My Life as an Asthma Mom

I was at the library listening to a presentation and overheard the woman behind me telling a friend that her daughter had an allergic reaction that day and had been in the emergency room. I turned around and told her I didn't mean to be creepy and listen in on her conversation, but that my son had also experienced anaphylaxis, and it can be really scary as a parent to watch it. She said, "Oh, it wasn't anaphylaxis. Her throat was just closing off, she was just having an allergic reaction." I said, "that IS anaphylaxis!!! You know she can have a re-bound effect, right?" (Even after you are treated for anaphylaxis, you can experience a "re-bound" - the symptoms can come back.) I told the woman that she better check in on her daughter! An hour later, she tapped me on the shoulder and said, my daughter just sent a text and said it feels like her airway is closing off again. I think she saw the look of shock on my face, and I told her s...

I had to go to the hospital last week to meet with a colleague, and as soon as I walked in - there was "that smell." There is a certain scent that I recognize from having my kids hospitalized 14 times. Not a bad scent, just a familiar one!  My kids were usually admitted to the hospital with pneumonia or from problems breathings smoke from forest fires. For me, having a child admitted to the hospital was actually a relief. There comes a point where I have done everything I can as a parent to try to help them breathe easier. To quote a line from Mall Cop "Backup! Backup!!"  I need someone who knows more than I do to take over! I am NOT a respiratory therapist or a nurse, so sometimes I need the professionals to take care of my child. I have all the preventative (or daily controller) medicine at home. When they get sick, I will start giving them Albuterol breathing treatments with the nebulizer. (The nebulizer machine turns the liquid medicine...

This is a LONG blog, but important, so PLEASE read the whole entry!! :) Having problems with your lungs is annoying, you really take it for granted that you can breathe! And when you can't......well, it's no fun! So how do you know what lung disease you have?  When daughter Kitty was little, she just didn't seem to be doing well, even with all of the asthma medications she was taking. She had been hospitalized 4 times for asthma, so Asthma Doc wanted to rule out any other lung disease. He ordered a sweat chloride test to check for Cystic Fibrosis.  I have tell you - that was the LONGEST weekend of my life!!! Waiting for test results was so hard, we couldn't eat or sleep.  Luckily, her test was negative. But some people aren't so lucky.  So what is Cystic Fibrosis? Here's a quote from the Cystic Fibrosis foundation: "In people with CF, a defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mu...

American Lung Association has an email list where you can get updates about lung cancer, asthma, COPD, etc. Their latest "top story" (October 7, 2014) is about a link between depression and asthma. They say that if you have any of the lung diseases listed above, it's not unusual to feel anxious, stressed, or even depressed.  They also say that 1/3 of people with chronic diseases may feel depressed. Here's a quote from the website: "Sometimes you might notice you don’t feel like yourself but you are aren’t sure exactly what is bothering you. Undiagnosed depression can make it more difficult to manage your disease and has a large impact on your quality of life." You can click here to find someone in your state that offers depression screenings. Of course talk to your doctor if you feel a "little off" or don't feel like yourself! :) Most states (and also many foreign countries!) teach a 6 week workshop that helps you co...

I'm a little bit of a nerd, because I love research studies. I am always looking for new studies or articles about asthma.  The latest study I read was from WebMD. The story was originally published in Healthday News. A study done in Europe showed that the worry of losing your job could increase your risk for developing asthma. Hmmm. The study interviewed 7,000 people in Germany in 2009-2011 and asked the employees questions "about the respiratory disorder and also on whether they thought they would lose their job within two years." During that time, there were 100 people that were diagnosed with asthma. Here's a quote from the article: The researchers noted that for every 25 percent jump in job-related stress, the risk for asthma also increased by 24 percent. The risk for asthma surged to 60 percent among those who thought it was highly likely they would lose their job. The study did say that worrying about your job doesn't CAUSE...

Halloween can be a scary time of year - not because of scary costumes and spook alleys, but because I have a son with a tree nut allergy! There are a LOT of different kinds of candy out there with tree nuts. Every year at Halloween, I would have to carefully go through Son #2's candy and make sure his candy was safe for him to eat. (Mom bonus: if there WAS a candy bar that had tree nuts, I would have to "take it for safe keeping"........ya - I would eat it!) The Food Allergy Research and Education website  (FARE) has a fun idea to help families of kids with food allergies. They are asking families to place teal colored pumpkins on their porch (and the sign pictured above) and hand out non-candy treats instead. You can paint a real or plastic pumpkin teal, then print out the sign  to hang on the front door. You can also print out fliers to help spread the word.   There are a lot of things you can hand out instead of candy, FARE suggests: vampire teeth ...

I just read a story on Webmd (dated September 29th, 2014) about potential problems with omalizumab (Xolair). The makers of Xolair were conducting a safety test, and their study showed a "slightly increased but serious" risk for heart attack and mini-stroke (called TIA's or transient ischemic attacks.) Uh oh!!  Xolair is used for patients whose allergic asthma can't be controlled by using other asthma medications. Some doctors also use Xolair to treat chronic hives. Son #2 has had Xolair injections for the last 7 years. He is one of the small percentage of people with asthma who has severe asthma.   Son #2 has been hospitalized 8 times, and two of those hospitalizations were ICU admissions. We did EVERYTHING the doctor would outline -what medications to take/when/how much - but he would still end up in the hospital. He would suddenly go from bad to worse. I remember one time when Son #2 suddenly became worse in the Emergency Room - it even scare...

All inhalers look the same, but are just different colors. How do you tell which one you should use every day (maintenance/controller inhaler), and which one you use if you are having a hard time breathing (rescue inhaler)? They may look the same, but the medicine inside is VERY different! Here is a link from American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) to see lists of photos of maintenance medications (inhaled corticosteroids) Examples of these are: Qvar Pulmicort Alvesco Aerobid Aerospan Asthmanex Flovent Azmacort  (The medicines listed above are meant to be taken EVERY DAY!!!!!) Here is a link from AAAAI for photos of  long-acting beta-agonists (LABA's) It's important to know that the FDA recommends that these medications (LABA's) must ALWAYS be taken with the inhaler corticosteroids (listed above)  Examples of these are: Foradil Serevent (These are also meant to be taken EVERY DAY!!!!!)  OR.......You ca...

I'm back to blogging! Have you ever had one of those HUGE projects due at work and you are really stressed out? Yeah, it's been one of THOSE kind of months. So I have neglected my asthma blog.  But I was always thinking about it - a story would be on the news, and I would think "I should blog about that!!"  ABC News has had a few reports lately about how some kids who have the fast moving Enterovirus 68 have also had paralysis. Of course I am worried about my 3 kids because they all have asthma and have had repeated hospitalizations.  They are older now, so when they get sick, it's not as bad as when they were younger. But I still worry. I have seen my kids go from bad to worse in a few hours - it's VERY scary to watch them struggling to breathe. Now there are kids who have contracted Enterovirus 68 and can't move their arms and legs. It affects a small number of kids. The report from ABC News last week said that there are 277 confirmed case...