My Life as an Asthma Mom

One thing I am worried about as summer is starting is if my daughter Kitty will remember to take her daily, controller (or maintenance) asthma medication. I remember listening to a webinar where a doctor talked about the dangers of not taking asthma medicine during the summer. (I wish I could find the webinar, but I can't remember which doctor gave the presentation.) I did find a website where someone asked that same question. Dr. Daniel More answered a question on About.com I think the problem is that kids and adults may be start a different routine. Kids are out of school, so they are sleeping in, going to summer camp, starting swimming lessons or attending sports or dance camps. So their regular routines are thrown off. The same thing can be said for adults who are traveling, we may forget to take our daily, maintenance asthma medicine too. Dr. More said: "There are many reasons why stopping asthma medications during the summer is a bad idea. First, it'

http://www.myproair.com/ Did you know there is a new dry powder rescue inhaler that is soon to hit stores? (If it hasn't already.....) The new inhaler is made by TEVA pharmaceuticals. In the press release, it says that the inhaler is "the first and only breathe-actuated dry powder rescue inhaler". I had to read that twice......but it looks like instead of being like a regular inhaler (that comes out in a spray) this is a dry powder. It sounds like other asthma medications that are dry powder - but they are usually daily, controller (or maintenance) medications. This is a rescue inhaler. There's also a quote from Dr. David I. Bernstein of the University of Cincinnati. He says, "The approval of ProAir RespiClick is significant as it eliminates the need for hand-breathe coordination during inhalation."  In simple terms, it's made for those of us who have no coordination and can't chew gum and walk at the same time. With this inhal

        I just met Al Keith at an asthma conference this month. He is an inspiring guy!    He became a respiratory therapist after his daughter passed away as an infant. His daughter had an amazing respiratory therapist who inspired Al Keith to then become a respiratory therapist. His dedication and passion has impacted many lives over the years. As a respiratory therapist, he provided asthma education to his patients. In 2002, he created Asthma Blues , which combines music and asthma education. The music CD uses different types of music (blues, country and rap) to teach people how to take care of their asthma.  He uses guidelines from the NHLBI (National Heart Lung Blood Institute) to create the songs. They are pretty funny - you can listen to one of the songs here and read the lyrics on the screen. Studies have shown that the music and educational program are successful in helping people control their asthma.What a creative approach! And what a wonderful man

We were traveling last week, and of course someone in the family was sick. It seems like EVERY time we travel, someone is sick. I guess that's what happens when Hubby and I both work. Both of our sons work and go to college, and daughter Kitty is in school with 1200 other germ infested students. So there are LOTS of germs floating around. So, what to do when you travel and you have asthma? We started by checking to make sure we had our Out of State Coverage cards from our insurance company. Then Hubby looked up locations that were covered in the area where we were traveling. There were a few doctor's offices there that would accept our insurance. There was also a hospital.  Then we made sure we packed maintenance medications, the rescue inhalers and allergy medicine. Oh, and LOTS of tissues. The problem we found when we travel is that we are off our regular schedule. So, we had to remember to take our maintenance medication each morning. At home, we have