Question:
Are there places/cities within the US that are better for asthmatics than
others? I live in Atlanta, and I know our air quality has to be among the
poorest. My 15 month old daughter is showing signs of asthma, and I want to
know if moving would help her. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I looked
in the FAQ but did not see this issue addressed.
Answer:
Even though I know this is probably farther than you would want to go,
but getting farther North you go, the better it gets. I am from Iowa
and I find that as long as the humidit stays down, then it is not so
much a problem. My advice would be find a place that has little
humidity, and does not have drastic temp changes from morning to noon
to night, and from season to season. Iowa is good, I have heard great
things about Arizona, but if you want to stay in the GA area, find a
smaller city that is accessiable to what you need in terms of commute,
school, ect. Typically there is no such thing as a 'best' place for somebody with
asthma. If you move you are likely to become allergic to something in
that environment in a few years. That maybe true, but the Atlanta area has to be one of the WORST places for
an asthmatic and/or and allergy sufferer to live. The polution level is
very high, especially in the summer, and so are the pollen counts, which
tend to range from very high to severe every spring. The native varieties
of plants are that of the mountain type and typical south fair and also many
"imported" (not of this ecosystem) plants all live in the Atlanta area. If
any asthmatic is sensitive to any American grown plant, chances are very
high that it is growing in the Atlanta area in sufficent numbers to cause
problems. In fact, I knew of several people that moved to Atlanta
discovered that they had allergies for the first time in their lives. My allergies and asthma moderated some once I moved to Memphis, but that's
probably because I was allergic to so many plants in Atlanta that going to
anyplace that had less variety of plant life would have benefited me the
same. I would NOT suggest moving to Memphis since the pollution level and
the pollen counts are still high here, just less than that of Atlanta. Also
the humidity here is slightly higher than Atlanta's.
Remember that Colin is right, many allergy suffers tend to "re-sensitize"
(sp?) to their new environment, to a degree, within two years so its
possible that the gain in allergy control maybe mostly short term.
Some places are better than others, but moving isn't always
the answer. Which place is better depends on the triggers;
cold air, hot air, smog & smoke, pollens of different types.
Certainly high pollution areas like inland LA should be
avoided; check the pollution readings in the weather report.
Sometimes, along the west coast where fresh sea breezes are
blowing inland is considered good. Higher elevations are
sometimes considered good, dust mites don't grow there;
but not too high where air is thin, or in a valley where
pollution accumulates. My wife has late onset asthma that developed in her early 20's, not long before
we were married. She was born and raised in the Detroit, MI area, which
suffers from air pollution to much the same degree that Atlanta suffers. We
knew for many years that her asthma was highly affected by 3 major factors, 1)
air pollution, 2) allergies to dust/pollen and 3) large swings in temperature
and humidity in short periods of time. These factors were identified over a
period of time, some by doctors (allergy tests) and the others simply by
traveling around the country and observing the effects on her breathing while
staying in different places at different times of the year.
A trip to Hawaii was just wonderful - no pollution and no pollen types to which
she was sensitized. Weather was more truly climate with minimal temperature
and humidity variations from one day (or even week) to the next. However,
living expenses were perhaps 250% of what we experienced in Detroit.
Trips to visit my family in Pennsylvania were also better, with respect to
avoiding air pollution of the industrial sort. Pollen allergies were better,
too, except for the fall when ragweed was in season.
Last year we moved to Greer, SC, and her asthma has improved drastically since
then. The temperature and humidity are much more constant and the air
pollution is minimal.
I am sure that she will probably become sensitized to some of the trees,
grasses and flowers that grow in this area, as this is a common problem for
anybody who has these types of allergies. However, the other negative factors
in her asthma have been reduced or eliminated and her condition continues to
improve.
In your daughter's case, you will probably not find a *best* place to live.
However, you can do everything possible to eliminate the factors that have the
most negative impact on her condition. I would definitely get out of the big
city and any place that is "down wind" of highly air polluting industries.
Staying some place where the weather is less likely to have wide variations in
temperature and humidity can help a lot. Minimizing other factors such as pet
hair/dander, dust from dust mites, mold/mildew from wet basement conditions,
etc... is a good idea, too.
