Playa Lung Remedy???

[Lonesomebri]

Particle Size
(microns)
one inch 25400
dot (.) 615
Eye of a Needle 1230
....
Bacteria 0.3 - 60

....at least within the Camp Threat compound ......

[ZaphodBurner]

I watched a playa hottie snort a line of saline off of a guy's (we'll imagine it was clean) butt cheek, and vice versa near Distrikt. Wasn't necessarily all butt, either, but, it was TuTuesday and you know it goes.

They said it works wonders and is much more sanitary than a bunch of people passing around a nasal spray bottle and stuffing it up their nose. Naturally, I had to try. For the record: yes.

Nasal spray on the playa is miraculous. Of course, snorting a line of anything off of somebody's body part falls in the category of Probable Cause. My partner and I went through about half a bottle of it.

[WOW!!! A very large brown and white hawk just landed right outside the window, and has no idea I'm here. Yeah he does he's looking right at me. Yes. Oh he sees the squirrel. Run for it you angry nut-munching bastard. Hawk took off. Not interested. Hawk doesn't give a shit. Okay I'm back]

An albuterol inhaler works, on or off the playa but definitely not on the ass. Or off of it, pending on your point of view. Albuterol and Vicodin are why we can't nuke the pharma industry.

This probably some hipster witch-doctor hokus pokus right here, but, if you're not a regular coffee drinker a pot of coffee might help your lungs. It's a known benefit of caffeine but a warm beverage is better than a cold one, and the peeing helps clear out all of the stuff the blood carries out of your respiratory system. Of course, a little bit of Bailey's helps soothe the cough.

[Bob]

I did a quickie particle size analysis on dirt from the '98 site near the 3-mile playa entrance and found it was about half clay sizes and half silt with very little fine sand. In a windstorm, it might feel like sand because it aggregates into larger chunks.

What's missing is x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope analyses of the clay and other mineral types, and their morphology, along with determining whether there are any significant amounts of reactive silica, "alkali" salts, organics, blablabla. To my knowledge, nobody's touched this, though time in XRD & SEM labs should be no problem for grad students at any school that has soils or geology programs. Certainly more interesting to me than social surveys of participants.

How to choose a sample is an interesting question by itself.

Anyhow, it's dust, and you'll have a bit of a cough, until it stops.

[Savannah]

The strongest dose of Mucinex for chest colds is great. Twice the price of normal cold meds and worth it. I believe it's 600mg guafenesin (read the label; 'cause that's the ingredient you want) which is also commonly paired with other drugs for asthma. Thins up the stuff in your chest so you can cough it up. I like it because there isn't acetaminophen or other ingredients in the formula I buy.

Noncaffeinated tea with honey is nice, if your throat is irritated, too. A hoppy beer can sometimes soothe, too (in my own accidentally discovered experience).

There was also a cold/flu going around on the playa, I think; one of the MDs mentioned that he thought so.

[TomServo]

Why didn't you wear your Shemagh? They've been wearing them for thousands of years!

[Savannah]

Oi! My lungs are fine! I wore stuff over my face.

. . . I did lose my voice though.

[Ugly Dougly]

No ass-albuterol. Check.

[Savannah]

Oh, LIVE a little.

[geospyder]

OK OK people I did wear wear a dust mask during the blowing dust. The one I wear is a RZR dust mask. I even brought a bunch of N95 paper masks to gift out. I think it was the non blowing times and sleeping that got to me. Hydrated? I was constantly drinking water. Pee was not clear but very light. I have a 32 oz container that I kept refilling from our camp water supply. It's just that for some reason this year the dust got to me. BTW - the maximum strength Mucinex DM seems to be working. I'm not coughing as much. I also sent my doctor an email describing my symptoms and how long it has been. I'll be interested in what he says in his reply.

