Asthma *sigh*

[Pax]

Thanks for the suggestion, I know when my honey went to a pulmonologist, the guy did nothing for her. Never occurred to me to try an allergist.

[OakLeaf]

If you haven't spent much time in the area before, unfortunately I'd tend to suspect molds. Allergies need exposure to develop a sensitivity to a particular allergen - I had three or four good winters in Florida before I became just as allergic to cedar pollen as I am to ragweed, sigh (as in, if I don't get the shots, I'm literally very close to incapacitated for the whole season). Still, while removing the source is always best, mold allergies are just as treatable as pollen. PM me if you want the name of my allergist in Daytona.

[Pax]

Thanks, Oak, I'll definitely ask about your allergist, hopefully my insurance will cover them.

If it is mold in the house, I may just have to bite the bullet and have a mold remediation done. I swear, it would probably be cheaper for me to tear out the drywall and have it replaced than have a "mold specialist" get their mitts on the condo.

[OakLeaf]

Probably cheaper and just as effective. That's pretty much what we found when we were researching after we had roof damage the year of the four hurricanes. It's Florida, after all, where everything will turn to mold overnight if you don't run the AC, no matter how cool it is. Do you have carpet or curtains? Those would be the first things to get rid of. Anything that retains moisture. Spray the floorboards with a 10% bleach solution before they lay the new floor covering. Then you can get a UV light installed in your AC - ours has been really great at keeping the mold down - might want to get the ducts cleaned first.

[Pax]

My honey has had pretty awful asthma for decades (although she's been fine here in FL for some reason), so we pulled the carpet and out in tile, no curtains, one small new area rug... but we didn't have the ducts cleaned when we moved is, so that would be a good next step, thanks.

[OakLeaf]

Moisture blocking mattress covers and especially pillow covers help a lot, too. Nowadays they make them with fabric over the backing, so they're not as nasty as the old rubber covers for bed-wetters. I'm sure they're made with a lot of scary toxic chemicals and no doubt the plastics out-gas VOCs as well, but being able to breathe is definitely an area where I'll prioritize my immediate health over longer-term danger.

[ny biker]

Thanks for the suggestion, I know when my honey went to a pulmonologist, the guy did nothing for her. Never occurred to me to try an allergist.

Either type of doctor should be able to help with asthma, but I agree that an allergist would probably be most helpful for you at this point.

I've gone to a pulmonologist for years for the asthma, and he's a great doctor. However he's never suggested any tests for finding out what might be triggering it. I've also never asked him for tests, since so far I've seen clear evidence of triggers.

I also go to an allergist for the chronic hives, and have had him do allergy tests which helped me determine that the hives are not caused by any common allergens and also gave me a list of specific types of pollen that cause problems for me (e.g., oak - no, maple - no, cedar - hell yes). The tests also showed that mold is not a problem for me (and I hope it stays that way!). If it was, I would have had to do my kitchen and bathroom remodeling much sooner to get rid of the old cabinets, drywall, etc that showed signs of mold.

The allergist also asks me about my asthma and I could rely on him to treat it if I didn't like the pulmonologist so much. My father has had his asthma treated by an allergist for decades and only recently started seeing a pulmonologist for it.