My Life as an Asthma Mom

    I'm an asthma nerd, and my whole family knows it. So it shouldn't surprise me when someone says, " Hey, did you see the story about......"  This week's tip comes from The Hubster.  He was listening to a radio show that had a story called " Oxygen-Detecting Devices Give Misleading Readings In People With Dark Skin" on All Things Considered. Over the last 21 years, we have used pulse oximeters to check our kid's oxygen level. When they were little (and frequently in the hospital), we relied on the oximeter to know when to take the kids to the hospital.  But when we got to the ER, the doctors would lecture us to NOT just rely on the oxygen monitor. But to look at symptoms instead. They would tell us to watch for the following emergency symptoms :  If you use quick relief inhaler or nebulizer, and the kid's breathing isn't getting better (or it gets better and then comes back quickly.) You see changes in lips or fingernails (bluish or...

        It's winter, and my lungs are NOT happy.    Did you know that some people with asthma can have asthma attacks from cold air?    This falls under the category of strange - but true! 😥   Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) says:   " When you breathe in cold, dry air through your mouth, the air doesn't get warmed by your nose first. The cold air goes to your lungs and airways. This can trigger an asthma attack." What to do? If cold air is one of your triggers, there are a few things that AAFA suggests.   You can wrap a scarf around your mouth and nose and breathe through that. This year, I wear a mask almost all of the time, so maybe my mask can take the place of my scarf?  If you usually go walking or running outside, can you change your workout? What about going to a city rec center and using the indoor track?  Or be one of those early morning mall walkers? Does your doctor want you to pre-treat ...

  In keeping with Spending Holidays Alone This Year, we will be having a very small Thanksgiving. There will only be 4 of us, and we are all staying here at the house. It seems like it's an awful lot of work for me to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 4 people. Whether you cook for 4 or 20, it's the same amount of side dishes. And not that much work for me to cook for a bigger crowd. A friend mentioned that she ordered a catered dinner through a local restaurant. Hmmm. Tempting.  But..... We have food allergies. And it's hard to trust anyone else to cook your food and be careful about food allergies.  Like most people with asthma, we also have environmental allergies (dogs, cats, trees, flowers, dust, etc.) And just for fun -  Son #2 and I also have food allergies.  Which makes it a little nerve wracking when we get take out (or the neighbors drop something off.) It's not that we don't trust people. It's just that we don't trust people! For people who d...

                                                                             I was listening to a hoarding webinar from the Mental Health Association of San Fransisco, and learned so much! Did you know that hoarding is also known as  "collecting behavior"? Interesting - but what does this have to do with asthma? Mental Health Association of San Fransisco lists problems with having too much clutter: Safety Hazards  It can be hard to navigate around piles of belongings and can cause tripping and falling. This can be even harder if someone is disabled or elderly. Health Hazards Piles of belongings means pe...

  I think most people have heard of or know what PTSD is -  but for those who don't, Mayo Clinic describes it this way: "Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event."  How can you get PTSD from asthma?  Well, for those of us with asthma, not being able to breathe is a terrifying event! Over the last 20 years, we have had our share of traumatic events. Daughter Kitty and Son #2 were in the hospital 12 times for asthma - and two of those were ICU! When you see the hospital staff panicking trying to take care of your child, you panic! Most of the hospitalizations for my kids were caused by pneumonia, but there was an ICU admission for Son #2 due to smoke from a nearby forest fire. No matter what I did, nothing helped him. Breathing treatments weren...

      Well, Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD) is certainly a mouthful!  Asthma really has some weird terminology, and this is one of them!  What the heck is Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD) ?  AERD is also known as "Sampter's Triad". The word triad is used to explain a group of three. And AERD/Sampter's Triad has - you guessed it - 3 things that usually happen. The disease has: 1. Asthma   2. Polyps in the nose (that come back even if they are removed surgically) 3. Sensitive to aspirin or ibuprofen  AERD/Sampter's Triad can be hard to diagnose. People are usually diagnosed later in life. Some people may notice they can't breathe as well or smell as well as they used to (this is before COVID...)  And they may have a weird reaction to taking aspirin or ibuprofen (remember that some cold medicines also have aspirin or ibuprofen in them!) Someone may start coughing, wheezing, sneezing, or have a stuffy nose. Some ...

