Daniella,
Have you looked into the Texas Gulf Coast near the Galveston area?

Hi. I live in Southern Ca in Ventura which is about 90 min from LA.Wing it is like when I walk outside the air is blowing into my eyes and why I bought special glasses but waiting. I guess MI is more humid on a good day then Ca is always.So what part of Ca is the best for this?Maybe I could go for a weekend. Traveling in my state far is not possible I feel. I can't imagine for me this is part of the aging process cause don't forget I am in my late 20's still. The way my skin looks it looks like I am going through puberty. I just start a prescription cream. I have family in TX. They get cold though in the winter and that is bad for my legs. There is no perfect location I guess. Thanks all.

Bob grew up in Ca. finally the smog got to him hurt his eyes,his wife was a
NP and it was hurting both there eyes. No humidifier was helping them.
My Daughter lives in Portland OR. And my Son and Dr. Amy are moving to
Eugene Or. in a yr..And most of Bob's relative's moved to Or.years ago.
We may do the same in a year are so..Hugs Sue

is very dry - both the air and the water very "hard"...

The winds off the desert are very hard on the skin, breathing, etc.... and allergies, and they much of the time... also, the water (you may have heard the term "Colorado River Water" is very full of minreals and will suck the moisture out of your skin and hair - when I used to get out of this area for vists, espeically back East, noticed a difference almost immediately in how much softer my hair was, etc...) (and, as SS just said - no smog which is murder on the eyes and smoke when we have the fires)

I know you're looking around the country - as for California - even getting up the coast further from where you are (but not inland) - say Carmel area - its damp, right on the ocean, and beautiuful....

I did live at the beach here for a while which was wonderful temperature wise - and got a cool ocean breeze most of the time - but the water was still real hard... (one uses lots of hair conditioner and mosturizer around here!)

Keep those glasses on!

Thanks. I am so sad this may be happening. I really like Ca but the eyes are just horrid. It could be a fluke I guess that it happened here and may of back home. Who is to know? It is so hard cause if I had no pain I could travel and see but that is hard in this condition. I would like to see how Fl is on me but going there sounds like a nightmare with the whole flying. Thanks I will keep you updated till then back to my compresses,drops,scrubs.

Ventura has just about a perfect climate for most people. That's why its wall-to-wall housing tracts. Believe it or not, Ventura was mainly agricultural when I was a kid, growing citrus, avocados, vegetables, strawberries, and even bananas (really, at the base of the hills near the sea north of town). It looked like heaven to me, compared to where I lived in Los Angeles.

Ventura gets a moderate amount of rain, mainly in the winter. It's almost never below freezing, but rarely gets uncomfortably hot. Most days, even in the summer, you'll get a nice refreshing sea breeze almost every afternoon. Except for the rare Santa Ana wind events, the humidity would usually range from above 40% to below 80% (higher at night). Summer highs will usually be between 70 and 85 degrees (not too humid), and winter highs are usually between 60 and 70. There is much less pollen in the air than the midwest, and the air pollution is much less than L.A.'s because of the sea breeze.

I think something else is setting off your problems. Stress? An infection? A drug reaction? Food allergy? Other allergies? I think you need to see a physician, and maybe a dermatologist to determine the causes and treatment for your skin problems. One thing you can do meanwhile is look up the side effects of all the medicine you are taking, including over the counter, at www.rxlist.com . See if dermatitis is one of the side effects, and then discuss it with your physician.

moved to LA years ago after my FIL passed away, she came down
with cocciomycosis (also called Valley Fever) from the inhaled dust.

Fungal infections can affect the eye....Daniella ..did they ever consider this?

I had a patient with a fungal eye infection here, who went to a corneal
specialist who finally diagnosed the fungal thing missed by other doctors.

