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Q: Can you feel the pollution affecting your health?
For e.g. shorter breath, more headaches, ... How long after you arrived in China did this start?
9 years 23 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
It did for a while, but now doesn't because I take a lot of precautions I didn't before.
Shorter breath after running during polluted days, yes. And the day after, spitting infected mucus, with a bad throat. No headaches. It started about one year ago (two years after my arrival), when pm2.5 >= 150 in Suzhou became the norm. Nowadays, my throat feels like when I was smocking. But I stopped smocking a few years ago.
For a time, I solved this by not running during polluted days. Those days stopped to exist. Now, I run on a treadmill in a gym.
It took about 4 months after arrival. to start affecting me. Couldnt breathe, was dizzy all of the time from the air pollution. Toxic food kept me ill for a very long time. I lost close to 25 KG in just over a month and thought that I was dying.
DrMonkey:
25Kg in a month, that would be about 0.8Kg a day. You lost a limb, had liposuction from a kamikaze surgeon, or forgot a decimal point.
Spiderboenz:
Maybe it was closer to 6 weeks? I didnt exactly keep a close eye on the days. ...Repeated cases of severe food poisoning.
Yes, I really don't feel right lately, like there is something heavy in my chest and my heart is having to work harder or something. I even wondered if I was having a heart attack or something one day recently, on a really bad air day.
It concerns me a lot.
I must be lucky. I've never felt any problems with my health in China during the three years I've been here. Shenzhen does have comparably better air quality though, so that might be why. But I did spend 3 months in Beijing and also never felt any different.
Have always been able to feel it. The need to clear my throat and spit out the results has been a China habit from the beginning. Now I can also see it. Bought a cheap DIY-style air purifier for my room (HEPA filter strapped to a common fan). The filter had already turned black before a week passed 
Stiggs:
I think I want to make one of those too.... the fan is easy, where did you get the filter?
cooter:
I actually bought it as a kit from www.smartairfilters.com. I guess technically it was my gf that bought it for me off of their taobao store. Thinking about upgrading from their original fan to the "cannon".
When I first arrived, the second or third day I started with a terrible mucusy cough. I went to the shadiest doctors I'd ever seen in my life (it wasn't that bad by Chinese standards, I see that now) and he gave me some medicine. But it comes back every now and then. Especially when it's clearly heavily polluted outside. I exercise indoors and have a purifier, not sure how good it is though. Other than coughing fits which bring up mucus, I've not done too bad....
