Playa Lung ??!!??!!!???

[Donita]

Can one get an allergy to playa dust?!!!
I have this incessant COUGH now, ever since I was up there.
Seems there is still dust everywhere...no matter how much
I clean and wash. Tonight I HAVE TO wash all of my pillows
because when I get near them I start coughing even more.

I'm wondering what ARE the affects of alkaline dust in the lungs?
Hmm???.....

*cough cough cough*

[theCryptofishist]

It can be very irritating. Think of what it does to your feet--and that's got to be less sensitive tissue than what you have in your lungs. Do you have any other pulminary issues? My husband's been airlifted out TWICE for asthma and we left early before it happened again. Depending on insurence coverage and your relationship with your doctor (and how bad it is) go get it checked out. Since it's Friday afternoon, maybe wait until early next week. But rest assured that for asthmatics at least, it can be an irritant.

[Donita]

Dang, I was afraid of that. I do have pulminary issues. I get bronchitis nearly every other year -- usually in the winter, though. I work in a hospital, so maybe I'll just head on over and get a chest xray...

The patients ALL DAY have been saying, "You really need to go
get that checked out!"

[Donita]

PS: Thanks!!

[theCryptofishist]

I hope it works out for you. Last winter my doctor gave me something called (avert eyes all e-playans who do not wish to read testamonials) pulmachor, an inhaled steroid, that did wonders for my yearly post-viral cough. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on e-playa, so I can't say if it's appropriate, but for reliving pulmonary swelling it's wonderful!

[Lydia Love]

my cough and fucked up throat are just beginning to heal up. I still sound like hell but *less* hell.

I called my condition "Playa Foot in Mouth Disease".

[Desi Arnaz]

I coughed up playa for a couple of days after I got home. Seemed to get better after that, hang in there. It's never happened to me before but the dust was of course much thicker this year...

[inkyboi]

my cough and fucked up throat are just beginning to heal up. I still sound like hell but *less* hell.

I called my condition "Playa Foot in Mouth Disease".

I lovingly call it "hooker-voice."

And I still sound like a pack a day hookah!

[shaktiqueen]

My playa lung has turned into pnuemonia. I ran out of my inhaler on the playa but kind of stuck it out even though by Saturday I was pretty sick.

I missed the temple burn because I couldn't breathe well enough to walk or bike out there and really didn't need to add lots of smoke to my already overworked lungs.

Got home......and kept getting sicker and sicker and the cough went deeper into my lungs and now....pnuemonia.

Next year I am taking at least five inhalers and wearing a mask at all times.

[Meep]

I'm thinking my 'walking costune' is going to include Bedouin-like veils on top of the dust-mask. I have a variant of asthma, but generally, it's triggered more by cold than by dust. No sense taking chances, though.

[Laynel]

What a relief that others are having some sort of symptoms as well. Mine has all been in my nose and throat, its been really bad, but seems to finally be getting better. Yay!

[shitmouse]

about 5 years ago i came back with a mean cse of playa lung.
it was BRUTAL.

it lasted about 3 weeks, then slowly sludged away.
i then purchased silk for head/face wraps for the following years and it made 5 happiness happen.
-b

[Meep]

For those that need dye-able light silk or gauze for veiling, I highly reccommend www.dharmatrading.com. I'm getting everything from my yurt canvas to my veilingmaterial to dyes and mordant to cloth for my batwings to.... yeah. ::squeaks and wanders off to look at all the Dharmapretties!::

[Laynel]

Too funny, I was just thinking about what I could do for next year to still look fun/cute/good and protect my nasal passages. Headwraps was almost exactly what I came up with! Silk works well? Thanx for the tip!

[shitmouse]

Too funny, I was just thinking about what I could do for next year to still look fun/cute/good and protect my nasal passages. Headwraps was almost exactly what I came up with! Silk works well? Thanx for the tip!

yes, silk works very well, in several layers. we prolly wrap about 10 - 12 times around.

thanks for the link meep.
-b

[robbidobbs]

What's a cathea...

1 yard square of unbleached muslin:
1000's of years of technology...
worn by millions of people...today...
to keep dirt out of their lungs.

How to wear:
fold diagnally, place fold side on hairline, slide to about 1/3 way.
pull "short side" under chin, pull "long side" under short corner, and wrap long side around neck -- over the rest of the cloth in back.
adjust, and tie in square knot on side of neck.
tuck in sides at the temples -- will look like a nun, and will help cover your tender forehead.
Tuck under chin in clear weather, pull one side up to cover mouth in dirt-storms. This should fit snug, but not choke you. BTW: it can take practice in heavy winds.

There, now you look like a Taliban.
They wear these too.

