your thoughts? asthma like symptoms in Galacia

[shefollowsshells]

Strange question but just occurred to me with the numbers of experienced pilgrims all in one place someone might be able to shed some light on this situation for me.
I walked Le Puy, Norte to Finesterra with five of my children in the Fall. Arrival to Finesterre was November 24th so mid November would be the time frame of when this happened.
My youngest started seeming to have some light difficulty of breathing once we said good bye to the coast and headed down to Santiago. This area was a bit hilly, filled with eucalyptus trees, days were shorter (due to day light savings) and a lot of rain. Though we had hiking legs and then some with almost three months of walking behind us, I'd say we were as tired as we were on any part of the walk maybe the rain added to this.
My youngest daughter , age 9 and an amazing trooper who had no problem keeping up with any of us started having situations of coughing that would not stop, "chest discomfort" and I'd say difficulty breathing. Once we removed her pack and took a break, she never let us pack or carry her items but I made the decision here to make her take it off and we stopped for about an hour.
The oldest kids didn't really believe her symptoms (I hate to say)...they were not convinced this was not for some attention. I totally was convinced and three months into this having had no fake drama from her I kept asking them, "why now would she be making this up?".
Also it was not to her advantage to be coughing so much climbing steep hills...
ODDLY at this same time I was reading about deaths in Austrailia on my news feed, they seemed to be from spores, mold in forrest.
Home 7 months or so I never have given this any thought except bringing up to her DR in a physical who didn't seem to have any thought.
Yesterday I booked us for the Portugeuse in March and started reading blogs that mentioned the eucalyptus on the route, I all of sudden remembered our situation way back then...
Have any of you experienced, seen this...or have any knowledge to share?
We did not encounter this until our final days before Santiago and on the route to Finesterra.
Oddly Eucalyptus is used to help people with asthma and these sort of symptoms.
I of course want to think this is not eucalyptus. We had , of course, up until this point gone through tons of forrest and even 7 days in the Pyreneese...
To my knowledge she is not allergic to anything...
Thanks in advance for any insight...
*****UPDATED TO ADD: This happened in late fall, allergies that I read about are centered around Spring...

 

[poogeyejr]

Funny I should read this . . . I went to Morocco this spring. Bought eucalyptus sap to put into tea and breathe in during illness - like a cold.

I used it once - a month ago and I won't use it again.

I put it in hot water, and it did clear up my sinuses and cold symptoms and I could breathe through my nose - but it closed up my chest like a mild asthma attack - seems like I am allergic to the eucalyptus!

Walking through a eucalyptus forest I would definitely take a preventative antihistamine and have an inhaler with me.

But I would definitely still take the Portuguese!

 

[SYates]

.... To my knowledge she is not allergic to anything...This happened in late fall, allergies that I read about are centered around Spring...

You might ask her doc to test her for allergies and, in case it is the Eucalyptus it will be more likely because of the oil/smell and not because of the pollen that happen in spring. Buen Camino, SY

 

[poogeyejr]

Like SY says - pollen allergies are in the Spring. Other allergies are all year round . . . unfortunately!

 

[jo webber]

Some Eucalyptus trees (the ones here) drip a sort of sap to keep bugs away. Sometimes the leaves are sticky. Get her tested for allergies and carry an emergency inhaler.
We carry an emergency inhaler as both my Husband and I have had issues with "altitude" in the past. An inhaler is just a part of our normal med kit now.

 

[Devon Mike]

I found that walking through eucalyptus plantations in the hot dry weather in May/June on my Camino Frances each time in the last 3 years gave me sneezing, coughing and sore eyes. I don't usually have hay fever problems in the UK but maybe the eucalyptus trees are the cause of a different reaction.

However I love the fragrance in the eucalyptus plantations.

 

[MinaKamina]

Have her tested.
I have had allergies that hit my lungs since I was a child. Certain types of weather made it worse.
I used to have an emergency inhaler. Since some years I have a 'disk' that I use all year round. Apparently it gives my lungs the protection they need, because I no longer need the emergency inhaler - my lungs no longer notice emergencies. I like to say that a little white powder goes a long way!

As for siblings - I distinctly remember how mine were nagging me and telling me stop. This made my breathing problems worse. Please tell your kids that this is not a matter of opinion or for discussion and that you won't have anything of it.

 

[shefollowsshells]

Have her tested.
I have had allergies that hit my lungs since I was a child. Certain types of weather made it worse.
I used to have an emergency inhaler. Since some years I have a 'disk' that I use all year round. Apparently it gives my lungs the protection they need, because I no longer need the emergency inhaler - my lungs no longer notice emergencies. I like to say that a little white powder goes a long way!

