My Life as an Asthma Mom

  We are nearing the end of Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month.  I have spent most of my time sharing stats and info on My Life as an Asthma Mom on FB, Instagram and Twitter.    I have shared graphics about asthma such as:  " Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children In a typical class of 30 students, 3 will have asthma. Do you know how to help a student with an asthma attack? I helped plan this webinar with Dr. Dave Stukus called "What To Do if a Student Has an Asthma Attack" . It's helpful for school staff or others that work with children"   I have also created graphics about seasonal allergies: "Are you one of the 81 million that has seasonal allergies? Our family of 5 has allergies year round. I stock up on allergy nose spray, allergy pills, and tissues with lotion. All 3 of my kids have already had years of allergy shots, so that has helped. Have you tried allergy shots for your seasonal allergies?"   And I also include graphi

 There are the basic symptoms of an asthma attack:  Coughing Wheezing Shortness of Breathe  Chest Tightness  But there are EARLY warning signs of an asthma attack - before you get to those symptoms.  Tickle in the Throat  A Tickle in the Throat is one of those early warning asthma symptoms that many people don't know about. This has happened to me all my life.  My throat will feel twitchy or tickle. I feel like I need to swallow or chew a piece of gum and maybe that will help.  Then it dawns on me - I am starting an asthma attack.  The same thing happens to my 3 kids (who also have asthma.) They are all adults now, but when they were little, they were admitted to the hospital a total of 12 times. 2 of those hospital admission were for the ICU (Intensive Care Unit.) They also have the "tickle in the throat" early warning sign.  In fact, Son #2 sent a picture of himself using his nebulizer. I asked if he was sick and he said  he felt like he was starting another respirato

  Sometimes allergies are so severe that no amount of allergy nose spray or allergy pills can help.  For our family, Allergy Doc recommended allergy shots when despite all the medicine we took, we were still had: Sneezing (Daughter could sneeze 30 times in a row.... not kidding) Runny nose Congestion  Itchy throat or eyes  Interrupted sleep due to symptoms  Asthma attacks caused by allergies  We also made our house allergy & asthma friendly.   Yet we all still struggled with allergies, so all three of my kids had allergy shots for 5 years.  Fast forward 15 years, and college aged Daughter said her allergies were back with a vengeance. In fact, it felt like she had not had allergy shots.  Her allergy scratch test on her back ended with a back covered in welts. Even new Allergy Doc was surprised. She said previous Allergy Doc may have mixed a weaker serum.  It was clear that Daughter needed to repeat allergy shots, since her allergies were making her asthma hard to control.  Setting