Cost: one dollar.

http://www.tznius.com/cgi-bin/tying.pl
for creative ways to wear the same scarf

[dana]

As a burner/physician, 'playa lung' has become my current fascinoma. The question is whether playa dust inhalation only results in just short term upper respiratory irritation from dust, or are the particles of dust small enough to end up in the alveoli where they might cause pnuemoconiosis. No way to tell yet, and I'm not trying to make people paranoid, just a little more cautious than what I'm seeing.
In terms of the acute cough people get with fever etc. that sounds like just a bronchitis that your Dr might treat with antibiotics, inhaler and possibly prednisone if you're very wheezy. If anyone has gotten a CBC with a differential I'd be curious if they have higher numbers of eosinophils.
As far as long term exposure to playa dust, and pnuemoconiosis, that might just be showing up (if at all) in some of the long term burners who never used a mask for ten years plus. If any of you creaky old timers who have never worn a mask, have gotten a chest x-ray recently, I'd love to see what the radiology report showed - especially re. "fibrotic changes, nodular infiltrates or calcification of hilar lymph nodes." I have to admit that a good part of my own paranoia comes from the process of building my own house, during which I'm doing all the stone work. The diamond blade I use to score my stone creates a cloud of the real deal, and it reminds me too much of the same density as playa dust - ie. fine enough so that it floats easily in the air without settling very fast.
The bottom line is : wear a good two band dust mask suitable for drywall work. Fabric won't filter the particles that have the most dangerous size. Use your fabric to cover your mask if you're worried about looking more stylin. Viva la playa!

[robbidobbs]

My problem is that WAY too many times I would be talking to newbies while on poop patroll, and they'd be wearing nothing on their face. That's just plain stupid. A couple times, it was during/after a dust storm, and there was another one coming. When in this situation, you just need to sell them on the idea of coming up with something, and a bandana/scarf is so much better than nothing at all. And possible in the immediate.

"See that wall of beige over there, yah, that's going to be on top of us soon. Oh, you have a party to go to, well get some cloth on your face."

The practicality of a scarf just makes too much sense in the chaotic life of the playa. I wear my scarf on my buttpack at all times. I consider it "gear." It also keeps my hair under control, the sun off my face/neck, the boogers out of my nose, and takes most of the dust off my windshield. Try that with a mask.

[PantyMechanix]

I know it kinda strange, because I know so many people that have had Playa Lung problems as well as sickness because their pores get clogged with the shit, but I have asthma and have had it bad all my life. I go out to the playa and never have an attack. I don't wear a mask, but shower regularly. Maybe it's the air and lack of allergens. I never even have to use my inhaler, even if I smoke. Maybe I should bring some playa home in a back, it even doubles as hairgel.

[Lydia Love]

6 years and no problem whatsoever - I've never bothered with a mask.

7th year. Ugh. Cough, sore throat and sinuses and a lost voice.

I'm just starting to heal.

I won't make that freakin mistake again.

[Tay]

I have asthma and was terrified of the dust before I went, but basically I've been fine. I do wear a dust mask and tend to put it on when most around me aren't wearing one.
Last year I bought one of these :

http://www.allergycontrol.com:80/store/ ... 26EHUL9WF8

It's kind of expensive, but you can replace the filter and I've never looked back. It's much easier to breath through than any thing else I've tried - including a bandana and it's a bit of a playa fashion statement as well. I'm suprised I haven't seen more of them. If you really suffer out there - as I do in the default world - I'd try one.

[JezebelinHell]

I've got mad crazy playa-cough this year, because not only did I neglect my dustmask most of the week, but I also quit smoking right after I got back (and I smoked a LOT). So, now I'm coughing up dust, tar, nicotine, additives, phegm, and god knows what else. Oh, and I sounded like a pack-a-day hooker for about a week, but my voice is almost back to normal now.

[ubu]

As a burner/physician, 'playa lung' has become my current fascinoma. The question is whether playa dust inhalation only results in just short term upper respiratory irritation from dust, or are the particles of dust small enough to end up in the alveoli where they might cause pnuemoconiosis. No way to tell yet, and I'm not trying to make people paranoid, just a little more cautious than what I'm seeing.
In terms of the acute cough people get with fever etc. that sounds like just a bronchitis that your Dr might treat with antibiotics, inhaler and possibly prednisone if you're very wheezy. If anyone has gotten a CBC with a differential I'd be curious if they have higher numbers of eosinophils.
As far as long term exposure to playa dust, and pnuemoconiosis, that might just be showing up (if at all) in some of the long term burners who never used a mask for ten years plus. If any of you creaky old timers who have never worn a mask, have gotten a chest x-ray recently, I'd love to see what the radiology report showed - especially re. "fibrotic changes, nodular infiltrates or calcification of hilar lymph nodes." I have to admit that a good part of my own paranoia comes from the process of building my own house, during which I'm doing all the stone work. The diamond blade I use to score my stone creates a cloud of the real deal, and it reminds me too much of the same density as playa dust

dana, can you parse some of the technical jargon you are using here. for example, what is pnuemoconiosis? what are fibrotic changes, etc.?

