My Life as an Asthma Mom

This is the time of year when lots of cold and flu is going around, and that means that sometimes kids can end up in the hospital. So, what if that happens to you?  Start by being prepared! When my kids were little, they were in the hospital 12 times for asthma. It seems like as soon as they got over one illness, their nose would start to run, and I would think "This can't be happening.....they are getting sick-again??!!" A simple cold for my kids would often turn into pneumonia, which would mean another hospitalization. I asked my doctor what to do if the kids got worse after 5:00 when his office closed. He told me about the after-hours network. In our area, many of the pediatricians work together on a network and take turns working nights. So, if my kids were getting worse, and it couldn't wait until morning, I would just call my pediatrician's office. They would have a recording that would list which doctor was on call that night, the phone n...

Okay, all you moms who are tired of "mom guilt" - aren't you tired of feeling guilty for all the things you did/did not do during your pregnancy? Everything seems to be "mom's fault?" Now comes the debate whether eating nuts while pregnant will protect your child from nut allergies. I just watched a story on ABC news about this very topic. They shared information from a newly published study from the Journal of American Medical Association.The study found that: "when pregnant women ate more peanuts and tree nuts they tended to have children with fewer nut allergies"   The story on ABC News said that the study only showed an "association" not a "cause and effect." What does that mean? Researchers are very reluctant to say "one thing causes another thing" or that "doing one thing helps prevent another."  So, they will probably want to do more research. Does that mean that you can have a p...

For those of you who have been on steroids/had kids on steroids, you know how this guy feels. You feel a little nuts-that's one of the side effects of the medicine. Steroids are needed sometimes when asthma is getting really bad, and the doctor needs to get the swelling down in the lungs-fast! In our experience, steroids can sometimes help keep my kids out of the hospital. But, it wouldn't work every time for us, sometimes the kids would still end up in the hospital. (Actually, they have been admitted to the hospital 12 times for asthma...but that's another story for another day!) We have a bottle of Prednisone at home for each of the kids. Asthma Doc knows that when my kids get sick, they go from a little sniffle to dangerously ill very fast! He has given me strict instructions of when to give the kids Prednisone. (Depending on how old your kids are, there is a liquid version or pill.) Sometimes the medicine would be enough to keep the swelling down in the...

Is anyone planning on getting a puppy for their kids for Christmas?    We dog sit neighbor's dog once a week. She is soooooo cute, I mean how can I resist that face? Especially when she looks up under those big bushy eyebrows! At first, I was really nervous about having a dog in our house. Hubby and I and all 3 kids have allergies, and everyone but Hubby has asthma. So, when we started to babysit (or dog sit) Neighbor Dog, I wasn't so sure how it would turn out.    It affected our allergies at first, but we seem better now. We don't sneeze and wheeze as much as we used to. I just read an article in The Wall Street Journal, and I had to look at the title twice, because it said  "How Dogs Might Protect Kids Against Asthma: Gut Bacteria."   Huh?! The first line in the article sums it up: "Scientists studying why pets appear to protect kids against asthma and allergies say the answer might lie in the world of bacteria that live in the gu...

This is how I am feeling lately. Work has been VERY stressful and I have had a LOT of big deadlines. Add on top of that the stress of the holidays, and this picture about says it all. We decided to start with holiday preparations early this year (so I wouldn't be stressed out) , but I am still behind! (And I AM stressed out!!)   We took our family photos early in the fall. We don't use a professional photographer -we just try to find a nice background, set up the camera and tripod and tell the teenagers "okay, everyone act like you like each other!" We also started early with shopping for family, deciding which charities to buy things for, which  goodies to make for the neighbors, figuring out travel plans, etc. But I looked at the calendar yesterday, and saw that it was the 15th of December. Oh no! Only 10 days until Christmas- that's next week??!! Argggggh.  Okay, take a deep breath. Did you know that stress can make asthma worse? Web m...

If you have allergies like me, you know what it feels like to have eyes that water, a runny nose, itchy  throat, and LOTS of mucus. (And possibly start coughing and have to use your asthma inhaler.)  Did you know that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. have allergies? And 2 1/2 million of us get allergy shots every week or every month?! That's A LOT of time spent at Asthma Doc's office!! I was excited to watch the NBC Nightly News last night and see a story from Dr. Nancy Snyderman. There are TWO new allergy pills being reviewed by the FDA, they are already being used in Europe. If you suffer from grass allergies, this may be worth checking into. The only drawback is that the pills just treat broad grass allergies.  With allergy shots (immunotherapy), the serum covers more allergens and they can be personalized for better results. All three of my teenagers have had/are currently having allergy shots. They are all allergic to multiple triggers (grass, trees, bu...

I have an amazing view from my living room window of snow capped mountains.     We're actually going to have a white Christmas this year!    The last few years, we didn't have much snow, but it was VERY COLD. This year, I have already been out shoveling snow (over, and over, and over again....) The snow is beautiful, but it is soooooo cold outside. We dropped 30 degrees in temperature in one day.    We made a mad dash to the hall closet to pull out everyone's coats, hats and gloves. And checking to see if last year's snow boots still fit. Brrrrr. I love the snow, because it makes everything look so magical. The thing I don't like this year, is that like last year, we have record cold temperatures. My dashboard thermometer reads 3 degrees.  Yes, you're looking at that right, it's 3 degrees Fahrenheit!!!    Luckily, I park my car in the garage overnight, so I don't have to scrape the ice off the windows. This morning, when...

I'm on of those old-fashioned people that like to read the newspaper in the morning before I go to work. Yes, an actual newspaper! You know, the paper that some people still get on their driveway every morning. (And then I have to shuffle out to get it in my big fuzzy bathrobe and hope that none of the neighbors see me....... )   This week I read an article about Alpha-1 Awareness month. I've never heard of it before, so I thought I would scan the article. I'm always interested in learning something new.....trying to keep the old brain cells nice and sharp you know!  The Alpha-1 Foundation's website says:   "Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency (Alpha-1) is a genetic (inherited) condition – it is passed from parents to their children through their genes. Alpha-1 may result in serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease at any age. " What caught my attention is how Alpha-1 can be misdiagnosed as asthma. Here are the symptoms tha...

It's that time of year again, cold and flu season! In fact, I'm a little surprised because I usually get really sick with pneumonia every fall.    And it hasn't hit yet. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!  When I get really sick (thanks to asthma), I can't sing, let alone talk. I can't get enough air in to talk, so I just whisper. One year, I was sick with pneumonia on my birthday. I couldn't get enough air out to blow out my candles. I just looked at them as they were burning and thought "this is so sad, guess I'll just watch them burn."    Hubby took pity on me and blew out my birthday candles for me. But to make matters worse, I couldn't taste my cake either, so it was really a bad birthday! So, how do you stay healthy? Do you get the flu shot? There's a crazy debate going on right now with some of my Facebook friends. Yikes! How careful are you about washing your hands?    The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a whole page about han...