Asthma and wildfire smoke?

[krayhac]

I was diagnosed with asthma two years ago so this is my first really bad fire season. i live in Montana and the smoke is terrible, but im 16 years old and play volleyball and go to school now so i cant stay inside all the time.. are there any tips to help please! my throat hurts all the time and i never can breath outside or at practice

[crystalfresh]

It may look silly by a light weight carbon filter respirator mask, the kind used for spray painting might help reduce some of the smoke you're breathing in. The kind they wear in surgery rooms but with carbon absorb some of the smoke. But it does look silly and people might think you're a little or a lot crazy for wearing it. A high quality respirator can filter out 99% of smoke and you wouldn't have any issues but now we're getting in to hard cased larger masks. The idea can work if you can handle looking really strange wearing a mask on your face. I was thinking along the lines of a fabric masks with carbon sewed in to them. I know it's not the answer you were looking for but it helps if you have to be outside in the smoke. It's better than breathing in the smoke directly.