Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Breathing Well in the Cold


You can buy your very own cute respiratory reminder sign here. 

The Cranky Native asked a really good question yesterday regarding dry nasal passages:

...thank you for the blog today. I'm heading to the kitchen to stick olive oil up my nose right now! Please can you address this now since this happens to me to during the winter. My lungs are effected by the cold. The air outside about kills me. My mouth all the way to my stomach dries out. Just pulling the air through a paper mask is a labor. I've been thinking of putting menthol oil on the mask to help? I can't just stay indoors, I have doctor appointments to go to. Any suggestions? 

Girl. Don't be sticking too much olive oil up your nose. Notice that the good doctor said "A LITTLE BIT" of olive oil. If you inhale a snortful  -- EVO or otherwise -- it too can cause a lipoid pneumonia.

But on to your other question regarding difficulty breathing cold winter outside air, which is excellent. You're right, winter is coming/here and it is a good idea to be prepared.

Many doctors recommend these simple things that may help:

  • Breathe in through your nose, which warms and humidifies air before it reaches your lungs, and wrap a scarf around your nose and mouth. 
  • If you have asthma and use an as-needed type of inhaler, use it about 30 minutes before going outdoors to open airway passages and reduce lung irritability.
  • Wear a cold weather mask. Several types are available. I have no experience with these types of products, so I can't recommend particular models of which there are many types. Some are even heated. Check this one out, found here:



My goodness.

This one is much simpler and is very inexpensive, offered by Breathe Pennsylvania:


Here's a really fancy one from Hammacher Schlemmer:


What do you think, cold weather sjoggies? Do you have any other tips or tricks to share?

5 comments:

Shara from Seattle said...

Oh my, I wasn't prepared for these military type face masks. I'd probably get arrested by a swat team wearing the black ones. I suppose I can paint it with fabric paint. I definitely will use my inhaler 30 minutes before.

Ha! I had to exaggerate my enthusiasm for sticking OV up my nose, I thought this was funnier than hell. Where else besides a Sjogrens blog would we hear about such off beat things to do with our bodies? Thank you Julia.

Christina said...

I started having asthma problems a couple weeks ago and thought it was just my asthma acting up. Didnt stop to think that it could be the dry air affecting dry lungs, throat and mouth! Geesh.

Christina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sue said...

Remember to take these off before you go in the bank. They might cause a bit of a stir.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you guys can get this, but my doctor put me on to a product called Flo Nozoil - it's made from sesame oil and comes as drops or a metered spray. It helps a lot for the internal nasal dryness and I find paw paw ointment is good where my nose splits from dryness. Hope this helps someone.

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