My Life as an Asthma Mom

 My Epi Pen goes EVERYWHERE with me because I am allergic to seafood.  Son #2 is allergic to tree nuts (cashews, almonds, walnuts, etc.) NOT to be confused with peanuts-since a peanut isn't a nut, but a "legume." What if your child suddenly has a reaction to food at school? A food has had eaten before, but is now allergic to?  It was a surprise to us when Son #2 had a reaction to tree nuts.  If that happened to your child, would your school have an Epi Pen on hand to treat them?  Many schools do not.   Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA)  has an article in their latest magazine, Allergy & Asthma Today, that says less than half of schools stocked epinephrine for general use.    Yikes.  In their article entitled, " ACE (Anaphylaxis Community Experts) Team Spotlight:Sharing the Know-How.   Anaphylaxis can kill someone in less 30 minutes.    To read more about the article, click here. What is...

What if Hubby and I go an anniversary trip and one of the kids get sick while we're gone?  It seems like they were a lot sicker and more often when they were little. In fact, it's been 4 years since Kitty or Son #2 have been hospitalized for asthma!  Knock on wood..... Even so, Hubby and I are planning a trip and there's a lot to consider when you have kids with chronic health problems. Did I refill all their prescriptions before I go? Inhalers? Check. Singulair? Check. Zyrtec? Check. Asmanex? Check. Symbicort? Check. Are there vials of Albuterol for the nebulizer? Check. Call the doctor's office. Check. I had to call the doctor's office today to see what I need to do to make sure the kids can come in for an office visit if they get sick while Hubby and I are gone. (With our luck, something will happen while we're gone.)  Our close family friend is helping out with our kids while we're gone. My doctor's office said as long as we type up a lett...

    I use the "straw exercise" to help people see what it feels like to have asthma.    This is for all of you who think it's "just" asthma-no big deal, right? People should just use their inhaler and everything's better, right?    You can try this at home if you DON'T have asthma. Run in place for 30 seconds (or climb a flight of stairs) Stop Plug your nose Put the straw in your mouth and try to breath through it Take the straw out after 30 seconds How do you feel? Can you get all the air that you would like to? Is it hard to breathe? How do you feel emotionally? Are you panicking a little? This is what it feels like to have asthma. EXCEPT you can take your straw out of your mouth and breathe normally. If you have asthma, you can't. You have to use an inhaler or nebulizer and try to keep yourself calm until the medicine kicks in. Having an asthma attack is scary. No matter how many times it happens, it's still scary.    It doesn...

    Well, soccer season is over this week and I think daughter Kitty has missed more games and practices than she's played in. Thanks to wildfires burning non stop somewhere in our state, we have had to stay inside. The latest fire is in another state, about 300 miles away. But the winds changed direction and blew the smoke from their fire into our state. I checked the air quality online, and today is listed as: Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups - The following groups should reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion: People with lung disease, such as asthma. Children and older adults People who are active outdoors  Last night, there was a story on our local TV station about people with asthma ending up in the hospital because of the air quality was making it very difficult for them to breathe.    It's been 4 years since one of my kids has been in the hospital due to asthma (a record for our family) and I would like...

   I was reading an article from the Washington Post about pollen, allergies and asthma. One doctor in the Midwest was shocked at the number of people being admitted to the hospital for allergies and asthma-about 20 people per day! I don't think our regional hospital ever gets that many patients per day, even in the middle of flu and RSV season! Dr. Portnoy works at Children's Mercy Hospital and Clinics of Kansas City, Missouri. He is chief of the hospital's allergy, asthma and immunology section and said that this year has been a perfect storm for allergy and asthma sufferers. Hot and dry weather, little humidity and plants blooming early  means a long and miserable allergy season. Doctors can't prove yet that global warming is causing a change in allergy and asthma symptoms, but they think they may actually have some statistics by the end of the summer.  Dr. Portnoy is quoted as saying: “It’s been a secular trend, gradually getting worse,” he said. “This y...

Mmm, thick air pollution.    Makes me want to take a deep breath!      There's a story on American Lung Association's website about a mom from California whose 15 year old daughter died from an asthma attack.    Lydia Rojas is now channeling her grief to be an American Lung Association Healthy Air Volunteer.  Here's a quote from Lydia: "Simply breathing dirty air can be deadly for people with asthma,” Lydia explains. “Because no one should have to experience the pain my family has endured, it is time we get tough on soot and other forms of air pollution.”  You can read more from Lydia's guest blog on American Lung Association's website. No parent should have to lose a child, no matter what the cause. But people can make a difference when it comes to dirty air. You can carpool, use mass transit or commute by bicycle (depending on how far you live from your office!) You can also do something REALLY simple. You can be "Idle Free...

I signed up to get updates from American Lung Association, and read about a study for a new asthma drug for hard to treat asthma. It won't be on the market for another 3 to 4 years, but it is showing promise. According to HealthDay, News for Healthier Living, this new drug (mepolizumab) may reduce asthma attacks in 50% of people who take the medication. The article says that many people with hard to treat asthma can end up on oral steroids repeatedly. My Son #2 used to have so many problems with asthma that we kept a bottle of Prednisone on hand so we could start him on it right away to try to avoid a trip to the hospital. Sometimes the steroids worked, sometimes it wasn't enough.  Oral steroids have some not-so-fun side effects. To read about some of the side effects, click here.  They are testing mepolizumab on about 600 randomly selected patients. After a year, patients getting mepolizumab  had about half as many trips to the emergency department or hospital ...

It's that time of year again, cold and flu season.  I have been VERY careful about avoiding germs, but a colleague came to work while she was sick and it is quickly spreading through the office. I was very frustrated, because she's not that important.  I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that her job isn't critical, she can miss a day or two if she's sick. Instead, she insisted on coming to work with a fever and spread her illness to the rest of us. I'm the only one with asthma, so naturally, I'm the sickest. I'm lucky that the kids are in school, and Hubby is at work, so I had a quiet house to recuperate in. Which means I also got the remote to myself and could watch whatever I wanted. If you are sick, when should you stay home from work?  According to the Centers for Disease Control: How long should I stay home if I’m sick? "CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medica...

I was surprised to see this ad for generic Singulair (Montelukast) in the Walmart ad this week. Their ad says save up to 50% on Montelukast. My co-pay went from $50 per month to $10 per month! Nice! Especially since all 3 of my kids take it EVERY day, yep they take it year-round. Some kids are lucky and only have seasonal allergies. So they may only need to take Singulair in the Spring or Fall when pollen is bad. We aren't as lucky, we all have allergies year round. We're all allergic to animals, grass, trees, flowers, bushes, etc. If it's alive, we're allergic to it. I heard an ad on TV the other day while I was making dinner. It said "Do you store tissues like a squirrel stores nuts?" I burst out laughing, because I do! I have travel size tissues in my purse, the kids have them in their backpacks, I have multiple packages stashed throughout my car. Not to mention my favorite Puffs with Lotion boxes throughout the house. So, if you're like our fa...