Thanks. In addition to the many eye docs I went to an internist and a derm who gave me some face cream and special shampoo. I have not heard of that infection Mrs D. The last eye doc said and the derm about the weather so why I am ? it. Wing the thing is it is very dry and windy here. Even on a high humidity day it is lower then Mi low humidity days I guess. Thanks again. I was wondering about humidifiers which I have been searching for all day. Do I get a cool mist or a warm mist?

I think the stress of moving to a place so far and so different from where you lived, and something else besides our climate is at the root of your problems. We've had many Santa Ana events this winter compared to most. They are very dry and windy. I've lived here most of my life and find them very irritating. That being said, they don't typically cause health problems. The air during San Ana events tends to be crystalline clean. At your age it should have no health effect.

With our wonderful internet, it's easy to learn about any topic, like "Valley Fever". Simply type www.google.com into the address line of your internet browser. When Google comes up, type "valley fever" (with or without the quote marks) in the search box. You should get a screen something like this: http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search . Put more credence on sites affiliated with medical institutions or pure information services less on sites trying to sell you something. A convenient source for quick information is www.wikipedia.com . The valley fever page for Wikipedia is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_fever . The distribution map (click on it to make it larger) is interesting in that valley fever is found in Ventura.

You might be having a bad reaction to either flea bites or bedbugs. Both are easy to get. Bed bugs in particular can be picked up at any motel or hotel if they crawl into your luggage at night. My son got bitten up something fierce in a hostel in Rome and reacted strongly to the bites with symptoms similar to what you describe. You can see pictures of bedbug bites at http://hotels.about.com/od/hotelsecrets/ig/Bedbug-Bites/ . Click on the line that says "Gallery Index" to see a bunch of pictures. Click on any picture to make it large. Bedbugs are small, light brown, flat, and hide during the day so they're almost impossible to see. If you have or suspect bedbugs, you'll need a professional extermination service, or burn down the house.

Fleas can live off of you even if you have no pets, if the people before you did. Fleas are easy to get rid of. Use Frontline on your pets, and vacuum daily. Even a bad infestation will be cleared up within a few weeks. Southern California is the center of the known universe for fleas because of our mild winters and moderate climate. Fleas thrive in San Diego to Santa Barbara but they can't survive where the humidity is very low, like the desert. Snow, ice, and heavy rain gets their numbers way down during the winter in places like the Pacific Northwest or the Great Plains and North East.

Please stay in touch with us as you get to the bottom of the problem and clear it up. I'm sure this will just be a fading bad memory before you know it.

Ah, I can answer the humidifier question.

Get a cool mist. I had purchased a Vicks Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier. I had used them years before. This one cost $70.00 at my local CVS. We figured $70.00, hey it must be good.

Now what happened when I got my cool mist humidifier?. Well, it leaked.

I called the company and they replaced it. It still leaked.

I called them again. All they made me do was cut off the plug and put it in an envelope and mail it back to them. Why they did this, I have no idea.

They then sent me another humidifer. So we are talking about 3 to 4 humidifiers. This is the top of the line, with some kind of charcoal thingee, and a square thing that fits into the bottom (when you take off the plastic top part of the humidifier). It prevents white dust from coming on your furniture.

So what happened the first night I used it?

I had water all over my floor.

So I now have it in the closet.

No more humidifier. I'm afraid to get another one. I've had 4 total in my life time and they all leaked.

I don't know why they told me to get a Cool Mist. When I went to the drugstore earlier today, I saw a Vicks Warm Mist thing and it's cheap, but I really think that cool mist is healthier.

I most certainly wish you better luck than I had with my humidifiers.

I do remember, that when I first got one (years and years ago), I breathed better during the night. And I always had it running if I had a cold or a stuffy nose.

Best of luck

P.S. When I read the bedbug story, I wanted to throw up. And after seeing the photos I really thought I would. That is the single most disgusting thing I ever saw. I would't stay in a hotel or a motel now, if you paid me a million dollars.
With my OCD, I know I'm going to be checking my mattress immediately.

good god!!!