Gun smoke inhalation symptoms?

[silver star]

Went to an AR match this past Saturday.

For 6 hours it seemed like no matter where I was...I was down wind of gun smoke.

That night I had severe asthma symptoms unlike any I've had before.

My Google & Enos searches have not produced any insight.

I'm tiring to determine if the smoke was the cause.

If so, hopefully this will make those of us who love shooting with sensitive respiratory issues to be more cautious of prolonged exposure.

[Nik Habicht]

In my experience with asthma, as a patient, I've found that any inhaled irritant (and any form of smoke counts) can trigger asthma symptoms......

.....though usually onset is more acute, rather than delayed by a few hours.

You might ask your physician -- you do see one at least semi-regularly, right? -- about pretreating yourself with inhaled meds prior to going to the match.....

[silver star]

Yes, I do see physician.

But have not considered pretreat.

I don't remember such an extended exposer.

Making a decision to move to better air sooner will be part of my Rx.

Thanks for the input.

[techj]

I've got mild asthma and you might be having a problem due to a combination effect...I know that when I'm exposed to irritants and also have stress/anxiety then a reaction is sometimes triggered whereas the irritant by itself won't bring it on. Same thing happens when I'm exposed to something that I have an allergy to, it can bring on my asthma.

If you have any pollen allergies then pretreatment with an antihistamine can help.

Also +1 on asking your doctor for an inhaler to take prior to having an attack.

fwiw I've never had a problem with gunsmoke.

[Hi-Power Jack]

The only symptoms I get from inhaling gun smoke is

HAPPINESS.

[bountyhunter]

Went to an AR match this past Saturday.

For 6 hours it seemed like no matter where I was...I was down wind of gun smoke.

That night I had severe asthma symptoms unlike any I've had before.

My Google & Enos searches have not produced any insight.

I'm tiring to determine if the smoke was the cause.

If so, hopefully this will make those of us who love shooting with sensitive respiratory issues to be more cautious of prolonged exposure.

Smoke certainly can cause an asthma attack. Cigarette smoke used to trigger mine. Gun smoke is also irritating but my range has good airflow and venting. You my want to get a gas mask (painter's mask) that can protect you.

[bountyhunter]

In my experience with asthma, as a patient, I've found that any inhaled irritant (and any form of smoke counts) can trigger asthma symptoms......

.....though usually onset is more acute, rather than delayed by a few hours.

In my case, the attacks usually come at night when I try to sleep based on the accumulation of crap I breathed during the day.

[thermobollocks]

Good luck, dude. I had asthma as a kid and it was terrifying. Only thing I could do was hit the inhaler.

[silver star]

Thermobollocks-I was using the inhaler pretty hard Sat night.

Ususlly one or two big hits on the "rescue inhaler" and in a few minutes I'm good.

This time I was getting a small amount of relief but in 15 or 20 min I was back to struggling.

It resembled "rebound effect" like you get when you use Afrin to much.

Here is a for fun pic of me in 2001.

Used this back when we had the white powder scare in our mail.

OMG, I had hair then.

Edited September 2, 2014 by silver star

[Casey0234]

Hi, I don't  get asthma per say but I do feel a weird heavy sensation in my chest and my throat seems tight as well.  I have also developed prolonged rash and hives that I wasn't there before I started going to the range frequently.  I am soooo hoping it isn't from the blow back from the pistols/ammo because I am very into target shooting even though I just started in May of this year (2019) at the age of 68. 

[C4West]

I know this thread is old but I just experienced this and I found this thread bc I googled gun smoke and asthma. I’m kind of newly diagnosed. We had a shooting class outdoors on Saturday. There were 13 of us that shot about 100 rounds each in a 7 hour period. That doesn’t sound like it would irritate my lungs but it absolutely did. I noticed a little bit of dizziness during the class but it was also 100 degrees (summer in Southeast Texas). About an hour after the class, I started feeling a heaviness in my lungs. Today is Monday and I am coughing up green hunks tinged with a little blood. I will have to rethink larger participant number classes next time. 

[Youngeyes]

C4West. Your symptoms sound more like what I would expect from an infection. I highly recommend that you see a doctor to get checked out. I'm PMing you as well.