My Life as an Asthma Mom

First of all, what IS the September Epidemic? Well, most parents worry about kids getting sick during cold and flu season (winter). It seems to make sense that winter is the most likely time to get sick and end up in the hospital.  But - it's actually September! Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American (AAFA) , says:     "There is a September asthma hospitalization “epidemic.” Many more people are hospitalized for asthma shortly after school starts than at any other time of the year. The number of asthma hospitalizations peak first for school-age children, then preschool children, then adults."  For those of you with school aged kids, that probably makes sense. I can remember being room parent for many years and helping out in my kid's classrooms. And the hygiene (or lack of) was shocking. I saw plenty of kids sneezing without covering their nose, coughing all over on their seatmate, and wiping their nose on their sleeve.  Ugh. ...

I am asked this when I help families with asthma. And it's something I wrestled with myself when my kids were little. I would wonder, "What a I doing wrong? My child is in the hospital AGAIN?!" Often times, you aren't doing anything wrong!  Some kids just have asthma that is hard to control. And sometimes kids can go from bad to worse VERY quickly.  I found that close monitoring of their symptoms was helpful to me, including: Using a peak flow meter   This is an inexpensive little hand held device that you blow into as hard as you can for one second. It measures how much air you can push out of your lungs. The marker will end up on a number on the scale ( 0 - 600), which will be your "personal best". That's is YOUR number. It's pretty much the same every morning and every night (unless you start to get sick.) What I like about the peak flow is that I knew each kid's personal best. They would use their peak fl...

https://www.facebook.com/DefineYourAsthma/ I'm always on the lookout for new resources, and I learned about "Define Your Asthma" from (AAN) The Allergy & Asthma Network (AAN). Who is AAN? "Allergy & Asthma Network is the leading nonprofit organization whose mission is to end the needless death and suffering due to asthma, allergies and related conditions through outreach, education, advocacy and research ." Based in the U.S., AAN is known and trusted not just here, but internationally as well. Their CEO, Tonya Winders, is President of the Global Allergy and Asthma Patient Platform (GAAPP). GAAPP is a global organization of allergy and asthma patient groups that was created to: ".....empowering the patient and supporting the patient voice so that decision makers in both the public and private sectors, in government and industry will be mindful of patient needs, patient desires and patient rights." It's...

Every summer I worry, and every summer we get forest fires and LOTS of smoke.  Why do I worry? Well, because smoke from a forest fire almost killed my son 10 years ago. He ended up in the hospital in ICU with the "crash cart" outside his room.  It happened so fast. When you have asthma, smoke does a number on your lungs.  What are the health effects of smoke? You might have a cough and/or wheezing, a hard time breathing, and burning eyes and a runny nose. Is it just people with asthma? AirNow says smoke can affect: a person with heart or lung disease, such as heart failure, angina, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema or asthma. an older adult , which makes you more likely to have heart or lung disease than younger people. caring for children, including teenagers, because their respiratory systems are still developing, they breathe more air (and air pollution) per pound of body weight than adults...