Vacationing with asthma
Ahhh, the beach....what a GREAT vacation!!
It seemed like most of the work was getting ready for the trip. If you have allergies and asthma, it's REALLY important to plan ahead.
We made sure we had:
- Maintenance medication
- Allergy medicine
- Epi Pens
- Out of state coverage insurance cards
- Location of closest Instacare/Hospital to our location
- Nebulizer and tubing kits
- Nebulizer medicine
You just never know when an asthma attack may happen. Sometimes when you are traveling, you may experience new plants/animals/etc that can trigger allergy or asthma problems.
I remember asking Asthma Doc if there was anyplace safe to live for people with asthma. He told us that no matter where you live, you may run into something that can cause problems for allergies and asthma. Awww....I was hoping he would say we should move to Hawaii!!
Our best bet is to just be careful of what's around us. We make sure we take our allergy medicine every day (our allergies are so severe, that we take allergy medicine year round. ) Some people are lucky and only need allergy medicine in the spring or fall.
We also make sure everyone is taking their asthma maintenance medication. If your doctor has prescribed it for you, it's important that you take it EVERY day, not just when you get sick. If you wait until you are sick to start on it, it may be too late. We had that problem once, because Son #2 wasn't taking his controller medication and had swelling in his lungs (we didn't realize it at the time), then he caught a cold on top of that-which turned into pneumonia and resulted in a 3 day stay in the hospital. We never made that mistake again!
From then on, we learned to make sure he takes his maintenance (or controller) medication EVERY day!! It helps keep the swelling down in his lungs.
If you have a vacation planned this summer, make sure you pack all your allergy and asthma medicine....just in case. And have a fun time relaxing!
Sorry for my erratic remarks earlier. My zoloft decided to quit on me after five years, serotonin poop out http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/antidepressants/faq-20057938. I realized that after my anxiety and depression failed to go away after the stress of exams were over, so now I'm in emotional limbo, incapable of feeling any emotion good or bad while I'm testing new drugs with my doctor trying to find the right one. Finding the antidepressant and the dosage that works for you is such a long and frustrating process, I hope its over for me soon. Taking antidepressants if you need them is so important because when you feel depressed, you lose motivaion big time an I stopped taking my asthma medications when I was 16 because I wash;t in the right mind set to properly take care of myself, so I landed myself in the hospital too. Have you ever seen this study?http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631932/ There are a few other studies like this. It may not hold true o every case of asthma, but is interesting nonetheless. I'm pretty sure my mood disorders and asthma are not related to each other and my mood disorders are linked to my autism. If you saw me in person, I would be almost non verbal and would be humming and rocking, typing is my main form of communication.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about it, I hope you find something that works for you!
DeleteGood luck! :)
I too take allergy meds all year long. Last year I started just carrying an "asthma bag" with me everywhere I go. That way I always have my nebulizer, meds, medication list, doctor contact info, inhalers, etc with me. I don't always need something out of it every day, but I never have to wonder where anything is.
ReplyDeleteGood idea!
DeleteI like to have everything with me too. For me, it's like Murphy's Law...it will be the one medicine I forget at home that I will need.
I'm glad you are prepared....just in case!
Well, they found the culprit, I have cystic fibrosis. You'd think they would've tested me earlier based on my symptoms, but no. Oh well better late than never. It has junked up my adrenals and pancreas. I've been skinny all my life and have always had digestive problems. My lung function is 50% and ill need a lung transplant if it falls to 30%. This is nerdy gal by the way, my real name is Taylor
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That stinks!
DeleteOne one hand, it's good to have a diagnosis, but to find out it's cystic fibrosis instead of asthma...well, that's not good.
I'm so sorry. I hope they get you on a good treatment plan! :)
It seems like they are always developing new medicine and treatment. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!! :)