  Many people have joked that the year 2020 is a dumpster fire.  Sadly, we have areas of the U.S. that are literally on fire (no dumpsters -  but plenty of forests.) My friends that live in California and Oregon have been posting photos online. And I am terrified for them - because they have asthma. And smoke and asthma are NOT a good mix. One year, Son #2 ended up in ICU from the smoke from a local forest fire. I will never forget that trip to the hospital! He had been in the hospital before for his asthma (and pneumonia), but this was the first time he was in ICU. And it was traumatic. So, anytime we get smoke from forest fires, it worries me! We have smoke in our state from the California and Oregon fires. And it has traveled all the way to the East Coast of the U.S. !  The size of the fires is off the charts. As of this writing, the California fires have burned 3.2 MILLION acres and killed 25 people. I'm not sure of the cause of death for those people (it makes m...

  I was chatting with a friend who is a former paramedic and firefighter. And I wondered - what happens to her lungs from fighting fires?   I know there are many jobs where someone with asthma can have irritants at their job. (Not irritating people - we all have one of those at work!) 😆 Irritants means things we breathe in that makes our lungs irritated. Known as o ccupational asthma , there are many things that can make our asthma lungs cranky.  This includes: Animals (dander, fur, saliva and poop) Chemicals (paint or varnish, laminates, glues, etc) Metals (chromium, platinum, nickel sulfate) Plant products (flour, cereals, wheat, rye, flax, hemp, cotton or natural latex) Enzymes (flour conditioners or detergents) Irritants (smoke, chlorine gas, and sulfur dioxide) But what about firefighters? I know they wear respirators, but if they are in a house or business that is burning -  how does that affect their lungs? I mean, that's a LOT of smoke! What about firef...

  Have you ever been really spoiled by a good pharmacist?  We had a fantastic pharmacist and great pharmacy techs. The pharmacy was located inside a retail store, and the store wasn't very busy - which was why we chose it.  We felt like we had a personal connection to everyone at the pharmacy. They all knew me, my husband and all of our kids. In fact, if we came into the store, and then didn't go directly to the pharmacy, they would say "Where did you go? I got your meds ready for you!" 😂 When you have a chronic disease like allergies and asthma, you are at the pharmacy a LOT. Especially during flu season, when one (or all of us) gets bronchitis or pneumonia. Then in additional to getting allergy nose spray, our controller inhalers, and rescue inhalers, we are getting an antibiotic, albuterol for the nebulizer , or oral steroids.   But going to a place that wasn't very busy was the problem. They went out of business. I was so sad. I gave my number to the pharma...

This falls under the category of "Say it Isn't So!" Apparently, my kids actually listened to me when I have taught them about eczema, allergies, and asthma. Crazy, right?! How did I find this out? Well, one of my kids actually talked to me. You know - face to face. NOT through text. It can happen! Son #1 was training a new employee who had several asthma attacks her first week on the job. My son was concerned by how often she was using her rescue inhaler (quick relief inhaler.) He told her, "You know.....if you are using your rescue inhaler more than 2 times a week, that means your asthma is not controlled." I about fell off my chair when he told me that. He remembered!! Why can't you use your inhaler more than 2 times a week? Well, it's not that you CAN'T - but it's a clue that there is swelling in your lungs. And you need to talk to your doctor about starting a controller inhaler. A control inhaler will (wait for it....) control the swelling ...

I was just chatting with a friend who said that the weirdest thing just happened. She was eating cherries and her lips started to tingle. She's worried that she is allergic to cherries now. I told her that it could be Oral Allergy Syndrome. She said, " what allergy what?" Oral Allergy Syndrome (also known as Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome) is when you are not only allergic to pollen from trees, weeds and grass - but also fruits and veggies that have a similar pollen. Still confused?   American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology explains how it works: Common pollen/fruit associations: Allergic to birch pollen? You could be allergic to: apple, almond, carrot, celery, cherry, hazelnut, kiwi, peach, pear, plum Allergic to Grass pollen?  You could be allergic to: celery, melons, oranges, peaches, tomato Allergic to ragweed?  You could be allergic to:  banana, cucumber, melons, sunflower seeds, zucchini Allergy & Asthma Network lists other things you can be...

