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Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis

Infectious Diseases | Last Active: Mar 14 2:29pm | Replies (26)

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@rwrourk

I was diagnosed last year, and we're periodically having to control it with prednisone, albuterol nebulizer and symbicort. I would like to know if a dry climate would make a dramatic difference in managing this condition. I've had asthma for many years, but the ABPA is new.

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Replies to "I was diagnosed last year, and we're periodically having to control it with prednisone, albuterol nebulizer..."

I was reading through older comments and ran across this one. If you are still researching climates, here is my take on it... I have experienced different climates with my ABPA and here is what I have found. Before I was diagnosed, I was in Santa Cruz with friends. Usually able to walk 5+ miles on the beach, that day I could not breathe. The marine layer was very heavy. I went to my doctor immediately when I returned home and had an x-ray. After mis-diagnosis, finding a mass of aspergillus in my right lung, treatment for that and finally coming to the conclusion I have ABPA, I decided to make some decisions for myself. When I was at our summer retreat at an 8,000 ft. elevation, I had difficulty breathing due to the thinner air, but it was a predominately dry enviroment in the summer. In Fresno, on the valley floor, it was the dryest air ever. I found dry enviroments the easiest to breath in, however dirt, dust and polution in the air becomes a problem. Fresno has lots of agricultural polution and gets foggy, the bad air sits in Fresno like a bowl of polution covered with a tupperwear lid. Once diagnosed, I decided to move up off the valley floor to about 2,000 ft. Here I am able to breathe better, I am above the inversion layer most of the time and the wet months are followed by very dry months, which seems to erradicate most of the mold. Mold is our enemy. Rotting plant material in a wet climate creates the highest potential for breathing aspergillus and causing disease. There you have it... from the ocean, to the mountains, to the valley floor and to the foothills. I still struggle from time to time but I think it's better here than where I was.

Dayna, thanks so much for your very interesting response regarding my ABPA. I've been in northern MI for 3 months with no real improvement other than escaping the Texas heat! I'll continue to be followed at UTSW in Dallas when I return, and if the ABPA doesn't get worse, it's tolerable. Good luck!

You're welcome. I would think TX would be better than MI, due to snow, rain, etc.
Good luck to you, this is an awful disease. I am so grateful mine is not as bad as some I have connected with on the UK website. Check out http://www.aspergillus.org.uk for a wealth of information on all diseases caused by aspergillus, including our ABPA.

Thank you, again, and I've book marked the UK website.