Things That Make My Lungs Feel Worse: Strong Scents

Last week, I posted about things that make my lungs feel awesome. Actually, it started out as a blog of me talking about various things, but I ended up writing about exercise for so long that I just made it a blog focusing on one thing: Exercise. If you missed that blog, you can check it out here (you should check it out just for the memes I included). In the months to follow, I plan on writing blogs about other things that make for #awesomelungs, and if you'd like to be involved in that, please let me know!

Anyway, on to the topic at hand. Now, I've already pointed out the number one thing that I believe make my lungs feel awesome, so what about the number one thing that make them feel worse, or not so awesome? The most obvious answer is a lack of exercise or treatments, but I wanted to get a little more micro-focused (is that even a word??) with this blog and talk about one thing that others may not think about that could make their lungs, or the lungs of their child, feel worse.

That my friend, is a strong scent of pretty much any kind. (Maybe I should rephrase, a strong chemical scent of any kind, roast beef is okay) Now, notice I threw the word strong in there. This doesn't necessarily mean that just a little whiff of something fragrant in the air is okay for my lungs, but I can tell you unequivocally that the stronger the scent, the worse my lungs feel. What do I mean by worse? Usually tight. There are some scents, or scent dispersers, namely burning incense, that make my lungs feel like a deflated balloon that cannot take in air.

I do realize that the smoke burning from the incense stick could, and most likely is, contributing to the tight lungs, but I assure you that whatever is being burned into the air to create the smell is not helping.

Same goes for strong wall plug-ins, perfume, cologne and please listen if you fall into this category cigarette smoke on clothing.

**Steps on soap box**

I know, I get it, you smoke outside only. You have been addicted to nicotine since you were 14 and even though you now have a child with a terminal disease that primarily impacts the lungs, you still continue to smoke.

I won't address the fact that IMO it is an entirely selfish decision to continue to smoke when having a child, period. I won't even talk about how disrespectful it is to your child or the community they are a part of. Lastly, you're an adult, so you know the negative way that cigarettes impact your health, so no need to go there.

What I am going to address is this: If there is smoke anywhere present - car, house, clothing, mouth, skin, air, patio, etc - it can, and most likely is, harmful to your child. Please stop. I know it's hard, but so is watching you smoke. Your child may not feel disrespected now, but I promise, they will. They may not think your smoking is impacting their health negatively, but I promise, it is. Just stop. Please.

**Okay, give me a second to step off of the soap box...Alright, back on solid ground.**

Back to the rest of the scents and scent related crimes. Here is another one, if you are a respiratory therapist, please don't come into my room smelling like a bottle of perfume or cologne. I have to sit there and breathe it in for an hour. It doesn't feel nice. I'm glad you smell pretty, but your here to help make my lungs clear, not smell nice for the new doctor who just started working your floor.

I know, candles make you feel relaxed, but do you need to burn 41 of them around the house? I have a pretty strong candle detector and my lungs start tightening up around candle number five.

I like chlorine in my pool water, but pool water mixed in with my chlorine? Tights lungs here I come!

Okay, I can see this blog starting to become a diatribe of every scent I've ever encountered and what I think about it so I will stop. I'll just leave it at this, if you have to question whether or not the scent is too strong, then the scent is probably too strong. If you don't need it, don't use it.

And lastly, please stop smoking.

If you want to get involved in the conversation, leave a comment here about what make your lungs feel worse or tweet me @RunSickboyRun! I'd love to link to any blog you write about what can make your lungs feel worse, either now or over the years. Send me a link to your blog so I can share it!!

Caution: Harmful Fumes Ahead (for CFers)

On Thursday evening, I decided to paint my nails. I'm not much of a girly-girl, so I rarely partake in this form of pampering, but for whatever reason, I decided Thursday night was the night. Ronnie and I were watching TV, I jumped up, grabbed the the nail polish bottle, plopped back down next to Ronnie and began painting. Two nails in, Ronnie moved to the other chair. I didn't think much of it. After finishing my manicure and waving my hands in the air (who knows if that actually dries your nails faster), I moved to get closer to Ronnie in his newly selected location. As I started to get close, Ronnie lovingly said, "just so you know a little something about me," he paused, "nail polish really irritates my lungs. "IT DOES?" I replied, feeling a little bad for not knowing. How would I have known? I never paint my nails. It doesn't bother my lungs. I just didn't think about it. But after he mentioned it, it seemed like a no-brainer.

I decided to compile a list of things I know of that irritate Ronnie's lungs, in case you have little ones that can't/won't speak up:

-Smoke - this seems like an obvious one. And sure, if someone is blowing cigarette smoke in my face, I notice, but there have been many occasions where Ronnie will say, "someone's smoking, let's move" and I haven't even smelled it. This goes for other kinds of smoke also. Smoke from cigars, pipes, bon fires, burning meals, etc. After a night with a lot of smoke around, Ronnie will often cough up blood.

