Masks are coming back and I feel like an idiot!

[Rainbowheart1]

As the title, I can’t wear one as I can’t breath, they are really coming back into force where I live and I do tend to overthink things and I feel like a prat!

I had to go hospital recently and everyone, I mean everyone had a mask apart from me and I just look stupid! To look at me and not know me, I look young, fit and healthy, which makes it worst!

Am I doing overthinking this? Do you think people think I’m some sort of Covid rebel?

Unless there's any mental trauma or physical disability - you can breathe in a mask. Particularly the blue/white paper masks.

I have asthma, and still wore a mask the day after an asthma attack as I know how not being able to breathe really feels. I would rather I didn't have to go through breathing difficulties with Covid.

I've wore a mask every day at work and have done for over a year so there's no choice really either.

It takes a little time and practice to get used to breathing in a mask, after a while you won't really notice it as much (any disabilities/mental health allowing of course)

If you really can't wear a mask, keep your distance from others and maybe wear an exemption lanyard.

@Chunkymenrock

Breathe (rhymes with seethe.) Breath (rhymes with death.) Yes, I know I'll be torn to shreds, but it's helpful to differentiate.

Chunkymenrock Thank you

People don’t seem to understand what it is like to live with a chronic lung disease. The hot air trapped by the mask increases humidity and makes it harder for people with a variety of lung disease to breathe. No amount of ‘practicing’ is going to get rid of a chronic lung disease is it.

I try to wear them for as long as possible in the hospital/doctors but have to take them off for a break regularly.

I’m very happy to hear that more people are wearing masks tbh.

I also know that some (but tbf few) people have real problems with masks. In that case, just wear a lanyard. No one will question that.

As for feeling stupid… you either chose to nit wear a mask in a hospital and then yes Id say you are stupid.
Or you can’t genuinely wear a mask and you have no reason at all to feel stupid. No one is ever stupid for having some ‘special need’ of some sort (even if that ‘special need’ is being unable to wear a mask)

why was someone i am close to told to remove his reusable mask at his hospital appointment and given a disposable one. Hardly fits with the "well surgeons manage" rhetoric does it. It proves that its not the same.

YY @elbea DH has COPD.

Oh God not these threads again.

Have you got a medical condition which impacts your breathing, or do you just not like masks?

How is this any different from a year ago? Did you feel stupid then?

@Blackberrybunnet

you can breathe. you are only panicking. if you are "exempt" you should stay away from public areas. if we protect you, then you should protect us. it's about respect

People who are genuinely exempt deserve to go about their lives like anyone else. You are asking a large group of people, a lot of them disabled, to simply stay at home which is unfair.

My mother can’t breathe - she has extremely bad COPD and can barely get up the stairs without being out of breath.

She manages to wear a mask.

Just saying

Actually @AlanisMorningShed it’s much more complex than that.

I know people with asthma who have no issue just like yourself. Others who struggle. You can hear then getting short of breath behind a mask as they talk to you for example.
Some struggle to make ANY effort with a mask, such as going up a few steps.

I dont have asthma but I do have a chronic condition. If I’m particularly tired, I’m struggling with a mask and any small effort. Stairs, waking slightly quicker, a small ‘incline’ going up (such like a ramp for disabled people). I’m afraid I have to take the mask off, settle my breathing before I can put it back on again 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Mask wearing is majorly reducing where I live

In a medical setting...............fine.

But its ethically dubious expecting someone with a lung disease to wear a mask round Tesco to protect others.
Especially when those same others couldnt have given a fuck worth a damn if they had passed flu onto someone with a lung disease pre Covid The hypocrisy stinks.

I can't breathe in one.
No bother, as I said upthread, exemption lanyard.

Wear an exemption lanyard or practise wearing a mask around the house to get used to it.

I struggle but l have to wear them at work. I spoke to my Cardiologist about not feeling like l can take deep breaths.

He suggested these:

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08FKXLNSB?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

And they have really helped me

But with lung disease it is surely better just to wear a mask for protection as much as you can? Masks really do get easier with time.

Even if it's a struggle, it's probably not as bad as catching Covid or any other respiratory virus.

@Blackberrybunnet

you can breathe. you are only panicking. if you are "exempt" you should stay away from public areas. if we protect you, then you should protect us. it's about respect

What an absolute crock of shit.

I absolutely do judge people going around without masks. I would especially judge people who do that in a hospital.

You're in AIBU but giving no information as to why YABU. Is it PTSD, asthma, lung disease, panic attacks? Can you actually breathe but don't think you can? Or can't?

@Muchmorethan

I struggle but l have to wear them at work. I spoke to my Cardiologist about not feeling like l can take deep breaths.

He suggested these:

]]

And they have really helped me

I had never seen these inner brackets before.

Thanks!

@hesterstanhope

Can you wear a face shield instead? Would provide reassurance that you understand the risks. When I see an unmasked person, I worry that they aren’t going to follow the other rules on social distance etc.

They are pointless and don’t help to protect others in anyway. If I see someone where a face shield I always think its a pretty good sign that they don’t understand the risks.

You are overthinking this. I can’t see anything on news sites about masks being reintroduced. Not only that but mask use is dropping, socialising is increasing and rates are plateauing despite both of those factors, so there really isn’t the pressure for them.

I have long since stopped wearing one, they’ve caused me so many panic attacks that it’s adversely affecting my general mental health. I couldn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else, least of all The Self Appointed Mask Police, thinks. If they were made mandatory I will say I’m exempt to anyone who asks, but I’m not wearing a lanyard either.

@Gingerkittykat
People who are genuinely exempt deserve to go about their lives like anyone else. You are asking a large group of people, a lot of them disabled, to simply stay at home which is unfair.
Agreed but there is a distinction between those that genuinely struggle to breath a tiny tiny number and those that think they can’t breathe because they hate mask.
The second group keep a large group of people ie the immunocompromised at home.
Mask exemption should have been very strictly enforced not self assessed. Other countries have very few expert people.