ARGHHH, Air Conditioning causing perpetual soar throat! Does A/C cause permanent lung damage?

[Madcowz]

My family hardly ever used the AC at all througout much of my life and now that I'm living on my own and have a window AC unit in my room, I've been noticing dry throat for the past week. It's not quite a sore throat, but rather it's kinda like what you experience the day before a full blown sore throat. Everytime I wake up it's the worst, and then it's less noticeable throughout the day. At first I thought I was just due for a sore throat/cold, but it's been in this in between state for the past 7 days, and I'm guessing it's the AC now since my lungs aren't used to this cold dry air. Someone told me that the coolant stuff can irritate the lungs as well as the dryer air, and he said that's why a lot of people in Florida have lung problems (I don't know if that's true or not). Is this stuff true? Will my lungs get used to this, or am I putting my lungs at risk for permanent detrimental effects?

 

[Madcowz]

oh and I DID clean out the filter about 2 weeks ago

 

[Adul]

Have your ventilation system ducts cleaned out. Get one of the clean air filters as well. More expensive but they make a difference for me.

 

[Siddhartha]

Could be a coincidence. Surely you had AC in school or at work....

 

[Grminalac]

Buy a humidifier.

 

[Madcowz]

Could be a coincidence. Surely you had AC in school or at work....

Well ya, but I wasn't exposed to it 24/7 then, whereas now pretty much I am

 

[OrganizedChaos]

Originally posted by: Grminalac
Buy a humidifier.

kinda defeats the purpose of putting in an AC

 

[bleeb]

Try buying an air filter. The the Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image. or try one of those HEPA filter ones. I have one in my room and noticed my nose wasn't as stuffy as usual in the morning.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: OrganizedChaos

Originally posted by: Grminalac
Buy a humidifier.

kinda defeats the purpose of putting in an AC

Not really. If the humidifier is used with a low setting at night when going to bed, it will keep the bedroom air moist enough that it won't dry out someone's throat.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: bleeb
Try buying an air filter. The the Ionic Breeze from Sharper Image. or try one of those HEPA filter ones. I have one in my room and noticed my nose wasn't as stuffy as usual in the morning.

hepa yes, ionic no. ionic = spewing ozone and ineffective.

 

[mee987]

i also say get a humidifier

 

[Wag]

Is there any proof that the HEPA based filters work? Last I read in Consumer Reports they said you'ld be better off just opening your window every once in a while.

 

[LAUST]

it's the WINDOW unit... those do that to me all the time, now that I have central AC that problem has been 100% wiped out.

I think it has something to do with the exhaust not being able to escape fully, where a central air unit it's all fresh air AWAY from the A-Frame