My Life as an Asthma Mom

   How do you know if you need to change your asthma medicine? I recently visited Asthma Doc, for my own checkup actually-I'm usually there with the kids. I hadn't been in for a while for a checkup. Asthma Doc was checking on how often I use my inhaler every week (I don't use it very much.) He also did the Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FENO) test on me. It was pretty simple, just breathing into a little machine that measure the amount of Nitric Oxide in my body. Asthma Doc said Nitric oxide is made when there's swelling or inflammation. My number was great, you should be between 5-25 and I was right in that range. So Asthma Doc cut down my daily medication.  That's one of those things that you need to watch. Sometimes you may need to take more controller or maintenance medication every day, if your symptoms seem to be worse.  If you are using your inhaler more than twice a week, if you are wheezing and coughing-especially at night. Sometimes you can cut down on your medicin...

I was at Asthma Doc's office last week for Son #2 to get his Xolair injection (monthly shot to help control his severe asthma) and I was reading the latest addition of Coping with Allergies and Asthma and they had an add in the magazine for Sunbutter. Apparently it's made with roasted sunflower seeds and it's supposed to be an alternative to peanut butter. Has anyone tried it yet? None of my kids are allergic to peanut butter, but one of my kids is allergic to tree nuts. Everyone thinks if you are allergic to tree nuts, you are allergic to peanuts too. But peanuts are actually a legume (or from the "bean" family) and tree nuts are from -well, trees! (think almonds, walnuts, etc) Let me know if any of you have tried the Sunbutter and if it seemed a good substitute for peanut butter. Althougth my kids aren't allergic to peanuts, we are careful if someone else around us is. Happy eating!

       Asthma Doctor has this great little machine that he tested Son #2 on at this month's Xolair appointment.  Xolair is his monthly shot that controls his severe asthma. It's $1000 per injection, but cheaper than a hospital visit! It's new on the market. Anyway, Asthma Doc was asking Son #2 if he was taking his asthma medication. There was a little hesitation, then son answered yes. But there is one sure way to find out! The Exhaled Nitric oxide detector. It takes about 5 seconds to do, he just exhaled into a little machine and tried to keep his breath steady. It measures Nitric oxide in his breath. Asthma Doc said Nitric Oxide is what the body makes when there is inflammation (common with asthma) so it's a good test to see how they are doing. The average range is 5-25, Son #2 was at 40. Which means either he is not taking his daily medication, or it's not working as it should.  I'm "monitoring"(aka nagging) him now to make sure he takes it every mo...

    We're traveling to visit family and I've been looking at some options online that my family suggested. Has anyone stayed in a yurt at the beach? I found a photo of this one online at Oregon Coast yurt rentals. When I first looked up pictures of yurts online, I found one that looked like The First Little Piggy's house (you know-the one made out of sticks that the Big Bad Wolf blows down!) My first thought was that the sticks would be a problem with allergies.  Allergies, allergies, why is always allergies?! The yurts look interesting, but some of them have canvas roofs and a hatch that you can open to let fresh air inside. (which also means pollen and allergens inside.) And they all look like they are in the woods. Hubby takes the kids camping every summer, but I worry every time he does. Our family and allergies do not mix. I'm always so careful when it comes to housing, I almost feel like Melman from the cartoon Madagascar. "Nature, it's everywhere!" ...

  What causes an asthma attack?  It's not a simple answer - different things can cause an asthma attack for different people.    And it can change over time.    But I just discovered a new asthma trigger.    Squishy tubes of yogurt. Weird, huh? Yogurt?!    I know that one of my triggers is cold temperatures , so I've always been careful. I ate a squishy tube of yogurt, and I don't know why it affected me so much. But as soon as I had eaten it, the 'hard' cough started and I could just feel my chest tightening up.    Then came the mucus in the lungs and hours spent coughing that up. I used my inhaler, but still was having a hard time breathing, I had to prop myself up on the couch to sleep that night.  It was hard to sleep because I had to wait for my heart rate to come back down. What else can cause asthma attacks?  Any ' irritant ' like perfume, cleaning supplies, scented candles, incense, candle melts, and bad air q...

Kitty came home with a flier from school about summer camp, but I thought not a chance! Neither of her brothers (who also have asthma) have gone to the school district sponsored summer camp, and neither will Kitty. Sorry, but it is just WAY too far away from medical help if she had an asthma attack that they couldn't treat. And I don't think I would feel comfortable with a elementary school student needing to treat her own asthma at a summer camp. Sure, they have trained personnel, but they also take care of diabetes, seizure disorders and general first aid. They don't specialize in asthma, and I wouldn't trust them to treat any of my kids. However, I did find one in our state, it's called Camp Wyatt and it's sponosored by the American Lung Association . Now they know what they are doing when it comes to asthma! Not to mention Asthma Doc provides care for the campers. I would trust him wherever he was. This camp is specifically designed for kids with asthma, t...

