Visiting Las Vegas with asthma?

[Rajah]

Some friends of mine are talking about having a get-together in Las Vegas sometime soon, and they'd like me to go. I'd *love* to go explore the casinos, enjoy the food, and see some of the shows. But I have asthma and am *very* concerned about the cigarette smoke in the casinos. I don't even like to go to places like Dave and Buster's and Jillians because of the cigarette smoke, though those I can do since it's only for an evening and I can come home and take a shower and not have to worry about it after the few hours of exposure.

For those of you who have visited Vegas recently, would you be concerned about going there with asthma? One friend is really getting on my case about my concerns. His attitude is "you have an inhaler -- take it and use it and go enjoy yourself".

What's y'all's experience? Anyone with asthma been recently?

 

[mickeyfan2]

I have been to vegas and the newer casinos will not be a problem.

ETA: I am an asthmatic and smoke does me in.

 

[CEDmom]

We were there last June and while I don't have asthma I am very bothered by smoke. It wasn't bad on the fringes of the casinos but if you went deep into them it could get kind of bad. I didn't notice any problems with restaurants or shows.

One thing though, I don't suffer from any type of allergies but I had a major allergy attack while we were there. Luckily Claritan cleared me up but I was really miserable for a day or so - so stuffed I couldn't breathe well or sleep. My DH checked online when we got back and apparently I must be allergic to sagebrush (not too common here in the Northeast ).

I'd go if I were you - it really is a colorful place.

 

[Laura24]

I was there this past January and can say that the casino's were not a huge smoke issue. It took me a while to get accustomed to the fact that smoking is allowed everywhere in Vegas...NJ is the opposite. The one thing that did bother me was the dry air. That was more of a problem for me than smoke. I had to use saline nose spray constantly.

 

[sgtdisney]

My wife is a mild asthmatic and I have an allergy to cigarette smoke. I will tell you, that as another poster has mentioned, when you are deep into the center of the casino the smoke can be smelled. Most of the newer casinos have air filtration systems, but especially at night, in the center of the casino the smell was a little overpowering to us. The last time my wife had a cold as well and to be honest, it really bothered her. It wasn't bad enough for either of us not to want to go though. We go more for the entertainment value of the city and don't spend a lot of time in the casino anyway. Some of the older casinos have pretty low ceilings and it can really be an issue there. Went went to the Stardust on our first visit to go to Tony Roma's and smoke in that casino was so overpowering we didn't even bother walking through it. If you can manage it though, it is worth it to see Las Vegas at least once.

 

[Pooh67_68]

His attitude is "you have an inhaler -- take it and use it and go enjoy yourself".

Tell your friend to go jump in a lake. Until he has Asthma and understands that the inhaler is not always going to help, he has no right to tell you not to worry about cigarette smoke. Nothing worse than a person who thinks they know it all, when they know nothing.

Can you tell I am sensitive about this issue? I have had a few people try and tell me that my so called Asthma was all in my head.

I say if the smoke really bothers you than your best bet is too just stay home, I mean why go and make yourself sick.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I find it overwhelming.

 

[Stephanie218]

I was there last weekend, and found it a little overwhelming too. I don't have asthma, but it still bothered me.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I don't recall having any issues - I have severe asthma and allergies. However, we stuck to the new casinos that were very open and had great ventilation systems. I couldn't do the smaller setting, like Circus Circus, because it was too tight in there and the smoke seemed to sit. But in larger settings, like Manadaly Bay and Paris, we were good =)

Course, I never spent hours on end at any casino as we aren't big gamblers. We didn't find the smoke to be a problem anyplace else. There is SO much to do there that even if one casino bothers you, you can just move to the next or head out for another activity.

 

[chell]

They don't have smoke free places there? EEK!