Dust Allergy; what to do?

[Mirriver]

This would be my first year at burning man and I have compromised lungs and a severe intolerance of dust. Has anyone else with this concern gone there?
I am considering getting an oxygen mask (Due to breathing trauma I can't wear a regular non-oxygen mask) to wear during storms.

[burner von braun]

Hopefully people with similar experience will offer solutions and ideas here. What I would suggest is that you have a plan to be able to leave at any point during the week if need be. A ride that doesn't get pinned in as more people arrive and fill in spaces. The dust storms can be extraordinarily intense, but also the dust is sort of pervasive at all times.

I do hope you are able to experience the burn. But it's true, for the most part, people aren't exaggerating about the dust out there.

You might also consider going to a Regional event instead, many of which are located in much more forgiving locations.

[some seeing eye]

Playa dust is not household dust.

Playa dust is https://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic ... t#p1209972

https://particlecamp.org/what/size/

Most people use N95 or P100 respirators from a safety store if they are sensitive, or disposable n95 masks common in COVID. Introduce yourself to playa medical early in the week before it gets busy. There may be pulmonary specialists in SF who are familiar with playa dust or who are burners your specialists could consult with. A good quality blood oxygen monitor might be good to have. Get medical evacuation insurance - search ePlaya and the burningman.org website.

The playa dust has a strong ammonia smell because the xO in contact with water in the nasal passages and lungs convert to OH-, alkali (the opposite of acid). Even using masks, it is going to get into your lungs and take a few weeks to cough out.

This is not medical advice and I am not a medical professional.

[Elorrum]

Woodland meadow Regional. Get the feeling without the risk. It sounds to me like this is too dangerous a place for you, on your vacation after all. You will need to be able to wear a filtering mask, a nasal cannula is not going to do anything for the dust. My opinion, and it isn’t a professionally informed opinion, is that any mitigation strategy to handle dust and attendance for as seriously medically challenged a condition should be developed with a medical professional.

[Savannah]

Hopefully people with similar experience will offer solutions and ideas here. What I would suggest is that you have a plan to be able to leave at any point during the week if need be. A ride that doesn't get pinned in as more people arrive and fill in spaces.

Yes indeed. Mirriver, you'll want to have an escape pod directly ready to nose out or back out onto a street. Do not allow your car to get pinned in behind other cars, or worse: tents and structures.

Many camps have an "early exit" area so that people who have to leave the earliest don't get trapped.

If you're just camping by yourself or with a few friends this is even easier to set up. You'll see where the edges of the road are and can just leave your vehicle parked in such a way that it can head out in seconds.

Hopefully, it will not come to that. I don't have medical advice for your specific condition, but I understand your hopefulness to make it work. You'll want to consult your doctor and show him or her the link that some seeing eye included above. The makeup of playa dust is quite something. I've gotten in the habit of keeping my mouth covered even when conditions don't look bad, but I still usually lose my singing voice by day 4. Shots of lemon juice can help forestall that effect on the voice, but the lungs are trickier.

An RV or trailer would probably be safer for you (as opposed to a tent).

Anyway, Welcome Mirriver! I hope things work out for you.

[Token]

Hi Mirriver,

Let’s break this down into two parts.

One - compromised lung(s)

Two - dust allergy

Uno:

Let’s say you are going to Maui for a week, staying half way up Mr Haleakala at 4000 feet +

Hawaii mountains, super fresh, clean and dust free on the trade winds …

But also at 4000 feet elevation with thin crisp air … you see where I’m going here - less oxygen to be had up high.

Say you have days on end of hiking, biking, climbing, dancing planned out for 9 days

Would you bring a source of oxygen to your Hawaii vacation at 4000’?

Dos:

Let’s say your BFF is getting married and wants vintage clothing and rare old books for the wedding party - their lifelong dream and you simply cannot refuse 9 days of shopping with your BFF.

So you spend 9 days going to the mustiest dustiest thrift stores full of dust mites, spores, molds and other delightful critters; walking, hiking, biking … and you are in dust hell.

Would you bring an oxygen source and filtration of some kind?

TL;DR - though I have decent lung function, I too am thrown into full blown asthma within 10 minutes of entering a vintage clothing or bookstore - dust!

I refuse to go to those places.

Household dust is also a trigger but less severe.

For me personally, and I am no physician or learned medicos of any kind, the Playa Dust that is so pervasive in the salt flat doesn’t even register. Zero issues with it. Eye protection and a bandanna are usually enough, for most dust ups, and the few multi-hour big storms, an N95 was sufficient.

Hope it helps and remember, not a Dr.