My Life as an Asthma Mom

One of my colleagues (whose husband is a doctor) printed off an article for me that was titled "Two thirds of deaths from asthma are preventable, confidential inquiry finds." It's from the British Medical Journal.  It's a little scary to think that people are dying from asthma attacks just because they aren't managing their disease. I think people don't realize that you can die from an asthma attack. It is rare, but if you or a family member die from asthma, it's a BIG deal. Most people think "I'll just take my inhaler - and I'll be fine." This study found that 2 out of 3 deaths from asthma could have been prevented by: better management including personal asthma plans for patients (asthma action plans) timely reviews of asthma care prescription of more appropriate drugs (too many are relying on a rescue inhaler) The really scary part of the study says that of those who died from an asthma attack, 45% of them had ...

The thing I hate most about summer are fires. In my area, we are in the fourth year of a drought, so everything is very, VERY dry. Scary dry. Like if someone was driving down the highway and flipped their cigarette out the window......it would start a fire.  Yesterday, we spent the day on the lake, and as we were driving back home, we saw 3 different fires (in a half hour drive home.) Yikes!! I am a little paranoid about forest fires and the smoke they cause. About 10 years ago, we had a big forest fire and smoke from the fire filled the valley. It was during the 4th of July holiday, so everyone was lighting fireworks too (which added more smoke to the neighborhood.) Son #2 was young at the time, and like most boys, he wanted to be outside and watch the neighborhood fireworks. He was struggling to breathe, so we brought him in and gave him a breathing treatment on the nebulizer.   It usually works. But this time, it didn't seem to help. He just "didn't lo...

I just read an article about how many doctors and nurses are NOT washing their hands when they visit patients in the hospital. Gross! Of the many times my kids were in the hospital due to asthma (14 times) I watched to make sure people were washing their hands.   My kids were REALLY sick when they were admitted to the hospital (usually because of pneumonia, RSV or smoke from forest fires.) In fact, Son #2 was in ICU twice. I can still remember how scary it was watching him struggling to breathe.    You know your child is in REALLY bad shape when they have a heart monitor hooked up to their chest. The hospital wants to be able to monitor them because children can go into respiratory arrest (stop breathing) and die. From what I understand, if they stop breathing, then that causes their heart to stop beating (cardiac arrest) and they can die. The thought makes me shudder. We came so close to that several times with Son #2.......   The last thing you ne...

This is how I feel!!!! I am SO excited because the last of my three teenagers just finished allergy shots (immunotherapy.)     We have been going to Asthma Doc's office weekly (or every other week) for the last 10 years - because all three kids started allergy shots at different times     It's time for a we-are-done-with-shots-party!! That's a LOT of time at Asthma Doc's office.....and that's just for allergy shots - that doesn't include all the sick visits or check ups. For those of you who haven't had allergy shots, it's a LONG process. It takes anywhere from 3-5 years. Allergy shots are for people who are taking allergy medicine, and taking other precautions (keeping the windows closed in the car and house, showering before bed at night to remove pollen from their hair and skin, etc) and still being miserable from allergies.  If you are doing all you can for your allergies, and you are STILL sneezing all day (and waking up your fami...

So Hubby and I decided to take a picnic dinner and go for a hike with daughter Kitty on Saturday. It was a beautiful night (but a little hot - it is the middle of summer!!) The trail wasn't very steep or very long, but I couldn't seem to catch my breathe. I wondered if I was really out of shape. Or had I eaten too much? Maybe my pants were too tight? I didn't think I ate THAT much for dinner! I changed into loose fitting clothes when we came home, but that didn't see to make a difference. I went outside to work in my flower bed, I was determined to get the weeds pulled out. But I was feeling miserable. I kept having a hard time breathing and was starting to sigh to catch my breath. I went inside, where it was nice and cool. And suddenly I realized that I was having an asthma attack! Duh! It took me a while to figure that out, because an asthma attack for me is always a sudden, hard coughing spell. I might be exposed to perfume, smoke, cold air, etc an...

I was talking with a group of moms yesterday (who all have kids with asthma.) We were talking about problems with our kids missing school because of an asthma attack or from being sick. Every school district is a little different, but most have rules for how many days the students can be absent during each quarter. For us, students can miss 4 days per quarter. That can be a problem if you have asthma. Some students who have asthma may not have many symptoms or may not get sick that often. Other students with asthma can miss A LOT of school.  Son #2 missed more than 4 days per quarter (he has been hospitalized 8 times because of asthma and has been in ICU twice.) The school staff knew he had severe asthma and I would call and let them know he was sick. But they were stuck - the district level employees asked for a "formal" excuse letter. I guess letters from parents aren't good enough (in all fairness - I'm sure schools have had problems over t...

Taking Asthma to School (from Amazon) I'm always looking for fun things for kids who have allergies and asthma. I found a LOT of books on Amazon about allergies and asthma. There are other places that sell these books too, so do your own search and see who has the best prices. Here's another one, The Day Jake Lost His Breath   Here's another one, The Lion Who Had Asthma They also sell books about food allergies, this one is Taking Food Allergies to School Another one I found is Allie the Allergic Elephant  In fact, there's a whole section on books about allergies and asthma. If you are REALLY worried about sending your child with allergies and asthma to school (who isn't??!!) , you can also order different latex free wristbands for your kids to wear at school. Here is one from Amazon for tree nut allergies , I wish they had this when my son was younger. He's in college now, but when he was younger, I worri...

There are so many choices out there for allergies. And since allergies can trigger an asthma attack, it's something our family likes to try to control. I was reading the summer issue of Allergy & Asthma Today magazine, and found some interesting information under the 'comments to the editor' section about allergy medicine.    Dr. Martha White wrote a column in the Spring issue where she said that Zyrtec was non sedating (it's not supposed to make you tired). However, another doctor - Dr. William Howland - wrote a comment to the editor saying that the Zyrtec label says some people may be so drowsy that they shouldn't be drive their car.    Many people can probably take Zyrtec without feeling really tired. It doesn't seem to bother The Teenagers. But it makes me so tired that I can't get out of bed. I'll include a photo of Dr.Martha White's comments (since I can't find that section of the magazine online.)     She...