Good States for Asthma sufferers

[Victoria99]

Hello all!

Our 9 year old son has had asthma for most of his life but it has gotten really bad in the last 2 years.  Upon talking with the doctor we are convinced that his main trigger is the environment.  We live in Kansas and it seems that the state itself is a huge trigger for him.  He has problems all year round but spring, summer and fall are by far worse than winter when everything is frozen.  We are considering moving to a more asthma friendly state (we do realize no place will be asthma free though).  I was wondering if anyone knew what the most asthma friendly states are.....a web search only gives me a list of asthma friendly cities not states.....we are not interested in living in a city so those lists do us no good.  We have heard that Colorado and California are good for asthma sufferers but I cant find much info online.  We did bring him on a couple of vacations to Colorado in the last couple years and the minute he got up in the mountains his asthma was totally gone but once we returned to Kansas it hit him like a ton of bricks again and he was back to where he was before leaving.  Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and happy breathing all!
Victoria99

[treebranches]

Check out the AAFA website!  They do lists every year for best states and "honor roll" states for Asthma sufferers.  The 2008 top five were:

- Connecticut  
- Massachusetts  
- New Jersey  
- Rhode Island  
- Vermont  
-Washington  

For details, go here:  http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=5&sub=105&cont=649

I have lived in St. Louis, Memphis, DC Metro, San Diego and now the greater Seattle area.  Of all the places, California and Washington have been the best for me.  In San Diego I spent most every day at the beach for a while, breathing in the salty air, which allegedly helps, but you have to remember the prevalence of fires (I had to check the air quality index every day before stepping out and can't leave the house if there are wildfires nearby).  In Washington the air quality in general is very good, but we do get mold easily from the rain and moisture, so if your son is sensitive then you'll want to keep that in mind--the western half is mostly dry, however.

The top ten worst cities for Asthma in 2008 were:

Top Asthma Capitals for 2008

1.   Knoxville, TN
2.   Tulsa, OK
3.   Milwaukee, WI
4.   Atlanta, GA
5.   Memphis, TN
6.   Allentown, PA
7.   Charlotte, NC
8.   Greenville, SC
9.   St. Louis, MO
10. Greensboro, NC

Just remember, moving isn't a guarantee, but for me I can tell a difference.

[juliewynn]

Sounds like my daughter, both now at 31, and when she was young.  We could go out of state and she was fine...as soon as we hit the state line coming back, she would start wheezing.  As an adult, she moved out of state for 4 years...did great the first two, then started developing allergies to things in that area.  Her pulmonologist said that is common.  By the way, we live in Oklahoma so I know what you are talking about.  Also rural.  We are a farm family and live on the farm.  Arizona used to be a good state, but there is so much irrigation there now that it's not a recommended state anymore.  She has not outgrown her asthma, but it is under much better control now.  Good luck.

[Victoria99]

Thanks for the response.....his triggers are dust and mold.....his biggest trigger the doctors think is the kansas air since it is so windy and dusty, we are in a very rural area with normal daily winds around 45 mph, when a storm comes it gets up to 70 mph so the dust really gets stirred up on a daily basis unless there is snow (which there is none yet this year).  We keep him away from all smoke as we are very protective of his lungs.
Thanks!

[jdrtwin1]

i'm not sure about either state. I do live in California and struggle with my asthma but i'm also a smoker.  I guess it depends on his triggers, if they are trees, pollen, etc.