Liselott Florén: "Traffic makes my asthma worse"

Told to Annika Lund, first published in Medicinsk Vetenskap nr 2 2025 

"I have had allergic asthma since I was a child, and as a young adult, I was diagnosed with chronic asthma. During upper secondary school, I went through a very tough period with asthma and was frequently hospitalised. Due to my absences from school, I had to repeat a year and ended up graduating alongside my younger sister.

In my early twenties, the first corticosteroid inhaler became available. Today, it is the standard treatment for people with asthma and it changed everything for us.

Nowadays, my asthma is well managed with daily maintenance treatment: I use both a bronchodilator and a corticosteroid inhaler, along with an evening tablet that allows me to sleep without breathing difficulties. I have not been hospitalised for asthma since my twenties, and I feel healthy, strong and energetic. I work full-time without any issues.

But when my lungs are under extra strain, it makes me feel uncomfortable. Traffic emissions are one such trigger, especially if I also have a cold or it is pollen season. I avoid all heavily trafficked streets and take detours instead. If I end up in heavy traffic, I start coughing, struggle to breathe, and cannot  talk. Everything becomes about the coughing. The inhaler helps, but the coughing takes over the situation. If I am sitting at an outdoor restaurant or café and mopeds or cars pass by closely, I have to leave.

My asthma is also worsened by other things, such as cigarette smoke or visiting someone who has a cat. It is worse in certain weather conditions, when it is foggy and humid and the sky feels like under a lid. Then I find it hard to breathe. I also struggle more than others when I get respiratory infections.

But many of these things I can control myself - or rather, no one can control them. It makes me look at traffic differently - I cannot control it myself, but it is still something that can be changed."