Can bleach fumes trigger asthma attack?
Patient: Hello, I was wondering if bleach fumes can trigger an asthma attack. I was diagnosed with asthma about 20 years ago, and told it was "environmentally triggered". After about a year of mild breathing problems off and on, I seemed to have "gotten over it" (if that's even possible). Recently, I have 2 episodes that brought back that frightening feeling of not being able to breathe. The first was during a severe wind storm, where there was a substantial amount of dust in the air, so I went indoors, and within a few hours, I felt a lot better. This was about 9 months ago. Today, the janitor at the school where I work used a VERY strong bleach solution in her mop bucket when cleaning the cafeteria floor, and within minutes I was coughing and experiencing the old familiar tightening of the chest, and difficulty breathing. Almost 6 hours later, I am still coughing a scratchy irritated throat type cough, accompanied by some thicker phlegm, and I am still experiencing moderate difficulty breathing. I seem to be able to inhale pretty deeply, but it doesn't seem like I'm getting much air. =( Could the fumes from the bleach solution have triggered this? Doctor: Hi thanks for using healthcaremagic...Asthma is hypersensitivity of the Respiratory system...As a result of the increased response there will be an increased production of secretions ,ie.increased phlegm....Bronchospasm ie.constriction of the respiratory tree...initially starts as cough and later it becomes breathing difficulty..Anything which causes Asthma is called trigger factor...There are so many trigger factors---dust,smell,food....Hence the smell of bleach can irritate the respiratory tree and can act as a trigger factor...Anti-histamine and inhalers can help you...Thank you...