-Car fumes - When we're running or walking on the sidewalk of a busier street, Ronnie often complains of how the car fumes make his lungs feel and it often irritates his lungs making him cough more.

-Air fresheners and scented candles - Bathroom aerosol sprays, plug-ins, regular old candles, these often make Ronnie's lungs feel irritated and "itchy" in his words. If you're looking to "freshen" the air a little try potpourri.

-Perfume - If someone has too much perfume on (not just when spraying it) it really tightens up Ronnie's lungs. I'm not sure there's any way around this other than cutting back on the perfume usage. I do wear perfume and Ronnie has yet to complain, but when I wear it, I go light.

These are the only offenders that I know of. I didn't realize how much more sensitive CFers' lungs were. I hope this list helps.

If you have any others, please leave them here.

P.S. If you haven't made it over to www.NatureMade.com yet to see Ronnie's story, check it out. I'm super proud of him :)

Smoke Inhalation

6:00am: This morning was a little rougher than most mornings, but I only had myself to blame. Yesterday afternoon Mandi and I went to see some friends play in their band at a local restaurant. Now the good thing about Arizona is you can't smoke inside at any public place, and that includes bars and restaurants. The problem was, they were playing outside on a patio. Now I think I only saw about 5 people lighting up, but 2 of them happened to be sitting at the table next to me. For most of the time, the wind was blowing the smoke away from were I was sitting. But once in a while the winds would change and I would get a nice mouthful of smoke. I didn't notice it as much last night, except for the coughing spasm I had right before I went to bed.

I did however notice it when I woke up. My lungs felt pretty junky and the mucus tasted like cigarette smoke. Yuck! I don't like anything about cancer sticks (cigarettes). The smell, the look, the smoke, the cancer causing affects that come with it, nothing. We could get on a whole other topic about why in the world somebody would want to destroy a perfectly good pair of lungs, when so many friends have died because of their bad lungs. But that's another topic for a different day.

Now in my "old age", I can't handle smoke at all. I used to be able to tolerate it when I was younger, but it probably never was a good idea to sit in a smoke filled bar. I'm very happy that the smoking laws changed in Arizona, although you would only find me at a bar about 5 times a year. Anyway, smoke kicks my butt now and I really try to avoid it. Not only did my mucus taste different this morning but it also had a different tinge to it. Darn that smoke!

After coughing all of the tar filled mucus up on the first part of my walk, my lungs started to open up more. My mucus became clear and I was pretty much back to normal. I was looking forward to getting back to my house and getting on my treatments though to make sure I would open up as much as possible. My lungs just had an irritated feel all morning that I'm hoping the treatments take care of that.

If you are reading this and you are a smoker, do me a favor, have one less cigarette today....Thanks.

Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 36'58"

2:00pm: I headed to the gym not really knowing what to expect. Today was shoulders and legs, and I killed my legs this weekend and burnt up my shoulders. If you need proof, go to yesterday's post and scroll down to the end. I, however, was pleasantly surprised. Both my shoulders and legs were stronger today than they have been any day thus far. It's so funny how are body can adapt to different situations that you put it in. And yes Mandi, I got that from you, who I think got it from your dad. Mandi's dad would always say to her, "Your body is unlike any other machine, in that it can adapt and adjust to any stresses that you put on it". Thanks for that Eric. Once in a while that mantra actually goes through my head while I'm lifting in the gym. Maybe one day I'll be as ripped as you.

Today was turned out to be a great day at the gym and I'm so thankful that I pushed myself through today's session. I was really dragging when I got there, so I actually increased the weight on almost all of the lifts just to make my body deal with it. I was surprised at some of the weight I was able to lift today. I should probably start challenging myself more and more like that in the weeks ahead. Current Weight: 187.5 lbs.

5:30pm: For today's walk, Mandi and I decided to reverse the morning loop. Problem is, we got lost and ended up having to wing it at the end. I think we managed to get the same distance in and possibly even more. We walked at a good pace, but were able to converse almost the whole time. This is important, because when this all began, I could barely talk during our walks. It was basically Mandi who would do the talking and I would just reply with grunts and head nods.

I was able to work some gunk out during the walk also. I think my lungs are almost all of the way recovered from the smoke last night, but it may take another day. It will be interesting to see what I feel like tomorrow. We have no plans tonight, so I'm looking forward to having a nice relaxing night on the couch with me and my lady. I know Mandi is too...she's been working her butt off.

Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 35'43"

Total Distance Walked for Day: 4.2 miles