Are you having breathing problems when in cold air conditioned area?

Since last year I started having a breathing problem. Whenever I am in a cold area, such as office or home or in car with AC on, my nose seems to develop congestion and I start running short of breathing. I am also having to start using my mouth to breath whenever I feel that I need more air. Also, I can’t speak for more than couple of minutes but if I do, I run out of breath in almost no time.

A CT scan revealed that I had Ethmoid Sinusitis and Deviated Nasal Septum. I was shocked to know this! I never had any problem since my childhood, then how come I develop this problem now? I understand the deviated nasal septum part of the problem as over 80% of people have this but it doesn’t affect them in anyway until the sinuses are affected.

It took me couple of days to figure out how it all started. It was back in late 2007 when I moved to a different part of the building of my office. There used to be a AC duct right on top of my head. Initially, for several months, I had no problem with the cold air blowing on my head and face throughout the day but as time passed by, it had its impact on me. After almost 10 months of sitting in the same seat, I started facing some breathing problems after an hour I entered into the office. My nose was getting almost blocked and I was finding it very difficult to breath with my nose. I had to use my mouth very often to breath in and make myself comfortable. A month or two after that I got cold and when the cold was gone, the congestion remained and that’s when I visited an ENT doctor. The rest is history.

If you have recently developed similar problems or have started to experience breathing problem in last few weeks, here are my suggestions for you to avoid this problem from becoming into a serious issue in future. Make sure that you follow as much as you can, otherwise it can turn into a problem that will require clinical correction and long term medication.

1. Inspect the area where you sit in the office and try to change your seat. Choose an area where the cold air coming from the AC duct doesn’t hit your head and face directly.
2. If you can’t change your seat, starting wearing a cap and cover your head with it. If you can’t wear cap all the time, at least use it when you are at your desk.
3. In most offices, the conference rooms are usually much colder than the other areas of the office. Try to go early for meetings and occupy a chair that is not under the AC duct.
4. If you drive a car and use AC, change the direction of the blower such that it doesn’t blow cold air directly on your face. An hour of drive with AC blowing cold air on your face is more than enough to create an impact.
5. Try to avoid milk and milk based products for couple of months. On days when I don’t have milk in my breakfast, I have less congestion. The elements in milk produce strong anti bacteria agents in the body that help body produce mucus in the nose. Avoiding milk for sometime will be best for you.

All the above suggestions, except the last one about avoiding the milk, may be followed by anyone to avoid such breathing problems in future. If you have experienced this problem before and are cured now, please do let us know about the treatment you had followed. It will be helpful to our readers.