Is It Time to Stop Sailing?

[wolfgal]

perhaps you are correct...

if so, could it be that the solution lies in having the boat moved to "cleaner" waters elsewhere?

[Don C L]

Are you on your boat in Long Island Sound only certain times of the year? And your symptoms are different in Florida or non-existent? I got it, move the mono to FLA and see what happens!

[Chotu]

We are getting ready to leave these waters and will be at offshore islands and deep Maine all summer. So it appears everything is going to work. Whew!

I was out on the boat most of the day today and had absolutely no problems. None. I wore a a 3M N95 mask and not a bit of anything made it to my respiratory system.

So, I'm going to use the masks when on the water or near it, until I can get out to cleaner waters. Pretty sure it's some sort of algae bloom type of something coming off the polluted local waters here.

Then on the offshore islands and in deep Maine, I'll try taking the masks off.

Today , I took a 10 minute walk completely forgetting about the mask and I felt it. Burning, short of breath.

Tonight or tomorrow night I'm going to sleep on the boat again in a mask and see how it goes.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Are you on your boat in Long Island Sound only certain times of the year? And your symptoms are different in Florida or non-existent? I got it, move the mono to FLA and see what happens!

And yes. Exactly. No problems on this boat last fall. None. We lived aboard for a month or 2. It was a pretty mold free boat by my high standards.

This spring, I had to go away on business for a month and my girlfriend was on the boat early season. Cooking, heating it... Condensation and some new mold. I thought that was what was getting me until I slept in the RV about 50-100ft from the water with an onshore breeze and felt the same thing, then didn't feel it after moving the RV same night.

That kind of tipped me off.

The only experiments left are running the AC, closed up, no mask on... , sleeping with a mask.. and going mask free out in cleaner waters.

Things are definitely looking up after all day out on and near the water today without any problem using an N95 mask.

[JPA Cate]

What a saga! Good luck, mate!

Ann

[GRIT]

You might enjoy a trip to the Great White North, now that it's more or less Green.

Seriously, you'll find far less pollution in our waters (Nova Scotia and PEI) than you will anywhere on the East Coast of the USA.

Plus, the CAD is down to about 76 cents US; it'll be a cheap summer for you.

Just a thought...

I hope you've found a solution.

Good luck.
Paul.

[bensolomon]

Sean,
I just sent you a text.


Ben

[John Engineer]

Hi Sean, Someone nice (littlewing77) recommended that I offer you help?
I am in Spain right now.
I have read everything from the beginning. Wow! Lots of advice and some good.
Medically I believe Ben Solomon is a serious advantage in your life. Well done Ben.
I am very experienced with various products, paints, resins etc. but I normally rely on an INDUSTRIAL CHEMIST friend from SP chemicals(Hemple products). Isle of wight, UK. Martin Armstrong. If you wish me to contact him regarding the finer points of epoxies? I will phone him and ask your questions.
He recommended a SOLVENT-ED EPOXY to me for a job. I don't know if this has the same chemical or allergy reactions? However I think you are very experienced yourself and probably a heavy gas that is from chemical pollution pumped out in the area may be a cause that combines with the build up from epoxy contamination.
See if Dr. Ben finds real science and maybe I might be able to help find answers via a friend that makes (INVENTS) this bad epoxy stuff that I am still using fortunately.
I had too many strange ailments to mention about 3 years ago and spent thousands to look for a cure or clue to the cause? Doctors found mercury in my blood (after I insisted on a test) No proper medical cure was available.
I was just boat building or sailing like you. The source was never found but Chlorella alge tablets from a local natural products store cleared me up in 5 days and I never looked back.
I am a professional engineer boat builder not a doctor so Ben is the best advisor by what I seen in this thread.
Don't give up anything in your dreams unless you really know there is no way to keep them. Cheers John

[Lance]

Note to Chotu , sorry I only just found your request about my previous postings regards

THE PLANT PARADOX BY DR GUNDRY .
Ok I will give a brief explanation here of my personal understanding but I am not a doctor or preacher and figure if someone is interested enough and goes to the simple stage of buying and reading the real explanations from the book then they are more likely to believe the theory .
Once again from a concentrated rebuild I became extremely sensitive to many chemicals with severe skin breakouts .
Not lung problems like the OP but it was diagnosed as allergies .
Explained to be confused/failing immune system. Specialist tested etc.and told there was no cure just avoidance, not goodenough for me so I explored alternatives to discover THE PLANT PARADOX and its simple instructions.



Dr Gundry explains the immune system is dependent on good gut bacteria and his recommendations and diet advice are towards achieving this .

[Chotu]

Problem solved, mostly.

This is what happened. Ben diagnosed asthma set off by various triggers. He called in a prescription for things to treat the asthma and suggested an antihistamine too. I never thought of asthma as anything but something you can get from exercise. Duh.

The pharmacy lost the prescription and I was stuck a couple days as we are traveling with the boat.

So, I looked up asthma and found nocturnal asthma. Based on the logic of allergens and nocturnal asthma, I started taking a non drowsy antihistamine at night before bed.

Absolutely no more symptoms and no more waking up at 3am choking every night!

I haven't gone near epoxy but I can finally breathe again. It's amazing!

Ben's diagnosis of Asthma is what fixed this situation. I have to give a deep thanks to him as well as all the credit for solving a problem that nearly took me out of boating all together.

So a happy ending to the story.

Epoxy remains to be seen. But breathing on a boat is now a non issue.

[John Engineer]

This is now 101 comments of spurious advice to read! However well done to Dr. Ben Solomon for his experiance and actually making the difference.
Sean, I am sure we are all happy that at least the first big health battle has been won.
One battle at a time. All the best!

[Don C L]

Wow! Amazing! Great to hear yer back in boats! Thanks to both you and Ben and all others for going through this together. Who knows who else has been helped by this thread. It just shows the value of a forum like this, even if we ain't all MDs!

[JPA Cate]

Congratulations, Sean! You're on your way again!

Ben, thank you so very much for helping Sean. Huge gold star, etc. Well done, sir!

Ann

[bensolomon]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Congratulations, Sean! You're on your way again!

Ben, thank you so very much for helping Sean. Huge gold star, etc. Well done, sir!

Ann

Thanks for the kudos, but none are necessary. Sean's continued ability to sail is all that is needed.

We are all part of an amazing community of extraordinary people. Helping each other is what we do. It defines us.

All the best,
Ben

[hellosailor]

Chotu-
Asthma can sneak past even the pros. I know someone who had it for 20 years, and then when a stomach problem (GERD and a bad esophageal sphincter) were solved, poof, the asthma went away. Turned out the nightly inhalation of stomache acid was causing the problem.
Pharmacies are in the unenviable business of being the man in the middle, arguing with insurers and distributors and customers and doctors all alike. And usually short of staff. But if the one that lost your Rx is in the US? You can usually motivate them into calling the doctor RIGHT NOW and fixing the problem by speaking to the pharmacist or manager and mentioning "I'm sure you can do something about this, you realize losing patient confidential information would be a Class A HIPAA violation and I'd hate to have to report that."
Motivation: Put the carrot ON the stick.(G)