Bird Fancier'S Lung

[Guest featheredfiends]

Hello all

 

I do hope I have posted this in the right place, apologies if I have not.

 

Firstly I will introduce myself - My name is Marianne and I live in London with my husband and nine budgies. I also write a blog about them but as you're pigeon people I wont bore you with that!

 

I have been recently diagnosed with bird fancier's lung and told to give up my birds for the sake of my health or I could be on permanent oxygen with irreversible lung damage. The doctors have been hitting me over the head with the news like a sledge hammer.

 

I am here to try and gather more information about BFL (I'm allergic to budgie dander, droppings and also pigeons) and hopefully get some advice on how I can manage this rather than get rid of my beloved birds.

 

So far we have a new bagless vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter and also an air purifier running 24/7, I also wear a mask when cleaning out cage bottoms and droppings and sweeping - the doctors insist that this wont help but I get the feeling that they don't really care about my emotional attachment, just that the "threat" is eliminated. Fair enough, that is their job, but I am the one that would have to part with my nine little souls.

 

Any advice whether health, environment or just a discussion would really help me.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Marianne

[OLDYELLOW]

mobile air purifier

[Guest featheredfiends]

mobile air purifier

 

 

Is there such a thing!

 

I do carry the air purifier with me from the front room to the other room if I am going to be there for more than an hour.

[OLDYELLOW]

im sure some of others will know makes and stuff also you can get an air cap as well

[Guest geordiejen]

their is also a head mask you can buy which has an electric filter that takes batteries.do you keep the birds in the house because that could be a problem.

[Tony C]

This condition is known to us as PFL (pigeon fanciers lung)

 

http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/faq.html

 

This link will show you a variety of masks http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/masks.html

[yorkie]

could you not keep the birds in an outside flight ? budgies are bad for the dust and if you are allergic to it you will have problems. If you pm me your email address i can put you in touch with someone who has had the same problems - it may help to share experiences.There are some expensive filters on the market but i dont think they worked for him, you could be wasting your money

[OLDYELLOW]

well done Tony

[Guest IB]

Hi Marianne, sorry to hear of your problem. Can you confirm if you keep your budgies in your home, or in an outhouse? If you do have this allergy, your home environment must be kept free of anything that sparks it off. In an outhouse you can at least take the precautions already described on here, and your home environment will remain safe for you.

 

I would also advise that you contact the British Fanciers Medical Research team and ask for a test, this at least will give you a second opinion from an organisation specialising in this allergy. It has been misdiagnosed before in NHS.

[greenlands]

If you keep your birds in the house would an ioniser be any benifit.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=874&q=ioniser&aq=f&aqi=g4g-s1g5&aql=&oq=

 

Lindsay.

[billt]

Hi Marianne, sorry to hear of your problem. Can you confirm if you keep your budgies in your home, or in an outhouse? If you do have this allergy, your home environment must be kept free of anything that sparks it off. In an outhouse you can at least take the precautions already described on here, and your home environment will remain safe for you.

 

I would also advise that you contact the British Fanciers Medical Research team and ask for a test, this at least will give you a second opinion from an organisation specialising in this allergy. It has been misdiagnosed before in NHS.

If you click on the Budgie blog at the bottom of her first post it seems like indoors but a good view, nice birds, mostly cocks and the grey pied is a beaut

[Guest featheredfiends]

their is also a head mask you can buy which has an electric filter that takes batteries.do you keep the birds in the house because that could be a problem.

 

Yes, I keep them in the front room. I live on the 2nd floor in a one bed flat so it's not really an option to do anything else.

 

 

This condition is known to us as PFL (pigeon fanciers lung)

 

http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/faq.html

 

This link will show you a variety of masks http://www.pigeon-lung.co.uk/masks.html

 

Thank you Tony. I'll take a good look at the links

 

 

could you not keep the birds in an outside flight ? budgies are bad for the dust and if you are allergic to it you will have problems. If you pm me your email address i can put you in touch with someone who has had the same problems - it may help to share experiences.There are some expensive filters on the market but i dont think they worked for him, you could be wasting your money

 

They are in my front room.

 

I'll PM you my email address it would be very useful to hear from someone that has had the exact same problem as me.

 

 

Hi Marianne, sorry to hear of your problem. Can you confirm if you keep your budgies in your home, or in an outhouse? If you do have this allergy, your home environment must be kept free of anything that sparks it off. In an outhouse you can at least take the precautions already described on here, and your home environment will remain safe for you.

 

I would also advise that you contact the British Fanciers Medical Research team and ask for a test, this at least will give you a second opinion from an organisation specialising in this allergy. It has been misdiagnosed before in NHS.

 

Front room, I'm on the 2nd floor!

 

Thank you, I will contact them today, that is so helpful thank you!

 

 

If you keep your birds in the house would an ioniser be any benifit.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=874&q=ioniser&aq=f&aqi=g4g-s1g5&aql=&oq=

 

Lindsay.

 

I have an air purifier, is that different from an ioniser?

 

 

If you click on the Budgie blog at the bottom of her first post it seems like indoors but a good view, nice birds, mostly cocks and the grey pied is a beaut

 

Snowy is the Dominant Cinnamon Opaline Grey Pied and I agree he's a beauty!

[Pompey Mick]

The fact that you are sharing the same air space as your Budgies makes this a very serious problem. When Pigeon Fanciers deal with PFL they can seperate the Pigeons from their home life by the use of masks and removeable clothing and the fact that pigeons are externally housed.

Your Budgies are pets in the same way as a dog or cat, there is no way you can continue healthily with this level of personal attachment.