[theCryptofishist]

dana, can you parse some of the technical jargon you are using here. for example, what is pnuemoconiosis? what are fibrotic changes, etc.?

[pneumo- + Greek konis, koni, dust + -osis.]pneumo·coni·otic (-tk) adj. & n.


pneu·mo·co·ni·o·sis (nm-kn-ss, ny-)
n. pl. pneu·mo·co·ni·o·ses (-sz)

A disease of the lungs, such as asbestosis or silicosis, caused by long-term inhalation of dusts, especially mineral or metallic dusts.

Source: The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary


Main Entry: pneu·mo·co·ni·o·sis
Pronunciation: "n(y)ü-mO-"kO-nE-'O-s&s
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural pneu·mo·co·ni·o·ses /-"sEz/
: a disease of the lungs caused by the habitual inhalation of irritants (as mineral or metallic particles) called also miner's asthma, miner's consumption, pneumonoconiosis; —see BLACK LUNG, SILICOSIS

Source: Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

pneumoconiosis

n : chronic respiratory disease caused by inhaling metallic or mineral particles [syn: pneumonoconiosis]

I tried googling "Fibrotic Changes" too but couldn't figure out how to keep the words together. I'd guess that it's changes in the fibroids of the lung.

[theCryptofishist]

Silicosis is what killed (or part of what killed) Dori Seda, who as far as I know wasn't a burner, but was darn cool enough to have been. (And was certainly a San Francisco artist of the 80s in the best possible way.)
http://www.lambiek.net/seda_dori.htm

[dana]

Thanks crypto. That pretty much covers it.

As far as the radiographic changes, that's going to be the technical terms that the radiologist is going to be using if they see any signs suggestive of pnuemoconiosis. Think of an infected wound that won't heal up - it just keeps laying down more scar tissue which is similar in a way to what happens to lungs subjected to chronic irritation from dust. It shows up on an x-ray as white streaking, as the normal alveoli start collapsing and are replaced with more fibrous junk.

Again, I'm not trying to make anyone unduly paranoid. The key question is one of how much of a load are you getting, how big are the particles of dust, and even what shape are the particles? (Part of the reason asbestos is so bad is that the particles are sharp enough to actually skewer the macrophages - a kind of white cell that tries to snarf up the particles.) This is all just a possibility that I'm considering and would like to watch as long as I'm coming to BM. (I must admit that I'm real impressed by those full-on, white-out dust storms that occur on the playa.) I'd also be interested in finding out that long term, no-mask burners are getting completely normal x-rays.
It's interesting that people with asthma are finding that they sometimes do better on the playa. I think that's totally due to that fact that they are away from their usual allergic triggers - Kids, don't try snorting playa dust at home, do it at your neighbor's house!

[BAS]

Slightly off topic, but...

One of the people who is planing on going to Burning Man with us in 2005 has been getting chemotherapy, which has resulted in holes in his lungs (a dime sized one in the right, and a diamond shaped pattern of pinhole sized holes in his left, if my information is correct). Any ideas if this situation would cause him problems out on the playa?

(Unfortunately, he is the type who would go anyway, determined he could "out tough" the playa dust..., which is why I am asking, since he wouldn't.)

Incidentally, he is the one who has acutally been to Burning Man at least a couple times before, the last time in 1995 or 1996, IIRC. (I am not suggesting that the holes in his lungs are in any way connected-- they appeared with the chemotherapy, and it would seem that the cancer he has is an inherited condition.)


Just wondering if I should be worried.


Brian

[dana]

BAS -
I believe people should take any risks that they're willing to take responsibility for. One thing about cancer or any other situation where you face your own death, it tends to change your priorities. Why shouldn't he do what seems important to him? It's like safe sex - wear protection and you should be fine. A dust mask is pretty simple. I brought a bunch of extras and gave them away.

I say - if you can see it, don't breathe it.

[BAS]

dana--

I am okay with calculated risks. I just don't want to see him need to be airlifted out or anything.


Brian

[dana]

BAS -
OK, sorry I'll try to be more specific. Does he have significally decreased functional lung capacity, does he require supplemental oxygen, etc.?? If he's normally cruising around pretty much doing whatever he wants without signifigant problems breathing, he should be fine. Lots of people go to the playa with serious asthma, sleep apnea, even cystic fibrosis and seem to do OK wearing masks from what I've gleaned so far. But if he's the kind of guy that refuses to take care of himself, he could be a serious liability. A lot of people's immune systems seem to take a beating on the playa. (See my post on "playa injury not healing.") Chemo and radiation therapy are pretty brutal, and leave the body in a very diminished state. Lots of rest, water and good nutrition might be just as important to him as a mask. I like those EmergenC packets to provide a little nutritional boost on the playa (or any time I feel drained.)
Hope that helps. There's a pretty sweet set-up for emergency services through REMSA? I think it is. They'd be happy to just check him out if he's feeling rasty.