As for siblings - I distinctly remember how mine were nagging me and telling me stop. This made my breathing problems worse. Please tell your kids that this is not a matter of opinion or for discussion and that you won't have anything of it.

Thank you!!! I did!!! But I do thank you for sharing that such foolishness can actually make it worse and cause anxiety.
Thank you for sharing!!!
I always knew it was a true experience as there was nothing in it for her to be coughing while going up a hill and she certainly didn't need anymore attention than she got, she was loved
everywhere we went
Thank you!

 

[Hiawatha]

My daughter suffers from severe ,chronic ,rapid onset asthma. We live in SE Victoria, Australia the asthma capital of the world . As I walk the Camino Frances I am carrying an inhaler . A habit I cannot break after years of ministering to my child . She is not with me but someone else's daughter or son may need it and so I carry it as a Camino burden .
Eucalyptus is rarely a direct cause of asthma reactions , a more likely culprit is the Australian Wattle commonly planted alongside and which flowers almost throughout the year .
As I walked through Carrion Des Los Condes I was horrified to see the grass and surrounding bushes covered in Plane tree pollen a renowned allergen . Banks of pollen feet deep lined the river and I realised at that moment and with much heart ache and regret that
" my daughter will never experience the joys of the Camino "

 

[camino-david]

The particular problem in Australia was confined Melbourne and the environs and was caused by a period of very hot dry weather during which grasses were dry and grass pollen count was high. This was followed by a day of high winds which picked up and spread the pollen over the Melbourne area resulting in the Emergency Depts in hospitals being overcrowded by patients with asthma attacks. Several thousand people had moderate to severe attacks. This emergency had no relation to Eucalyptus.
Back in England over 50 years ago I suffered from hayfever (in the same family as asthma) during summers for which I took tablets which helped. I then came to Australia in 1962 and never had hayfever until I walked the Camino Portuguese in 2013. I assumed that it was the European pollens that caused it. Immediately on my return I started getting asthma, which is more or less with me all the time especially if I am outside when it is cold. So I always carry a puffer with me. It is not caused by pollens. What puzzles me is that your daughter was coughing, which does not sound like asthma to me. My asthma consists of a tightness in the chest, sometimes accompanied by pain in the chest, and a gasping for breath, and a wheeze noise when inhaling.
I suggest that your daughter could be allergic to something, maybe a particular pollen, or dust. I strongly suggest that you consult a doctor who specializes in allergies who can carry out a series of tests to determine the exact reason. Without wanting to be alarmist, asthma can be very serious.

 

[Hiawatha]

How I dread the soft quiet cough David ! That thief in the night that destroys your family's contentment and creates panic and consternation. The gentle harbinger of panic and the mad dash to the nearest emergency centre.
Asthma comes in many forms , the soft cough , as innocuous as it seems is sometimes a precursor to a massive life threatening attack.

 

[MinaKamina]

"My youngest daughter , age 9 and an amazing trooper who had no problem keeping up with any of us started having situations of coughing that would not stop, "chest discomfort" and I'd say difficulty breathing.

I remember both vaguely and clearly the first time I had what turned into asthmatic hayfever attacks. I think I was a little younger, maybe six or seven. We had been playing in high grassland near the river, and I came down with a strange cough mixed with breathing problems. Those breathing problems were more in the background that time, but later they would become the main concern.
Looking back, I regret to say that my doctors were not the best. They did the same tests over and over, and never gave me medication that worked. I taught myself to keep calm and relax, but that took until I was in my late teens (and even then it did not always work). I don't think a young child can manage that. Like the OP's daughter, I only wanted to join in the fun and be like the rest. Unfortunately, forcing myself only made my breathing problems worse.
One thing that was very good for me during the hayfever season was being near the ocean. The wind from the seas, the fresh air would unclog my lungs within one day.

The first big improvement was called Ventolin. A small inhaler, the size of a cigarette lighter. I'd inhale, hold my breath and ...gone! The second breakthrough came about decade ago. The flu had hit my lungs, and my GP prescribed a 'disk'. It worked like a miracle. When I had finished the prescription, he urged that I'd continue to use it, to protect my lungs. The hayfever season came and went, I barely noticed it and I have not had a hayfever attack since. *knocks on wood*

IMO what happened to your daughter was very real, and you reacted well. Fortunately you have ample time before your next Camino to have her tested and put her on medication.