Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Cold and Damp Outside

AmyHar
AmyHar
Okay, I realize I'm pretty new (one month) to this PE thing, but it seems a lot harder to get enough air when I'm outside right now. I live in TN and it has been cold and damp for about a week. It is very painful when I go outside. Is that normal?
deleted_user
deleted_user
For me, damp weather is one of my worst enemies! The cold air is painful (but tolerable) but add in humidity and I am done!
deleted_user
deleted_user
Cold damp weather is very painful for me. I wear a scarf around my face which really helps. It also amuses my children :-)
deleted_user
deleted_user
I am from Minnesota and didn't have any problems with the cold weather this winter. Everyone is different though in the severity of their problems.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I'm there with you, AmyHar. I'm 6 months post PE's, I live in Chicago, and the damp cold really gets me in the lungs and upper back. The dry cold doesn't seem to bother me as much. Can't wait to see what the summer humidity does!

cmalt is so right, there's no such thing as normal. Everyone's experience with their recovery is different. It took me a LONG time to accept that. I'm still learning to let go of terms like "should" and "normal". Good luck with your breathing, and take care.
TossNTurn
TossNTurn
I had a lot of trouble with changes in temperature and humidity during my first year post-PE. In June, I was in Texas and the heat and humidity about levelled me. In North Carolina in August, the humidity kept me indoors part of the day. In November, I went for a walk in freezing temperatures in Colorado, and it took about a week for me to feel like I could breath again.

I'm hoping this year my lungs are more resiliant and I handle to changes better. I have to echo the idea of having a scarf over your nose and mouth. I wear a bandana outside when it is chilly now.
AmyHar
AmyHar
I went to the internal medicine specialist and was correctly diagnosed with Tietze's syndrome AKA costochondritis. All the symptoms fit.

http://www.medfriendly.com/costochondritis.php5