The only way that I can see you alleviating this problem is to have the budgies permanently housed in an internal flight against an external wall with an extractor fan venting outside so that all bloom etc is immediately vented away from your living space. The flight will need to be enclosed with perhaps plastic sheeting & curtaining which can be adjusted to suit. You could still have some contact with budgies with suitable precautions such as this device you wear around your neck. http://www.dazer.com/airogard.jsp

[Craig05]

Hello all

 

I do hope I have posted this in the right place, apologies if I have not.

 

Firstly I will introduce myself - My name is Marianne and I live in London with my husband and nine budgies. I also write a blog about them but as you're pigeon people I wont bore you with that!

 

I have been recently diagnosed with bird fancier's lung and told to give up my birds for the sake of my health or I could be on permanent oxygen with irreversible lung damage. The doctors have been hitting me over the head with the news like a sledge hammer.

 

I am here to try and gather more information about BFL (I'm allergic to budgie dander, droppings and also pigeons) and hopefully get some advice on how I can manage this rather than get rid of my beloved birds.

 

So far we have a new bagless vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter and also an air purifier running 24/7, I also wear a mask when cleaning out cage bottoms and droppings and sweeping - the doctors insist that this wont help but I get the feeling that they don't really care about my emotional attachment, just that the "threat" is eliminated. Fair enough, that is their job, but I am the one that would have to part with my nine little souls.

 

Any advice whether health, environment or just a discussion would really help me.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Marianne

Hi Marianne,

looking at your photo's, is that a balcony which you can see through the window on the first photo? if so, why not look at having something wall mounted outside?

[gulkie]

my mate was tested at Blackpool a number of years back and found to

be positive for avian protean in the blood at the time he was told that

the cause was a result of spoors from the droppings and not the bloom.

he has since retired from the sport.

[airdrie2]

was he using deep litter at the time wullie

[Guest featheredfiends]

The fact that you are sharing the same air space as your Budgies makes this a very serious problem. When Pigeon Fanciers deal with PFL they can seperate the Pigeons from their home life by the use of masks and removeable clothing and the fact that pigeons are externally housed.

Your Budgies are pets in the same way as a dog or cat, there is no way you can continue healthily with this level of personal attachment.

The only way that I can see you alleviating this problem is to have the budgies permanently housed in an internal flight against an external wall with an extractor fan venting outside so that all bloom etc is immediately vented away from your living space. The flight will need to be enclosed with perhaps plastic sheeting & curtaining which can be adjusted to suit. You could still have some contact with budgies with suitable precautions such as this device you wear around your neck. http://www.dazer.com/airogard.jsp

 

 

I agree, it's serious, I can't help being personally attached to them though they are like my children (I have no children)

 

Is the device expensive? - the website doesn't seem to say. It's not something I have heard of before.

 

Hi Marianne,

looking at your photo's, is that a balcony which you can see through the window on the first photo? if so, why not look at having something wall mounted outside?

 

It's a very small balcony and a housing association property - they wouldn't let us build anything there even if there was space.

 

 

my mate was tested at Blackpool a number of years back and found to

be positive for avian protean in the blood at the time he was told that

the cause was a result of spoors from the droppings and not the bloom.

he has since retired from the sport.

 

Sorry for your mate, that must have been hard.

 

I have sent for a test kit just to make sure the NHS are right with their diagnosis.

 

was he using deep litter at the time wullie

 

What is deep litter?

 

 

[airdrie2]

seen on tv self test kits a waste of money

deep litter is a system used in pigeon lofts where you only clean out litter every year or later not for budgies

[Guest featheredfiends]

seen on tv self test kits a waste of money

deep litter is a system used in pigeon lofts where you only clean out litter every year or later not for budgies

 

The test kit was a suggestion from a forum member above, I have ordered it from the British Fanciers Medical Research team, I am sure it will be pretty accurate.

 

Wow, deep litter sounds a bit unhygenic then.

[gulkie]

was he using deep litter at the time wullie

not sure charlie

[Guest featheredfiends]

Thought I would update on this.

 

I had my test done by the British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research team and got my results:

"your antibody level to Pigeon Antigen as 73 mcg/ml (micrograms per millilitre)This puts your level in the High category.51 to 100: HighSymptoms of pigeon lung usually occur and can be severe. It is most important to take proper precautions when with the pigeons. Mask, cap and coat should used routinely and the level of contact with the birds should be reduced."

[leslie24williams49]

have you tried antihistamines..

[Guest featheredfiends]

Yes, I take them every day and 30mg of steroids to heal my damaged lungs!

have you tried antihistamines..

[Guest IB]

That's a very high count and confirms what your own doctors have told you. Have you thought any more on what to do with your budgies? If they remain inside your house you can't get away from their dander which is the root of your problem. I've a count of 29, and now take precautions while in my pigeon loft. I was going to put in air extractors for the birds sake but felt they weren't needed, I will now be putting them in for my own health.

[Guest featheredfiends]

Apart from the extensive cleaning routine that I already have and the air purifier and vacuum with HEPA filters, not sure yet.

 

I have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow for a CT scan and X-ray to see whether my lungs have healed or got worse, this is my first proper test of that since I came out of hospital so fingers crossed what I am doing already is making a difference.

 

Thankfulyl the weather is warmer at the moment and I can have the window open (we built a screen for the window so that the budgies can fly free and we can open a window to get a cross-draft going when it's warm)

 

 

All depends on tomorrows results - although I doubt I'll ever get rid of the birds, I just love them too much.

 

 

That's a very high count and confirms what your own doctors have told you. Have you thought any more on what to do with your budgies? If they remain inside your house you can't get away from their dander which is the root of your problem. I've a count of 29, and now take precautions while in my pigeon loft. I was going to put in air extractors for the birds sake but felt they weren't needed, I will now be putting them in for my own health.