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?

@Pan2

No sign of OP then?

Looks like it's a pile of poo.

Work colleague claims she can't breathe wearing a mask so she exempts herself. Load of old bollocks. Asthma Society confirms masks do not reduce oxygen, nor increases carbon dioxide.

Deniers come in all shapes and sizes, and with all sorts of gossamer-thin excuses.

YABU, and a nuisance.

I can't say I blame her for not coming back after reading some of the replies on this thread.

I understand where you are coming from OP. When I had Long Covid I found it really difficult to breathe when wearing a mask because my oxygen levels weren't good anyway. And, no. It wasn't psychological.
Some options ;

1. Wear a lanyard and no mask.
2. Wear a visor. They AREN'T as good as a mask but they do help to protect others to a certain extent. If you cough, the watery exhalations hit the plastic visor. That's why the visors get gunky and need cleaning.
3. Wear a cloth / surgical mask with a plastic cage insert under it. The cage inserts are as cheap as chips on Amazon. They keep the cloth away from your mouth and nose so it's a bit easier to breathe.

Exactly @PinkSparklyPussyCat Back to when there were no vaccines. Hardly selling them is it.

YABU, OP for not posting this in the Coronavirus section of MN.

Wearing a mask does not reduce your oxygen intake.

Lordy.

Have you tried FFP2 masks? We got some for a flight to keep us safer but I found them much easier to wear than cloth or the usually paper type.

They are mandatory inside in Scotland so I have solved the problem by simply not going inside - it's really easy to do all your shopping online now that there's not such competition for slots and I much prefer the online shopping route I have gotten into. If there's a situation where there's absolutely no way to avoid it (getting DD from the school nurse or something) I can cope with a silk one - these feel a lot less claustrophobic if this is your issue.

There's no one who likes wearing them. I have wondered about the poor medical staff in surgical theatres who wear full medical masks day in day out and if any of them are asthmatic or find them difficult.

What is your problem, OP?

Why do you care so much about what other people (strangers even) think of you?

Wear a clear face shield

@crosstalk

There's no one who likes wearing them. I have wondered about the poor medical staff in surgical theatres who wear full medical masks day in day out and if any of them are asthmatic or find them difficult.

What is your problem, OP?

People who struggle with masks would not go into a career that needs them.

I'm autistic, strongly so in the sensory category. I struggled hugely to wear a mask and tried just the lanyard, but I also needed to keep well so I could look after family so I persevered. I must have bought about 8 to 10 different kinds. I Finally found i could wear one brand of the medical blue masks worn upside down so the metal plate isn't on my nose, in a large size so I could "peak" it over my nose and mouth, worked for me (my thick glasses holds it down. It's worth trying lots of options if you can.

@crosstalk A better comparison would be supermarket workers who didnt choose a profession where masks were involved. But then found themselves having to wear one while pushing heavy cages of stock around and stacking shelves. Anyone who wears their middle class privilege along with their mask by saying it doesnt take much to wear one to do the supermarket shopping for 15 minutes should be made to do a week of full time shifts in a supermarket wearing one.

I checked the news after this

wondering if OP is in England. I am in London. I think mask wearing has increased in cold weather as it keeps the nose warm!!

I had a couple of hospital appointments and thought masks were compulsory unless exempt.

very confusing OP, hope it gets clarified.

You were in a hospital. Shame on you for not wearing a bloody mask.
Ditto the posters who advise you to "wear a lanyard if you're exempt".
Not wanting to wear a mask doesn't make you exempt.

Personally I don’t judge people who don’t wear a mask, I just presume they have a good reason why they can’t.
I do judge people in the supermarket who put their mask under their chin so they can drink their coffee whilst shopping or take the mask off to answer the phone or don’t cover their mouth and nose but I would never judge you! You can get sunflower lanyards from most supermarkets so maybe pick one up if it would help you feel less self-conscious

I mean, some probably do think this tbh... when i see someone in the shop without one or without a lanyard (i live in wales) i do think "they should wear a mask!!!" But at same time there has been the very odd occasion that ive not had a mask on me and needed to nip in to a shop and ive felt so wrong like people hate me!

But at the same time (i dont know if you have medical reasons) i dont get why people say i cant wear one as i cant breathe... nobody can breathe properly with them on..nobody likes them...but i dont understand why people cant just wear them for a short period of time whilst in a medical setting or shop or wherever they are needed. Unless said person has say, severe asthma, an oxygen mask or a facial disfigurement or a disability that means they dont undertand therefore get upset and pull them off.

It seems that all you have to do is say you have anxiety or something and you get a lanyard (i do have anxiety so know its bad but i still havnt asked for a lanyard)

On the contrary OP - it was I who looked stupid at the sports arena today ferrying son for ice skating and swimming. I was the only one in a mask in an arena packed with parents and children.

I don't give a flying monkey's left bollock.
never did.
people choose what they want to do.
if you are obliged to wear one then either someone will ask you or they will assume you can't.

all this mask-related angst need to stop.

@MercyBooth

But supermarket staff don't HAVE to wear them...but shoppers are MADE to wear them as they enter a store

You went to a hospital without wearing a mask? YABU!

77th preparing us for plan B to come in
After they have had their jollies at COP26 of course.

The ones you can buy in a pharmacy are very easy to breathe in. If you're wearing the fabric / linen masks you can buy or make yourself then switch...

If you're in a hospital setting you really should be wearing a mask

@Newbabynewhouse They WERE made to wear them though. This is why i took a video of the upstairs being blocked off in our local Tesco last November. Because the gaslighting and rewriting of history was a given!!!

@Rainbowheart1 my relative with COPD can tolerate these fairly well, as long as he's not in acute, nebuliser-worthy distress:

sonoviastore.com/collections/masks

They are bloody expensive, but he's able to breathe in them. KN95s are more effective pathogen protection, but will lower his O2 levels after a while.

These are much cheaper and also breathable, but you won't be able to get away with re-use:

www.costco.co.uk/Business-Office-Supplies/Cleaning-Care/First-Aid/BYD-3PLY-Single-Use-Face-Mask-50-Pack/p/6157967

Social Lab cloth face masks are very comfortable too, IME, but they don't have a nose wire.

www.costco.co.uk/Health-Wellness/Home-Health-Care/Social-Lab-Triple-Layer-Reusable-Face-Masks-4-Pack/p/331815