hey!:)

Thanks. Well.... I dunno, it's hard to know how much damage I'm doing, or have done already. I guess some key simple questions would be:

smoke: Does breathing in (on occasion)other people's smoke damage your lungs? How does it damage them, and how much so?

pollution: Does simply being outside in a fairly polluted city damage your lungs? and again, to what extent?

Once you --whatever, say, breathe in 'x' amount of other people's smoke, or breathe in 'x' amount of traffic-- Can your lungs recover from that? Can they repair themselves....? (for want of a better way to describe this!)

About a mask: There are all sorts of masks on offer. The standard --fairly-- simple type, which I've seen in 2 countries now: are they any good? They are not particularly thick. What can they do/eliminate and what can't they do? If they are not particularly good... How about a thicker one, or even putting some clean cloth inside the one I've got?> Can a good, thick mask eliminate just about all the nasties (that I would contend with riding my bike for hours and hours in a polluted city? :()

The other thing about masks.. is shelf life. How long should one use a mask, until it becomes useless. One time..? a week? can you see the grit on them? They're no good when moistened by this stuff, right? Can you wash em and use them again..... Ahhhh, so many questions! sorry!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your reply. Masks are a dime a dozen here. It's almost normal to wear one! So, that's kinda good ;). People wear different types of ones too. I really want to get my hands on some of the thicker ones older folks seem to have. You can buy all sorts of masks at plenty of stores here....

I guess I'm more worried about "serious, long-term damage" than allergies. Obviously, that's probably cos I personally don't have an allergy to it, I think! But I feel for you! What's got me worried is the idea that I'm damaging my lungs seriously or permanently or whatever.. by breathing in occasionally my flatmates' smoke. I'm a bit freaked thinking about what's happening to my lungs. (Having said that, I now seem to be able to breathe a little longer again, but, probably not as well as before, and probably not helping my lungs lately! Cheers! 🙂

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

I just found this in a magazine, and it partly helps answer your questions. I'm afraid that I know no more than I have told you wrt respiratory allergies/pollution/masks. So not going to be much more help, sorry!

Anyway this was in last month's Zest:

"On your bike? A recent study by the British Heart Foundation found that after just one hour of cycling in traffic, the microscopic particles found in diesel fumes can damage blood vessels, increasing the risk of hear disease. But don't hang up your bike clips - you can cut down your risk by avoiding busy routes used by buses, lorries and taxis. Masks can't filter out out the tiniest particles, but a Respro mask (from £24.95 ) is useful against many pollutants."

I hope that this helps.

Ava x

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

how delightful it is to read your post, you sound a bit "paranoid" (other people's interpretations ofour health conscious efforts)with all my respect and never before had I read myself like that: exactly the same worries.

I have post-nasal drip and lung sensitivity to dust, dustmites (in all carpets especially the fixed ones), polluted air and tobacco smoke. Funnily enough, not a single doctor or friend has suggested i could be allergic to tobacco even when i cough and gasp for air in a room where someone had 1 cigarette. I also have dry eyes.

my opinion is; one day your body says; NO MORE, you have abused me by putting me in car exhaust fumes, smoky bars and night clubs, and dusty places...it does not happen to everyone, and not after the same amount of pollutants. but if you are AWARE of your physical reaction, i think this is a really good thing. think of all the smokers around you who one day will be regretting it when being diagnose with advanced lung cancer. I am sure that having some bodily reaction to the pollutant is in a way better than nevernone at all until one day: bam, big disease. I think many people are disconnected from their body and simply carry on having discomfort all over and are more afraid of being worried (people fear worried or questionning people) than being ill.

all i am saying is don't let anyone making you feel like your symptoms are imaginary or illogical, never-heard of before, because this is a first-time alarm by your body.

Sorry about the patronising bit.

I feel too i stop beathing when i am just walking past the traffic and now loath cities and wonder if i am not going to move to a place nearer big nature. I stopped cycling partially because of that: dirty bus fumes in my face, bought a £35 mask which blocked the arrival of air 1 second and a half each time i breath in. as i have a smaller lung capacity than most people and have breathed lots of cigarette smoke (night life rather than smoking myself) and some amount of clay dust/chemical in the past (I have done a few arts), i now am sensitive to evrything which is not Alpine or Ocean air and am b****Y confused over what choice of life to take.

For your questions:
1)

passive smoking is deadly, but not in the amount you personally have. it applies to family members of smokers and bar/clubs workers. sad.

Saying that: the tobacco you breath in your flat will never affect you long term such as inducing a disease: asbestos, fiberglass, clay/glass/coal dust: yes. And living near a dodgy incinerator or chemical or petrol factory: probably (cancerigene dioxines).

2)
city pollution: yes, people die of lung diseases by living in polluted cities, and this increases all the time (The UK being the "best"one in Europe), but it is an aggravation which would be+ and+ symptoms (bad cough..)over a long time, and they never got away from it....alcohol, stress/depression, and bad food would quicken the disease, I think.

3)
yes! I believe you can recover, because if you could not you would have had many warning signs before: when you are coughing without having a cold for years, live in a polluted place (city, near incinerator fumes...), have flus then cold then flu.

Remember,long exposure to pollution, tobacco, and glass/clay/chemicals is serious, not a few years in the city.

All my best!

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

When I used to cycle around, you can feel when you've breated in enough car fumes, it makes me feel sick, so it can't do you any good, and I live in a small town.... London or Birmingham must be terrible.

They did a comparison ofa few peopleslungs (I think when they had died) and the person who lived in the countryside and didn't smoke had really natural pinky lungs, and the person who lived in the city had a different, worse colour. But the particles in the fumes can damage your blood cells and lungs, or so I've been told.

Get your flat mates to smoke on the balcony or outside the flat. I wouldn't stand for it if they smoked in the same area as me.

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

you know i feel the same about passive smoking i am a none smoker iand i dont see why i should breathe in others peoples crap i can cope with one person smoking but if there is more than that i get a tightess in the chest so i am aleays reluntent to go out on a night out cos i know i will suffer with my chest for a couple of days later

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!

welcome crystal rose!

and me who thought I was the only one to feel that way in a smoky place!!

I had a breathing attack once after having been in a restaurant where 3 people smoked and then a pub....while knowing this was a bad thing for me, I did not feel the harm yet...until I went to bed that night: and I could not breath!

This a asthma, of course most people would not call this asthma but tobacco smoke allergy is asthma, and in the end, it is a "good" defense mechnism: you won't end up smoking or puuting yourself at risk. I am also reacting to dust and carpets when the heating is on....and car pollution.

I made an amazing discovery recently; while reading "crystal power, crystal healing" I read that Appophylyte heals respiratory problems, especially asthma. Well I bought the biggest one I could find (about almost the size of my hand, for 12 pounds) and tied it to my chest under my jumper,touching my skin(I looked like some loony)...and the next day (and since then) my chest felt much better.

Is it all in the mind? i don't know. but I will try again as soon as I feel pains.

By the way, Iread that asthma suffererscan have deficiencies invit. C, B, and E, and magnesium.

something else springs to my mind: how do you feel next to a gas house fire? I felt slight chest pains then read it gives off azote dioxide which is harmul for the respiratory organs...

RE: Simple really... my flatmates smoke & this city's polluted as!