[Timezone LaFontaine]

It seems that I've got playa lung for the first time. If that's indeed what it is, I must have laid the foundation for it Thursday night by not masking up soon enough in the big whiteout. I headed out to the temple to write my messages and when I got there I sat on the far side of it, sheltered from the wind, for an hour and a half waiting for it to let up. Finally I figured it wasn't going to, and I began arduously scratching at the wall with my pen to write a couple of simple, happy messages of love. Eventually I gave up on the storm clearing up and decided to head back to camp. That's when it really intensified to a fever pitch. I headed straight down the road toward the man. Just about all the lamplighters' lanterns were out at this point, but the spires still served me well as a guide, although I couldn't see the next set from the one I was currently between. I was wearing a bandana, but realized I was eating a bunch of dust nevertheless. I could literally feel it caking up on my teeth. Bleh... So I spent a few tragicomical minutes struggling with my bike's locked storage buckets, trying to find a proper dust mask. This took several minutes because it was tough balancing the bike in the wind, and I looked in the correct bucket first but thought it was the wrong one, then looked into the wrong one, then realized I was right the first time, etc., fiddling with locks and chains and sundry bullshit. Then when I finally produced the mask I had to pull off my bandana and hat and such to get the mask on, then put all the other stuff back on. Then I looked up and the storm was over. It was suddenly crystal clear. So I decided not to go back to camp -- I'd go to the Jazz Cafe like I'd originally planned. But as I started toward it, the wind and dust started back up. So I decided to go back to camp after all. Things went on like this for about ten minutes, getting worse as I leaned towards staying out for the night, and getting better as I leaned towards going back to camp. Finally I made the correct choice, "fuck it," and decided to stay out no matter what. The Jazz Cafe was packed that night with people dancing. It was the most joyous time I've ever had there!

Anyhow, here I am this week coughing. Maybe it's not just playa lung, though, because my partner and my daughter were both a bit sick when I got back, and I'm sure my immune system was somewhat weakened by the usual lack of sleep. I didn't really start coughing until I got back, either. Someone suggested Mucinex to me, too, but I'm never sure if things like that just go after the symptoms and are maybe preventing your body from doing something it needs to to get better...? I guess my attitude toward Western meds is pretty crunchy...

[tattoogoddess]

all i can say if mine is not better in the next 2 days the dr i will ago. coughed so much last night i puked. this is not fun but i learned my lesson. bandannas are not the proper attire for dust storms. yes tom you are right and i am wrong.

[Savannah]

OK OK people I did wear wear a dust mask during the blowing dust. The one I wear is a RZR dust mask. I even brought a bunch of N95 paper masks to gift out. I think it was the non blowing times and sleeping that got to me. Hydrated? I was constantly drinking water. Pee was not clear but very light. I have a 32 oz container that I kept refilling from our camp water supply. It's just that for some reason this year the dust got to me. BTW - the maximum strength Mucinex DM seems to be working. I'm not coughing as much. I also sent my doctor an email describing my symptoms and how long it has been. I'll be interested in what he says in his reply.

Very light pee is fine. The "Piss Clear" message is sometimes (understandably) misconstrued to "Piss Colorless" . . . instead of that which is healthiest: a light color, and a lack of cloudiness. Light yellow non-cloudy pee means you're doing great.

[illy dilly]

BTW - the maximum strength Mucinex DM seems to be working. I'm not coughing as much. I also sent my doctor an email describing my symptoms and how long it has been. I'll be interested in what he says in his reply.

I've had a lot of luck with Mucinex for everything from Playa Lung to simply having chained smoked too much the night before!
And normally after a week on the playa chain smoking 75% of the time I have hella bad Playa Lung when I get home.

I avoid the mix that has the cough suppressant, Dextromethorphan. My theory is that there is no point in breaking down the mucus if you're not going to get it out.
Yeah you have to dedicate a few hours to taking the Mucinex and A LOT of water, and just coughing it all up and getting it out. I'll typically end up coughing my brains (and all the mucus) our for about 8 hours, but after that I feel great.

[Bob]

People forget that they're inhaling dust while barely acclimated to the altitude, heat, glaring sunlight, dryness and other stressors. If you're broken down by heat effects you lose the common sense to get the fuck out of the dust. It just takes time to clear, sometimes weeks, and letting coughing jags get severe creates its own problems in my experience.

