Is it asthma?

Since you haven't outline your symptoms, I can't respond to those. Arizona is no longer the safe haven it once was for asthmatics. With it's expanding population, they have expended their green areas. They have bought their pollens into their enviornment and with those, increased their risks of respiratory illness. Low humidity generally does not cause an asthmatic attack. High humidity, coupled with rain, does increase the likelyhood of having probelems. Want to know the reason why????? :)

Grannynurse :balloons:

[by the by the "purple disk" is called advair, I think...I started taking that evil tasting thing this past august...along with my rescue inhaler of combivent]...

[by the by the "purple disk" is called advair, I think...I started taking that evil tasting thing this past august...along with my rescue inhaler of combivent]...

I use advair and a rescue inhaler as well. ER doc just wrote me a scrip for a new nebulizer. I'm having problems now because of the flucuations in temperature, from the low 40s to the high 70s, low 80s. Suspect I'll be hospitalized this weekend. Friday it is only going to be 68 and Saturday 78.

Grannynurse:balloons:

Hi, I know this might be way off the marker but I was stationed in Tucson for a little over 5 years and while there my husband and my dog contracted valley fever. A lot of people haven't heard about it and they live there. Your symptoms aren't the same as valley fever but it is different in most people or some people don't even know they have it but unfortunately my husband has the disseminated form of the disease and it is spreading. He has bone spurs and it was quite painful at first we thought he just had a bad case of the flu but nope it was valley fever so now he has to take diflucan for the rest of his life. He has even been in the hospital and had to take amphotericin B which is some wicked stuff. So just to be on the safe side have your doc test you for it. It is really and truly an awful thing to have. Go online and search for coccicidiomycosis or valley fever and you can learn more about it. And I truly hope all goes well with you.

Hi

I find myself on your forum because I am really sick with asthma today. About Arizona... I had heard what GrannyNurse said. When you move, you definately do encounter new antigens. However, usually you get a "grace period" where you spend the first year getting exposed and building antibodies, then the second year start having allergic responses.

This is really an off the wall thought, but... are you in Flagstaff or some other high altitude city, or down around sea level? It takes a while to fully aclimate to high altitude. You are working at lower PaO2's because of the lower atmospheric pressure (instead of 760 torr, we are at about 630 and it makes a big difference in how you adapt.) Your respiratory rate goes up (unconsciously) and you tend to blow off CO2 and also have quite an increased insensible water loss.

You should still see your doctor. Nothing I've said has a whole lot to do with your symptoms except maybe one of your respiratory drive centers sort of is winking out, while another one asserts itself. Weird thoughts, I admit... but who knows.

Get it looked into. I'd recommend a pulmonologist, though some internists are pretty sharp about these things.