Yeah, me too. Anyone else have a "mind blown" experience on social media? From someone who you THOUGHT you knew? I'm a little shocked by some of the nasty things that have been in my social media feed. I've had to un-follow family members and friends. And do you know what? That's okay! I feel like I've had a roller coaster of emotions since COVID hit the U.S. Every day is a new adventure. I'm almost afraid to turn the news on each night to see what's going on. I decided to take a break from social media for the weekend. I have felt so much better, that I'm going to extend it this week. I will create posts here and share them to my social media platforms. But as far as scrolling through my feed.....I'm too old and cranky to deal with people who are posting some outrageous things. Need a break from social media? You'll survive. And you may just find time to get to some of those books you've been wanting to read. Or crochet, or paint, or ...

You may have heard about "contact tracing" on the news. I don't know about you, but I am learning a LOT of new phrases with COVID! So what is contact tracing? According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): "Contact tracing is used by health departments to prevent the spread of infectious disease. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have an infectious disease (cases) and people who they came in contact with (contacts) and working with them to interrupt disease spread."   Still sound confusing? If you test positive for COVID, the your health department should call you. They will tell you what you need to do. If you are sick with COVID Since COVID (Coronavirus) can be easily spread, it's important that a sick person stays away from everyone else ( self isolates .) That means you stay away from everyone else for 2 weeks - staying in a separate bedroom (or another room), and use your own bathroom if possible That also means not...

Well, it's been over 20 years since my 3 kids and I were diagnosed with asthma, and it still rears it's ugly head at really bad times. Like this morning's commute! There I am, driving down a 5 lane road at 55 miles per hour and something got me. I have no idea what happened. Did I pass someone mowing their lawn? Was pollen drawn into my car with the other fresh air? All I know is that suddenly I felt that little twitch in my throat. Then it got worse. Then the coughing started. Drank water from my water bottle. Nope. Grabbed my inhaler and spacer from my purse (which I ALWAYS keep on the passenger seat next to me when I drive.) ** I do recommend pulling over to use your inhaler if you can. I was locked in on all sides with fast traffic and couldn't safely pull over on the shoulder at that speed without putting myself at risk** One puff. Wait a minute to see if that helps. Sigh. Eyes are watering, cough is getting worse. 2nd puff. Okay, I'm safely in the parking gara...

So ladies, isn't being a female FUN?! It starts out in our teenage years with crazy changes to our bodies (not to mention our emotions!) Then there are years of having babies - for those of us lucky enough to have babies...... And the ups and downs every month of changing hormone levels. Then we go in reverse when we age and lose hormones, and then comes menopause! Did you know that all of those hormonal changes can affect your asthma control? Yep! In fact, Cleveland Clinic says: “Women are hospitalized twice as frequently as men for asthma , and their mortality is twice as high,” says pulmonary medicine expert Joe Zein, MD . Yikes! Do you feel like your asthma is hard to control? If so, talk to your doctor. Changing hormone levels can be one of many reasons why your asthma is hard to control.  Menopause can be extra hard on the body because it already comes with a whole host of "fun times!" Hot flashes, night sweats, sleep problems, mood changes, weight gain, thinning ...

Well, well, well, if my old college English professor could only see me now!  This is my 10th year in a row being included in the Best Asthma Blogs by Healthline!    10  Thank you Healthline!  My professor told me that I was a terrible writer and needed to use more "flowery descriptions" in my writing. This was in the late 80's and I wasn't about to retype my paper in the college typing center.  Who had time to add flowery descriptions? It was my last year of college before I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree (first generation!)  I was struggling to balance 18 credit hours and working full time in a record store. You may have heard of records,  they call them "vinyl" now.  They were flat black discs with grooves and you would play them on a special turntable. The turntable had a swing arm with a needle that you would place on one of the grooves in the record. And the needle always seemed to be dul...

(Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America) It's here! Asthma Awareness Month! Many of you may think, yeah, yeah, I know all of that stuff. Did you know that many people are not living their best life? They THINK their asthma is "just fine". When it's really not Ask yourself: (Baylor University)  If you answered "yes" to any of these, talk to your doctor! (Ya know you can do visits over your phone or computer during COVID, right?) You may need to start (or increase) your daily, controller inhaler. Did your know that the global guidelines to control asthma recommend a daily, controller inhaler to control the swelling in your lungs? With asthma, we have swelling in the lungs - which you can't see or feel. But it's there.  Just like with high blood pressures and high cholesterol - you can't see or feel those either, but your doctor will give you medicine to take every day. Same thing with asthma.  Gett...