[illy dilly]

.... barely acclimated to the altitude, heat, glaring sunlight, dryness and other stressors....

[dragonpilot]

I did not suffer from this malady.

[theCryptofishist]

Very light pee is fine. The "Piss Clear" message is sometimes (understandably) misconstrued to "Piss Colorless" . . . instead of that which is healthiest: a light color, and a lack of cloudiness. Light yellow non-cloudy pee means you're doing great.

Something that is too often left unsaid.

[maladroit]

I had an extremely light cough Tuesday and Wednesday back home. Then nothing. I think you've all just come down with some other illness.

I did wear an RZ mask infrequently, and a clean, sometimes dampened shemagh during any dusty conditions. I found it extremely convenient...while a shemagh isn't the ultimate dust protection, it is easy to wear around your neck all the time, and hold over your mouth temporarily while getting hit by a cloud of dust from a passing art car or whatever. Then tie it up tighter for a sustained dust storm. That convenience is key. Decent dust protection you use all the time is better than perfect dust protection that takes a long time to dig out and install. Otherwise you end up thinking "oh, a couple minutes of dust won't hurt me" all week long.

It doesn't have to be a shemagh as long as you can find it and put it on within a few seconds.

[clocksnmirrors]

i saw a lot of hugging, kissing, sharing of cups/bottles/etc

playa lung may not be about dust

just sayin

[illy dilly]

i saw a lot of hugging, kissing, sharing of cups/bottles/etc

playa lung may not be about dust

just sayin

For me, I think it has a lot to do with the 2 cartons of cigarettes I smoked in the 13 days from when I left Denver and got back.

[clocksnmirrors]

i saw a lot of hugging, kissing, sharing of cups/bottles/etc

playa lung may not be about dust

just sayin

For me, I think it has a lot to do with the 2 cartons of cigarettes I smoked in the 13 days from when I left Denver and got back.

i don't know if it's the gin, the vodka or your reckless abandon talking, but that made me chuckle a-plenty

[illy dilly]

i don't know if it's the gin, the vodka or your reckless abandon talking, but that made me chuckle a-plenty

Then I have accomplished my goal for the day and can finally get back to work!

[Bob]

I used to buy cartons of Geronimo's Spirit Revenge at the store in Wadsworth. Quitting the cigs cold turkey involved about a month's worth of hacking up the residue, about the same as it took for playa dust withdrawal every year.

[illy dilly]

Any brand with "Revenge" in name has got to be pretty narly!

[maladroit]

I did notice a really large number of people smoking out there. I see almost no one smoking in my default neighborhood. Is it tradition to light up on playa? The fact that I smelled a lot of sage and clove cigarettes (ugh) would indicate a novelty factor.

[clocksnmirrors]

Any brand with "Revenge" in name has got to be pretty narly!

actually "geronimo" was the part of the name that evoked the imagery for me


i see a guy jumping out of a plane, hurtling toward earth, lit cigarette clenched between pursed lips....

the title GERONIMO fades up moments before impact

[tattoogoddess]

found some amoxicillin in my cabinet. anyone had luck with this?

[Lonesomebri]

Man, I can't resist, I really am an ass.....

....on attached note, I noticed there sure was alot of mouse residue in my burner storage as I dug threw the piles......anyone hear anything about something called hantavirus?

[clocksnmirrors]

Man, I can't resist, I really am an ass.....

....on attached note, I noticed there sure was alot of mouse residue in my burner storage as I dug threw the piles......anyone hear anything about something called hantavirus?

/facepalm

[theCryptofishist]

I did notice a really large number of people smoking out there. I see almost no one smoking in my default neighborhood. Is it tradition to light up on playa? The fact that I smelled a lot of sage and clove cigarettes (ugh) would indicate a novelty factor.

Apparently, people who smoke have need for more excitement/novelty in their lives. If this is true, then it's no surprise to me that there's a disproportionate number of smokers on playa. (At least as far as I can tell. I don't have a scientific sample.)