My Life as an Asthma Mom

Since Hubby and I and all 3 of our teenagers have allergies, and the teenagers and I all have asthma, we can spend quite a bit of money at the pharmacy. In fact, it's a little sad when I walk into the pharmacy and the employees there take one look at me, then turn around and pull our prescriptions off the alphabetized shelf. Is that a good thing? That they know me so well that they know that I am picking up allergy and asthma medicine for someone in my family? It's kind of like when I call the mechanic, and when he hears my voice, he'll say "which one do you need to bring in now, the truck or the minivan?" And sometimes I'll say, "Ha! It's the Jeep this time!!" You know you are visiting the mechanic and pharmacy too much when they know your voice on the phone, and they know your face when you come in to pick up a prescription. I'm glad they know me and like me, but I think I am giving them too much of my hard earned money! What d...

Do you suffer from eye allergies? My teenage daughter, Kitty, gets swollen eyes when her allergies are bad. Her allergies seemed to be getting worse over the last few weeks. She is still taking her allergy medicine every night and having weekly allergy shots. If you want to know more about allergy shots, Webmd has a great section that explains it. Part of the problem is trying to find out WHAT is making allergies worse. I can check a local allergy doctor's office to find the pollen count. But is there something nearby that is making Kitty worse? I happened to notice that the neighbors didn't plant anything in their garden this year. Instead, weeds had invaded the area and were getting higher and higher. They looked like ragweed, and it was right by our driveway. In fact, if we opened our windows or doors, the pollen from the weeds would come in the house. And Kitty would have to walk past their weed patch every day to get to the car. What a sticky situation. What do y...

       Cleaning itself won't cause asthma attacks (those of you that hate cleaning can't use that as an excuse not to clean......) But for me, cleaning and dust are not a good mix. I was cleaning out a closet yesterday, and noticed some of those things have been in there for at least 4 years. It was pretty dusty, which is a problem when you have asthma. I dragged everything out so I could sort through things. And that's when my nose seemed a little stuffy. Then I started sneezing. Then my throat started feeling "twitchy"- like I needed to cough. So I coughed. And coughed. And coughed. And coughed. I realized I was having another asthma attack. Sigh. I grabbed my inhaler from my purse and sat down. I tried to calm down and not breathe so fast. I haven't used my inhaler for a while, so I pulled the spacer off the inhaler and primed the inhaler (you just squirt a puff into the air.) Then I put the inhaler and spacer back together and took a puff of...

I was listening to a podcast on Asthma Community Network , and loved this quote from Dr. Jay Portnoy, Director, Center for Environmental Health, Children’s Mercy Hospital & Clinics ,  He said "Just like you are what you eat, you are what you breathe ." I have never heard it worded that way before, but I know that your home can affect your asthma. He said that he can admit patients to the hospital, but he needs to know WHY they are sick. And he needs to know what to do about it. He would like to be able to send out an Environmental Health Scientist to each of his asthma patient's homes to see if there is something in the home that is making them sick. Do they have mold? High humidity levels? Water leaks? Many people don't understand that WHERE and HOW you live can affect your asthma. Dr. Portnoy said he can prescribe expensive medicines and just treat their asthma, but he needs to know the underlying symptoms and figure out what is causing problem with...

I just saw a commercial on TV yesterday from asthma.com  It showed a man sitting on the steps to his home, saying his asthma was fine and under control. Then his wife appeared and says you coughed all through our date! His boss appears and says you missed work last week because of your asthma. His mom appears with the "oh no you didn't!!" attitude and says you are always using your inhaler! So, how do you know if your asthma is "under control?" Asthma.com has an Asthma Control Test. It's pretty easy, you just answer 5 questions and it will give you a score that will let you know if your asthma is being controlled. The following list is from asthma.com and it shows what you should be experiencing if your asthma is under control. Few, if any, asthma symptoms. Few, if any, awakenings during the night caused by asthma symptoms. No need to take time off from school or work due to asthma. Few or no limits on participat...

(Photo from http://arbys.com/our-menu/limited-time-offers/pecan-chicken-salad-sandwich) We had lunch yesterday at Arby's, and I saw the new Chicken Salad Pecan sandwich. We didn't order one, but the woman in the booth behind us had one on her tray. I overheard her tell her lunch date that she wanted to have it cut in half. She went back up to the counter to ask them to do it, but they said they couldn't because of people that have nut allergies. (I think they may have given her a plastic knife to use to cut it herself.) They couldn't use their knife to cut her sandwich, and then use it on another sandwich that didn't have nuts, since that would cross contaminate the other sandwich. On behalf of all of us with food allergies, can I just say to Arby's, THANK YOU!!!!!!! I was eating lunch with Son #2, who DOES have nut allergies. He overheard the conversation, then looked at me and raised his eyebrows, which in teenage-speak means "Cool."I wa...

I love Independence Day, what an amazing way to celebrate our freedom as Americans. Our family was like many families, attending a parade, having a BBQ with the family and friends, and watching the Capitol 4th of July celebration on TV. The only bad thing about the day was the night-especially when all the neighbors started lighting off fireworks. We had taken our box of fireworks out to light too, but I couldn't believe how smoky our street already was. As far as I could see up and down both sides of the street, the night was hazy and smelly.  I should have gone inside and watched from the house. I love to watch fireworks, but I was getting a tight chest and having a hard time breathing. I wondered if I was alone, but it looks like I'm not. A Google search showed an article from Lincoln, Nebraska. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department was issuing a warning to people that fireworks could cause asthma attacks, acute bronchitis and could also increase the chances ...

I was scrolling through the top stories on Yahoo's main page when I stumbled across one that says, "Tennis star's hard-to-believe allergy." The link took me to Yahoo Sports Page  I was curious to see just what the "hard-to-believe-allergy" could be. The story was about tennis star Sabine Lisicki being allergic to grass. The 23 year old German tennis star used to hate playing tennis on grass. She says she has to take allergy medicine but still ends up sneezing during tennis matches. She said even though playing on grass makes her allergy worse, she seems to serve the ball better on grass courts than on clay courts. And that helped her beat tennis legend Serena Williams. I don't think it's a strange allergy, because I have a daughter that is also allergic to grass. And she plays soccer. My daughter doesn't have a choice of where to play, you can't play soccer tournaments on clay courts! Allergies run in the family, Hubby and I and a...

Like most of the West right now, my state is in the middle of a heat wave. Yesterday it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This is forecast to last through the end of the week.  The heat can cause sunburns, heat exhaustion and make everyone cranky. But it can also cause an asthma attack. There was a small study reported in Science Daily last year. The University of Kentucky Medical Center studied 6 "normal people" and 6 people with asthma. They had them breathe in through a machine that could vary the temperature and humidity of the air. They would have the patients pant afterwards, and they would measure airway resistance. For those that had mild asthma, they showed airway resistance to hot, humid air. (That means they were having a hard time breathing) The "normal people" showed very little or now problems. Figures. Once again our asthma bodies over-react to normal every day things. Here are the results of the study: "Results showed that breathing ...