The downstairs to the house has all concrete floors. I havenever ever had any asthma problems before but since moving in I am wheezing and out of breathe and caughing a lot. I took my daughters inhaler this morning when it got bad and it releived it. I have booked in with the GP for 3 weeks time. i am wondering if it maybe the cncrete causing it, and therefore is there any type of sealer i can use on it???? Thanks a caughing Sam
Is it a new house or are the floors bare, Sam?
You can resolve a dusty concrete floor using a mixture of 1:5 PVA with water. Slosh it on with a broom or mop and the problem will stop.
Regarding the asthma attack and GP appointment, it would be a very good idea to push for an earlier one. This could be one of several types of reaction and better not to wait so long to seek treatment.
7 years old. I have a living room, dining room and hall all with bare concrete. Floors are all bare Andy. Will have a try at the PVA.
I am with Andy on this - IMHO, asthma is not something to ignore for weeks.
And are you sure it *is* asthma?
This year, for the first time since adolescence, I have been getting significant [1] symptoms of hay-fever or other allergy - viz. dry-feeling throat, eye discomfort, much-heavier-than-usual breathing, coughing, etc. Feeling fairly confident about this, I am taking loratadine tablets most days. (The odd wet day I skip - and often survive fine. Next dry day - I suffer.) Note: I am *not* recommending you do this - just pointing out a specific possibility other than asthma.
[1] Most years I get the odd minor discomfort. But not enough to even consider taking anything.
It isn't likely to be the concrete, but if the floors are bare because the previous owners carpets have been removed it's quite likely there is a significant amount of old organic debris left behind (mainly particles of skin residue and dust mite excreta (a very common allergen)). These are not that easy to pick up with a normal cleaner from rough concrete but after vacuuming up as much as you can Andys' suggestion of a PVA sealer should at least glue the rest down.
FWIW, I'm also having the worst hayfever year for some time.
What makes you think the house is bringing on an (alledged)asthma attack? I was walking to the doctors one day and my chest started to become tightout of breath and speach was stammered,twas not a heart attack coming on but after getting taken to the hospital immediately they diagnosed it as bronchitis ie
My daughter has asthma which has been terrible here since moving in. She has had 3 attacks in two months. Whereas in the old house she had 1 attack in 3 years. I am just going on what we think it could be. We have a decent vaccum a Miele with filters. I am just guessing but when I took my daughters inhaler i stopped gasping and was much better.
Or 'speech'...just in case the pedants are about. ;-P
Another thing that can be pernicious is the dust from carpet backings and underlays. If it's that, then PVA will deal with it as well.
Ans you shouldn't take medicines not prescribed for you.
It's the same for me. I had two weeks of sneezing and coughing, feeling very under the weather. A combination of loratadine and Beconase steroid nasal spray helped.
According to my Doc it is caused by the local farmers growing twice as much rapeseed as last year. I live on the edge of the countryside and the fields around are all yellow this year, for the first time.
Did the previous owners have pets? Or do you have pets (known or unknown such a rodents)?
Have you moved far enough for the water supply to be different?
Have you changed your diet or medications (including vitamins and other supplements)?
Does one room seem to affect you more than another?
Try putting the vacuum cleaner outdoors while using it (not when raining :-) ) - if necessary buying an extension hose. (They are available for Miele.)
Have you washed the walls, ceilings, curtains, floors, etc.?
I suggest you keep a detailed diary of all things consumed, weather conditions, etc. This can really help to identify or rule out factors.
Depending on what the inhaler was, if it was blue (technical chemist description that!) then it would open the airways, which does not mean that the cause was asthma. As said before to wait 3 weeks for a docs appointment in this case is rather silly. Go and rattle the receptionist's cage.
If you have a sudden attack like that you are supposed to phone 999 not wait three weeks while Darwin decides. At the least you need to phone the doctors and tell them you want an appointment tonight. If the receptionist says no ask to be put through to the doctor.
My guess is that you have alos moved locations.
I am absolutely awful right now, on suffolk clay..I drove to Norfolk yesterdy..as soon as I got off the clay and onto sand, I started coughing up tons of crap, and by the time I arrived I was exhausted, but breathing fine.
Last night mytwife as usual left the window open and I woke up unable to breathe.
It's pollen: probably grass, but not necessarily. Age also has something to do with it - watch out for the menopause (male and female).
The proprietary antihistamines help a lot: Cetirizine hydrochloride specifically knocks it back about 70%.
The best antidote I have found is cannabis, but its hard to find one these days that isn't designed to turn you into a paranoid wreck, rather than just relieve asthma. I ahve been researching WHY it works, and the best pathway would seem to be via serotonin which is involved with the hypothalamus,which also controls immune reponses.
Another very brutal but effective one I was prescribed once is uniphyllin: It makes you incredibly nauseous,so I used to use it only with food and only at half dosage.
Other things that do work, but I again don't like a lot, are steroid nasal sprays. Those seem to work because the nasal congestion drips dow your throat at night and collects in the lungs, which then constrict, stopping you coughing properly.
I would further add that auto-immune diseases are amongst the most common of the least understood conditions.
Odd that, had a mate complaining the other day that his hay-fever is worse than usual this year....
old age seems to worsen the effects.
A I said in another post, the hypothalamus is involved in immune response, and many chronic old age conditions have an onset in the late
50s and persist and worsen..e.g. thyroid, late onset diabetes, and possibly auto-immune stuff, can possibly be ascribed to hormonal shifts due to reduced testosterone/oestrogen, progesterone etc. etc.The solution is never simple. Most of these are complex chains of causes and effects,. and finding the right place in the chain to do something 'medical' with a 'pill' is quite an issue.
Do a google searh on 'fibromyalgia' which as near as I can see describes the slew of symptoms I get which are almost certainly at some level an allergic reaction.
Do you treat one or more of the 'symptoms' or do you try and find the root cause?
For years I had bad teeth: it never occurred to me that almost permanent nasal congestion, and hence a saliva less mouth, would induce caries..
Most treatments concentrate on the sypmtoms.E.g.vaso dilators for asthma. Not the cause, which is a hair trigger immune response.
All the other effects can be traced to firsty or second level immune response: e.g.IBS which is I am fairly certain, a response to swallowing pollen loaded phlegm, or asthma, inhaling it via post nasal dripping, or directly.
Chronic fatigue because you cant breathe/sleep at night, is hardly surprising.
most of the other symptms I get are as of mild fever..slight feeling of disorientation, dizziness and mild delirium: again consistent with the bodies RESPONSE to disease. Likewise te muscle pains and spasms..no different to a bad case of flu without the flu.
As I said, but can't recommend fr opbvious reasons, cannabis of the non skunk sort seems to hit at the heart of the problem..depressing ALL allergic symptoms.
There are various other drugs in the antidepressant range that also affect serotonin and dopamine which are probably implicated in all this. I have yet to discuss this with a GP. one doesn't want to go into long term pill taking unless things get TOO bad does one? ;-)
Yes. that will lay any dust you can't vaccuum firmly to rest, including dust mite shit.
not if you want to sue teh dictor that gabe them certainly.
however millions of people take aspirin, paracetamol, anti-allergens, all available over the counter, as are many other useful drugs, like coffee,tea, coca cola, etc etc.
Even sugar is a specific antidote to certain aspects of diabetes.
Even water is a medically recognised antidote to ionic imbalance and severe gastro intestinal upsets that cause diahoerrhea
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