  The Cupid from the new Disney Tangled movie is how I feel lately. I have a big red nose from blowing and wiping it from allergies, and sleepy eyes because the sniffling and sneezing sometimes keep me awake.    Of course I am taller (a bit) and I do have all my teeth. Many of you may be suffering from allergies, I know I am. In fact, we have gone through A LOT of tissues lately. I just opened my last box, I need to remember to put that on the grocery store list. There is one thing that I have found that helps, it's not that exciting of a tip, but any little bit helps, right?! I have found that when you are wiping a runny nose all of the time or just blowing it over and over, and it gets really sore and really red. So, I have found a brand tissues with lotion. Ah, what a difference. Like I say, it's not an earth shattering discovery, but sometimes it's as exciting as it gets.    And every little bit helps during allergy season when you are constantly running and...

It sounds really simple, but if you have allergies, it helps to shower before bed. Asthma Doc told me this one day, and I don't know why it seemed like such an amazing idea. You would think I could have figured it out by myself. It hadn't dawned on me though. If you are out and about during the day, you accumulate a lot of pollen on your clothing, hair, face, etc. You may wash your face every night before bed, and change into pajamas, but that still leaves pollen in your hair. When you go to bed at night with pollen in your hair, you roll back and forth on the pillow all night long, spreading it all over and breathing it in. It can cause coughing and wheezing, watering eyes, stuffy noses and the usual miserable things associated with allergies and asthma. I was reminded of this last night when I went to bed. I had gone on a bike ride with Kitty and Hubby, and it was still very chilly but at least the sun was shining. I started coughing a little while after our bike ride, then c...

Now that I am almost done with my new college degree (to add to my Interior Design degree), I would love to go to Hawaii to reward myself for all of my hard work! I deserve a do-over you know. Hubby and I went there several years ago (luckily a family member has a time share.) But it was anything but relaxing. Son #2 was sick when we left-when isn't he sick? He has regular respiratory infections and ends up on steroids and antibiotics multiple times throughout the year. So, I didn't think this episode was any different. However, the night before we left, he said he chest felt different this time. A sharp pain. Hhhmm. Our flight left at 4:00 the next morning. So I told him I would call him from our layover in LA. When we arrived, I called him but he still didn't sound good, so I called Asthma Doc to have Wonderful Neighbor take him in to get checked. We had to board our flight, but I was sure it would just be another infection, more steroids and more antibiotics. When we lan...

                        Ah, morning again. And I wake up to the sound of coughing-deep coughing. Oh wait. It's spring and I'm supposed to wake up to the sound of birds chirping, not one of my kids coughing, right?    Such is my life. I'm usually slow to wake up, but I was instantly awake this morning. I could tell it was Son #2 coughing, it's funny how you can tell how it sounds when each one of your kids coughs-especially when they have asthma. Just like when they're babies, you can tell which baby is yours in a crowded room just by the sound of their cry. So I have to start planning. First I thought I'll send him to school, and see if Wonderful Neighbor can be on stand by with the nebulizer. He just doesn't seem to get any relief from using his inhaler. Then I had second thoughts. Hubby is already at work an hour away, and I am about to leave for a professional development conference an hour's drive away. So I don't...

    From mowing the lawn Saturday to shoveling snow Sunday! Welcome to spring in Utah. And boy are we miserable! Hubby was mowing the lawn on Saturday, and my daffodils were all in bloom. Along with some sneaky little dandelions that are starting to sprout. (Of course I zapped them with my weedkiller-die! die!) Now that everything is blooming, we are all sneezing. I think we have gone through a whole box of tissue in about a week. Wonderful neighbor came over and mentioned how bad her allergies are (she has asthma too.) I even heard one of the local dj's on the radio complaining about allergies. So, here we go again. I am lucky enough to just need allergy medicine in the spring and summer, but the kids take it year round because their allergies are so bad. Kitty sneezes non stop, even after 3 years of allergy shots. Even with the snow storm, we were still sneezing all day yesterday, how is that possible?! The snow has blanketed everything, yet that doesn't stop us from having ...

        So I know this sounds drastic, but had to pull Son #2 out of school.     He had been down about 100 points on his peak flow, and just couldn't seem to rebound. He had struggled for about 3 months, all during the winter and into spring. Usually, he can do a burst of steroids and his lung function will get better. Sometimes he needs a Decadron injection (more steroids.) That usually does the trick, however nothing seemed to be working. Even increasing his Advair to the maximum dose did nothing. So, there we were in Asthma Doc's office (again.) Asthma Doc was smoothing out his bangs, which he always does while he is thinking. I could see him flipping back and forth on Son #2's chart and then listening to his lungs. Then more smoothing of the bangs.    Finally he said "We need to pull him out of school." I said, "Wait. What?" Asthma Doc was concerned that Son #2 wasn't able to let his body fully heal after every respiratory infection. He ...