Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Our eldest son is 13 and has asthma.
He doesn't suffer too badly but the damp foggy autum months here in kent (uk) are when he is prone to have problems.
We have to consider whether or not the diverse climate in Canada will be better or worse for his condition and choose an area accordingly.
It would be great to hear from anyone who has had similar problems and how the climate in Canada has affected you or your family.
Many thanks vicki :) (concerned mum)

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Mrs G has asthma ... my youngest kid was very prone to ear, nose & throat infections in the UK ... one of the reasons for not going to Ontario is that the air is so mucky ... the air is much cleaner in Calgary.

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

:) Thanks Mr G, our son suffers from the same kind of infections,always worse when the air is damp and it normally leads to his asthma getting worse.
I had heard that some areas over there had bad air quality and a kind of low cloud, is that the case across Ontario?
Has Mrs G felt her asthma improove in Canada? Back here in the UK you imagine the air to be alot crisper and cleaner,less damp but rather cooler! :cool:

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Yes, both of us breathe more easily over here in Calgary!

The air quality in Calgary helps a lot. The other thing that helps is that the doctors dont seem to feel the need to prescribe the cheapest treatment (as if in the UK it was coming out of the doctors own pocket) but the most effective (despite the cost) for the particular patient.

Our son has no need of treatments at all over here. He has gone from a child who had permanent green snot and breathing difficulties from September to March - doctors view was that children get these things - to a healthy child. His inhaler prescribed in the UK sits gathering dust in its travel bag on the back of the washroom door - its waiting for its expiry date so we can dispose of it and replace it with another ($12 for peace of mind)!


We have not lived in other areas of Canada for any length of time so are unable to give a proper response to this, but in our opinion we would not be so healthy in the area around Toronto.

Mrs G

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Both my boys developed asthma in BC, one at three years old and one at five years old. One had terrible head to toe eczema in the UK, which was treated with heavy hydrocortizones and oils in the UK. It disappeared within two months of being here and has only reappeared on wrists every now and then. The asthma is not really bad for either of them, but they do need their inhalers when we get an air quality warning in the Fraser Valley. All the pollution from Vancouver has a habit of collecting in the valley periodically, when conditions are just right. Put it this way, anything has to be better than London air!

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Just to expand on this ... Calgary hasn't issued an air quality warning in the three years we've been here.

We've had lots of extreme weather warnings ... snow, hail, tornadoes ... but never a warning about air quality!!!

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

The air here in Onatrio is much much dryer than in the U.K, so is generally better for conditions such as Asthma!!

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Question 1 .... do you or a member of your family have asthma??

Question 2 .... what about the smog??

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Over 12,200 children under the age of 18 are hospitalized annually for asthma in Ontario. In Ontario, asthma is the leading cause of hospital admission for children.
In Ontario, as many as one in five children and one in ten adults has asthma.

From:
http://www.on.lung.ca/yourlungs/asthmaintro.html

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Google: calgary sour gas. That's why Calgary can't expand past 84th street.

But yes, most of Calgary has really fantastic air due to the combination of wind, high altitude and isolation. Is it true though that breathing in really cold air is bad for your lungs?

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Not really ... frozen lungs from breathing really cold air is a myth ... I've run outdoors below -30C without any ill effect ... back in the UK I didn't find running so easy.

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Indeed. Ontario (or at least Toronto!) is the worst place for those who have asthma. I've had more than a dozen asthma attacks, and they all required emergency medical attention. The smog is really bad. Breathing is difficult especially in the summer. :( :scared:

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Hi there,

My wife is an asthma sufferer (including being hospitalised while pregnant with twins suffering an attack). In the U.K. we kept a nebulisa (hope I spelt that right) at home and lots of preventors/inhalers/volumisers around. Since moving to Victoria, B.C. she hardly uses her inhaler - except when she has been to friends houses where there are cats or dogs. We no longer have preventors/volumisers or nebulisa's in the house. The reason - well this is purely subjective but ;

1. we no longer have pets around the house
2. the smoking ban in public places (she had some nasty bouts in the UK after being around smokers)
3. generally cleaner air

Hope this helps.

Cheers - Steve

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

I had a friend who swore that taking up smoking cured his asthma.

Re: Asthma U.K / Canada?????????
 

Thankyou both for your excellent advice,we certainly don't want to increase our son's problems.I didn't realise that asthma is so huge in Ontario,I've seen photos of the smog but didn't really put it down to air quality, just the heat.

The info on the doctors is also very usefull the docs aproach here is very slap dash,a year ago our son had phnewmonia(spelt wrong) and just recently he had another nose infection but they would'nt give him antibiotics until he was so ill that his asthma was triggered..you know the pattern.
It's good to know that doc's over there recognise and treat the probs accordingly.
cheers again vicki :)