sensitive to cold air conditioner

I  am 43 old female acutely sensitive to cold air conditioner. The effects are immediate and the colder the air the worse things are. This is followed by a thumping headache and painful soreness in the eyes and nostrils. Further exposure can result in heavy nasal congestion and pain spreading all around my eyes, jaws , teeth, And headache. The problem started after my open heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement cause by JRA  and I am on coumadin therapy for life time. With my primary Dr. we did a lot of kind lab tests included TSH and they all come normal. I am a nurse working in the hospital. I wear a lots of clothing . If a go to the grocery store , I run along the aisles because I don't want to get sick . I stopped going to restaurants. Can you offer any help as to what it might be, what has caused it and what can be done? I so desperate, please help. Thank you

[Mukesh Garg, MD]

You may want to try the allergy forum

[ireneo]

Sounds like sinus problems to me. Any allergies?

[macgyver16]

well i think you have allergic rhinnitis usually sudden changes in temperature, exposure to allergen could trigger an attack, go to yer AP and be assesed

[Flycaster305]

I was part of the heating/air conditioning business until my retirement.  One thought that comes to mind would be molds and spores that collect on the air conditioning coils and in condensate lines, traps and trays.  This is very common problem, but such bad reactions as you are having are not.  Another thought would be a lack of fresh air.  Buildings such as restaurants, grocery stores, etc are supposed to allow for a sizeable percentage of 'outside air' to be introduced into the building so the air doesn't become stale, contaminated, etc.  As cooling outside air is more expensive, many businesses ignore this rule.  Do you have air conditioning in your car and home, and does it bother you there?  You mention that you wear lots of clothing in the hospital... do the sinus-type symptoms bother you when you are working there?  Hospitals generally filter much of the air with HEPA filters and move the air quickly to filter it more often, and one would assume that you wouldn't have the symptoms there like you do in a restaurant.    

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