My Life as an Asthma Mom

There's new research showing that the chance that you can inherit asthma from your mom or dad is much smaller than what people used to think. Hmmm......I'm not sure if I believe that.  I had always read research that said if you have one or both parents who have asthma, its' more likely that you will develop asthma.  WebMD says: "Blame Mom or Dad or both for your asthma. Your inherited genetic makeup predisposes you to having asthma. In fact, it's thought that three-fifths of all asthma cases are hereditary. According to a CDC report, if a person has a parent with asthma, he or she is three to six times more likely to develop asthma than someone who does not have a parent with asthma."   The NIH National Heart Blood and Lung Institute also says: "The exact cause of asthma isn't known. Researchers think some genetic and environmental factors interact to cause asthma, most ...

Do you ever feel like this? Do you ever panic when your tissue box is empty? In our family, Hubby and I and all three kids have allergies -to everything. Trees, flowers, bushes, grass, cats, dogs, horses, food. Sigh. It's depressing some times....... Do you have allergies year round? I found a story from Dayton Daily News. They interviewed several doctors and wrote about how year-round allergies could actually be caused by mold. Wow! Daughter Kitty sneezes all the time. Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall....doesn't matter when. Sometimes, we'll count her sneezes, and it will be over 20 times in a row! So I was interested to read this quote from the article: "Allergy reactions such as sneezing, coughing, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes that extend beyond the traditional spring and fall allergy seasons may be a strong signal that the source is mold. Mold – a fungus that thrives in warm, damp and humid environments – can cause persistent all...

Wow. Scientist come up with some really amazing ideas. The latest one I read about was testing the urine (pee) of kids with asthma.  An Anglo-Saxon team found that by testing urine, they could find inflammation in the bodies of kids with asthma. Inflammation (swelling) is what causes problems with asthma. If your asthma isn't treated properly, you can have swelling in your lungs that you can't see or feel. They also found one particular sign that could predict an asthma attack. The researchers (from Jagiellion University Medical School in Krakow and Queen Mary University in London) tested the urine of kids with asthma on days they didn't have symptoms. They also tested it on days they were having asthma symptoms. They also compared that with the urine of kids who DON'T have asthma. Why? "Dr. Rossa Brugha, co-author of the report and clinical research fellow at Queen Mary University of London hospital, says in a statement: "The key fact...

One of the frustrating things about having asthma, is that a cold to most people is just that - an annoying cold. For those of us with asthma, it's ALWAYS much worse. I saw a story on Fox25 (Oklahoma City) that explains why.    Here's a quote from Dr. Stanley Fineman, an asthma and allergy expert:  "Because that asthmatic has airways that are very hyper-sensitive, they're already inflamed, so the virus does more damage in the asthmatic patients than they would do in somebody who doesn't have asthma," When you have asthma, your airways are very sensitive and it doesn't take much to push them over the edge. For myself and my three kids with asthma, a cold will turn into bronchitis or pneumonia (and another trip to be admitted to the hospital.)  I picked up a cold from someone at work, but this time, it hit me a little different. Usually when I get a cold, I get the nasty cough  - the kind of cough where you are coughing so har...

Well, it's probably not the best screen shot of all time, but I'm not very tech savvy. It's from an article in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel about Green Bay Packer's running back Eddie Lacey. The story about Eddie talks about how he can still play NFL football with asthma.  One of his asthma triggers is the cold weather (I know how you feel Eddie!!) I have a hard time breathing out in the cold.We are in the middle of winter here, and we had a cold snap a few weeks ago. The kind of cold where I can only breathe in once and my chest tightens up and I start coughing. (The daytime high was around 16 degrees Fahrenheit, at night it dropped down to 2 degrees.) People living in Wisconsin are used to cold weather. In fact, Hubby met a new colleague who had spent a couple years in grad school in Wisconsin. He said it was the only place he lived where his eye lids froze shut. Yikes! So, what do you do if you have asthma and cold is one of your trigg...

It's VERY difficult having a child in the hospital. I should know - my two youngest kids were hospitalized 14 separate times (two of those were in ICU.) All three of my kids have asthma, and they would end up in the hospital with pneumonia, RSV, or from breathing smoke from a forest fire. It can really rip your world apart.  Everyone's life is going on, and you are in the hospital with a VERY sick kid. It's stressful and scary! Sometimes you look out the window and are jealous of the other people driving down the road without a care in the world. Did I mention how scary it can be? And you are sitting next to a very sick child. Hooked up to oxygen, an IV, and sometimes a heart monitor too.You hear the beeping of the machines, have endless visits from nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists and nurse's assistants. You can set your watch by the respiratory therapist coming in to give your child a breathing treatment every 4 hours (around the clock.)  If th...