My Life as an Asthma Mom

      Should you get the pneumonia vaccine (Pneumovax 23) if you have asthma?   According to Drugs.com, people ages 2-65 should get the vaccine if they are risk of developing pneumonia because of another disease (such as asthma, diabetes, lung disease or heart disease, alcoholism, liver or kidney disease.) You should only get the pneumonia vaccine once.     In special circumstances, they may give it again, but there is more of a possibility of more serious and frequent side effects. To read their advice, click here. Son #2 had the vaccine when he was younger because he had already been hospitalized several times with pneumonia. His doctor recommended the vaccine, so my son had that vaccine.    A couple of months later, he wound up in the hospital (again) - with pneumonia! I was shocked!    The nurse in the Pediatrics unit said "Well, it doesn't work on all strains of pneumonia and it doesn't work on all people."    Just our...

It's that time of year again, I am waiting for the supply of flu vaccine to come in at my local health department.  If I get mine at the doctor's office, I have to first pay for a well check up for all 5 of us ($25 each-so $125) - OR I can wait for the health department to get their shipment. I think I'll get mine at the local health department. I know they have the flu mist, but people with asthma aren't allowed to have the flu mist. Click here to find out why Asthma falls into the category of "chronic medical condition" and the mist is made from a live, weakened virus. So it's not recommended for those of us with asthma. But what's the big deal about a case of the flu anyway? Well, if you have asthma, you are more likely to develop pneumonia. Click here for more info Two of my kids have been hospitalized a total of 12 different times for asthma and pneumonia. And it's not fun. In fact, it's one of the scariest things you can see as a ...

School started this week, and we went to Back to School Night to meet my daughter's teacher.    Of course we had to fill out the emergency form listing her asthma, and talk to her teacher about that. While I was there, I was able to look around see what Kitty's classroom looked like. I was relieved to see that it looked clean and uncluttered. (Yes, I know it is the start of the school year, so it's clean NOW...) but I was happy to see that there weren't piles of stuffed animals, a furry rug or oversized pillows in the classroom.    I did see a couple of beanbag chairs for the kids to sit in while they read, but they were a smooth vinyl, and not fabric. That's a better surface to repel dirt and dust. Also, the class was free of pets except for a salt water fish tank. Do some classrooms still have class pets? Lately, they're showing a Target commercial where the teacher has a guinea pig that she says she'll send home with each student to take care of...

It's soccer season! Which is great, except that it's played on grass, and that is one of Kitty's triggers. She's been better since she's been doing allergy shots for the past 3 years, but sometimes it still bothers her. At least she doesn't have exercise induced asthma, that can make it a lot harder when you are playing sports. Does your child's coach know what to do if your child has an asthma attack? We actually had a player that had an asthma attack on Saturday during the soccer game, and the coach didn't know what to do. Luckily, we found the player's mom, but what if she wasn't at the game? Or what if a player has an asthma attack at practice? Most parents drop their kids off for practice, but attend the games. No one there would know what to do to help my kids if they had an attack during practice. There is a 20 minute FREE online training about asthma that was made for coaches (of course anyone who works with the yout...

    I can't believe summer is over and it's Back to School Night next week for Kitty.    The first thing we'll do when we meet Kitty's teacher is to let her know that Kitty has asthma. I'll make sure she also knows that how serious asthma is, and that Kitty has been hospitalized 4 times for asthma. (Not to mention countless doctor and ER visits......) I also took a new Asthma Action Plan to Asthma Doc to fill out for this school year. I need her teacher to have a copy of that, so that when Kitty has an asthma attack, the teacher knows what to do.    The weird thing about asthma is that there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to asthma. Everyone has different triggers, different symptoms when they have an asthma attack, and different medications that they take to treat it.    So, making sure Kitty's teacher knows what will trigger Kitty's asthma, what symptoms to watch for and what medication she takes to treat it are very important. I also fill...

(CNNhealth) Many of you may have watched Diana Nyad getting ready to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida-at age 61! Wow! I thought it was an interesting story, but then I really paid attention when I heard that she had to end her swim because of asthma. She was only half way into her swim when she had to stop. She was very upset and has been training for this swim for 2 years. But asthma isn't something you can plan for. She said she used her inhaler 40 times during the 29 hour swim and even used some oxygen, but she couldn't beat her asthma. I think people that don't have asthma don't understand what asthma can do to your body. They may take for it for granted that they can breathe, but when you can't breathe and aren't getting the oxygen you need, it just wipes you out. You are so tired and weak, that whatever you have planned to do is probably going to have to be cancelled. It's hard to explain to someone that doesn't have asthma...

    I was at the pharmacy (yes, again) and was chatting with the Pharmacy Technician.    As we were chatting about allergies and asthma, she mentioned a great idea to deal with allergies. She puts on a new pillow case every few days. Now, anyone without allergies would think she was crazy and it's a waste of time. For those of us with allergies, who wake up sneezing and wheezing at night, it's a great idea!    Many people don't realize that you get pollen in your hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and on your skin at the end of the day. There are several things you can do before you go to bed.    My Asthma Doc suggests: Shower EVERY night before you go to bed. This removes the pollen and will allow you to have a better nights sleep. Sleep with the windows closed (to keep out any more pollen) Use air condition (central air) rather than a swamp cooler If you don't want to shower at night (it does help!) consider changing your pillow case every fe...