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do you have asthma? i do. at first i was just going to ask that, but then i found this article. No comment, really. Just asking. --------- Swimming pool chlorine linked to asthma epidemic PARIS (AFP) - Chlorine used to disinfect indoor swimming pools could be one of the causes behind an astonishing surge in childhood asthma in developed countries in the past few decades, according to a new study. The suspected culprit is trichloramine, a gassy, easily inhalable irritant that is released in a complex process when chlorinated water reacts with urine, sweat or other organic matter brought by swimmers. Trichloramine has previously been fingered as a trigger for three proteins that destroy the cellular barrier protecting the lungs, making it permeable and more prone to the passage of allergens -- the substances that unleash an asthma attack. Belgian researchers, writing in the British research journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, took blood samples from 226 young primary schoolchildren who had swum regularly at indoor pools since early childhood. They also took samples from 29 adults and children both before and after a session in an indoor pool. The samples show that youngsters who regularly attend indoor pools accumulate these proteins, making them more at risk from asthma. Most frightening of all: the children who swam most frequently had protein levels of the kind found in regular smokers. Protein levels even rose measurably among people who had been sitting at the poolside and had not swum. "The increasing exposure of chlorination products in indoor pools might be an important cause of the rising incidence of childhood asthma and allergic disease in industrialised countries," say the scientists, led by Alfred Bernard, a toxicologist at Brussels' Catholic University of Louvain. The effects were the same for children wherever they lived, and remained after taking account of other environmental pollutants. But they were strongest in the youngest children. Levels of trichloramine -- chemical name nitrogen trichloride (NCl 3) -- vary a lot, however. It depends on how crowded the pool is, the ventilation and how clean the swimmers are. The authors were astounded when they were unable to locate a single serious study to check whether chlorine or other disinfectant chemicals pose a risk for swimmers, especially youngsters who are the most frequent users. "The belief that the swimming pool environment is safe is so deeply rooted in our minds that it is regarded as a healthy practice to send schoolchildren swimming as frequently as possible -- much more than necessary for swimming training -- even from the youngest age," they say. "The question needs to be raised as to whether it would not be prudent in the future to move towards non-chlorine based disinfectants, or at least to reinforce water and air quality control in indoor pools, in order to minimise exposure to these reactive chemicals," the authors say. In the United States alone, some 17.3 million people suffer from asthma. Since 1980, hospitalisation of patients and deaths occurring from asthma in the United States have risen 75 percent. |
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I wonder what the difference is in indoor and outdoor. Ventillation? The sun? |
I have asthma, Spunky does, Hayley does and Micki does. We all have it. I was 19 when I first started having trouble with asthma, and they told me it was due to toxemia in my pregnancy, so afterward, I just thought it was an unfortunate side effect of being so sick when I was preggers. I was 22 before I was finally diagnosed with it. I don't have trouble with it anymore, or I should say that I very rarely have difficulty. I don't even own an inhaler. Both of the kids have done a lot better since their ear and adenoid surgeries and have very rarely needed anything for their asthma either. Though Hayley gets problems sometimes when we swim. Now I know why. We usually hit the pool at least once a day when the weather is warm, but when the old management company left our complex, they took all of the pool stuff with them and have been stealing stock from the maintenance room ever since. We have one pool with a broken light in it, that needs to be drained before it can be fixed, so it is closed, and we have one pool that is literally a lovely shade of green, and then one growing algae in the toddler pool and one that is just growing algae, even though it is clear. Needless to say, we haven't been swimming. The new management feels horrible about the pools and the kids being out of school now and not able to go swimming and they have a professional company hitting this place today. The new maintenance man knows about the systems on these pools that I am unfarmiliar with and I know about testing waters and balancing them so that they are safe, so between the two of us, we can do care for the pools in a pinch. Hopefully this will all end soon. Hayley is supposed to have a pool party for her birthday on Saturday afternoon. Anyways, we all have asthma, not a major thing for us but we have it, and now I know why Hayley's asthma acts up in the pool sometimes. And here I thought it was because she was overexerting herself :p |
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I'm surprised no one (scientists or regular folk, or even me darn it) never thought of this before. I mean, that shit turns your hair green and burns your eyes, so what is it doing to the rest of our bodies? What were we thinking?! it's so obvious! my parents have a boat, so they insisted on year-round swimming lessons from a very younge age. I think most people can agree, swimming lessons fucking suck. It was one of my teachers that recommended asthma tests, with me not being able to finish a lap without wheezing. |
Hayley had swimming lessons at the Y once, but they were a joke, so I didn't get her swimming lessons again. Instead I introduced her to a kid a little younger than her who could swim all over the place last summer when he was 5. That motivated her to want to learn to swim. She didn't slow down when the swimming weather started this summer. I don't force her into lessons and over time I don't think I will with Micki, too. I think Micki won't need actual swimming lessons either. She just needs her confidence now. |
Everything is more strenuous in water because of it. I notice it's harder to breathe as soon as i get chest-high in water, fresh or chlorinated. It packs a few pounds of force on ya. I almost never use my puffer, unless i have to walk a long way. However much air i'm getting without it is fine for everyday stuff. I didn't know how bad my lungs were until i got a bad lung infection a few years ago and was perscribed the infamous BROWN PUFFER, the bronchial steroids. How much is this going to do for 80 bucks? I thought, *puff puff*, and then had to steady myself on the sink after the instant gasping head rush of oxygen. I could breathe!!! but not for 80 bucks a month, thank you. |
When Hayley gets swimming in the pool for a while then she starts getting that asthma cough. It hasn't been that bad lately, bu you know, it still happens rather frequently. I went to help the new maintenance guy work on the pools today, and geez what a total mess. It started pouring rain on us almost as soon as I got there. Then the thunder. Then it stopped, and it was such a mess. I mean, dead animals in it and everything. Yeah, it will be ready by this weekend, sure. |
I've had a lot of different inhalers since I was diagnost with allergic asthma about thirteen years ago. But, never a brown inhaler. |
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my azmacort was huge and white and looked like a sex toy. it's neat how inhalers come in a variety of colours and if you have lots of spare time like me you keep them and switch out the canisters so you can accesorive with the outfit of that day. why don't they just make them basic black? |
they sell puffer covers. I have a Bart Simpson one that i got just because it was so absurd. Once on, the push-down part comes out the middle of his spikes, and the mouthpiece juts out of the back of his neck, and the whole thing looks retarded. No kid would ever carry this around. It's also huge, like fist sized. They had a Tweety one as well. Makes asthma fun! |
they sell puffer covers. I have a Bart Simpson one that i got just because it was so absurd. Once on, the push-down part comes out the middle of his spikes, and the mouthpiece juts out of the back of his neck, and the whole thing looks retarded. No kid would ever carry this around. It's also huge, like fist sized. They had a Tweety one as well. Makes asthma fun! |
The steroids reduse the inflamation. Albuteral is the one that opens the passages. |
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Fluticasone (floo-TIK-a-sone) belongs to the family of medicines known as corticosteroids (cortisone-like medicines). It is used to help prevent the symptoms of asthma. When used regularly every day, inhaled fluticasone decreases the number and severity of asthma attacks. However, it will not relieve an asthma attack that has already started. |
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I use Combivent as my rescue inhaler most of the time, it's very convienient. But, I find if I'm having a stronger than usual episode Ventolin with Arribid in seperate inhalers works better. |
My nephew still has a really hard time with his asthma, though, and has regular treatments with his nebulizer on top of the regular stuff. It sucks. He ends up in the hospital at least 4 times a year if not more. |
I use Maxxair as my rescue inhaler most of the time. |
Diskhalers look way cool too. |