I was 14 years old when I was first diagnosed with asthma. It was summertime and my family drove into Halifax one day to watch my brother participate in a long-distance road race. But as I was continually losing my breath and coughing non-stop in the back seat of the car, my mother took me to the children’s hospital emergency ward. The doctor there had me breathe in this mist medication through a mask before informing my mother that I suffer from asthma.
Then, two years later, I was diagnosed with airborne allergies. I suffered from what I thought was a lingering cold for nearly a month before going to my family doctor. Instead of telling me I had a cold or some other respiratory virus, she said I had hay fever and prescribed antihistamines. She also sent me to see an allergist to identify my allergies. After getting the scratch test done, the allergist gave me a lengthy list of items that trigger hay fever and asthma attacks – grass and tree pollens, dust, wool, cat and rabbit hair, and moulds.
Over the years, my list of allergies has changed. My tree-pollen allergy has been replaced with horse dander. My wool allergy has subsided. But now, I’m allergic to two types of antibiotics, including penicillin. And my new allergy to sulphites means I can no longer enjoy a glass of wine. And even though other preservatives didn’t show up on my last scratch test, ingesting MSG can cause me to become ill fairly quickly.
Same goes with my asthma. It’s not just exposure to allergens that triggers an asthma attack. Now, exposure to cigarette smoke, strong chemical smells and certain perfumes will cause me to have an asthma attack. Even the smell of burning wood will make my airways twitchy.
For most of my adult life, I’ve been trying to understand and learning to live with these chronic conditions. And I’ve had to learn the hard way how to avoid certain allergy and asthma triggers. For example, 10 years ago, I spent Christmas Day taking an ambulance ride to the hospital to treat a severe asthma attack because I had an allergic reaction to the pine Christmas tree in my parents’ house. And I spent the last two days of my tropical vacation in Cancun violently ill because I didn’t know that people with a penicillin allergy should avoid blue cheese salad dressing.
I take medications to control my allergies and asthma. And I’ve pretty much accepted that I’ll likely be on these medications for the rest of my life. But for the most part, I’ve learned to avoid the allergy and asthma triggers when I can, and minimize exposure to them when they become unavoidable. I try to stay inside with the windows shut whenever there’s a high count of pollen in the air or when someone is mowing a lawn. I read food labels whenever I go grocery shopping to make sure I avoid certain food preservatives. And I avoid areas where there are strong chemical smells, perfume or cigarette smoke.
So, I’m one of those people who appreciate seeing a sign that says “smoke-free environment” or “scent-free environment.” It means that I don’t have to worry about chemicals or scents triggering an allergy or asthma attack. I can sit down in a restaurant or walk into a public building without feeling as if I’m suffocating from breathing in smoke or strong scents.
Most of my family, friends and co-workers understand my chronic condition and respect my wishes when I ask them to refrain from smoking or wearing strong perfume. But at times, some of them have had to witness me having an allergy or asthma attack in order to realize the severity of my condition.
But sometimes, I find it a bit frustrating trying to explain all of this to people, especially those folks who do smoke or like to wear perfume. I always feel guilty, even though I shouldn’t, when I tell them that their cigarette smoking or the perfume they’re wearing is making me ill. The response I always get when I do try to explain it is annoyance. They act like I’ve just insulted them, even though I take painstaking efforts to be nice and non-confrontational about the issue.
By sharing my story about living with allergies and asthma, I’m not trying to make other people feel bad or guilty about smoking or wearing perfume. I have never been one of those militant anti-smokers — unlike my spouse, who is not really allergic; he just likes to say he is allergic to death. I just want to provide some sort of context on why a person like me appreciates the move towards creating a smoke-free and scent-free environment in Nova Scotia.
Maureen Googoo is a Mi’kmaq journalist living and working in Halifax.
