My Life as an Asthma Mom

Well, as though this year wasn't bad enough, I am sick with bronchitis (again) - 4th time since November. What's going on? Well, I've been traveling - and airplanes and airports are some of the germiest places you can be. For anyone who regularly reads my blog, you know that I am a germaphobe. However, my husband (who likes to come along on my work trips if I'm going to a cool city) isn't a germaphobe. I can easily go through a whole package of antibacterial hand wipes during a 4 day trip. That nasty tray on the airplane? It's getting wiped down before I have my pretzels and Coke! Think it's not that dirty? CNN has a slide show called "Journeys with Germs" What are the dirtiest things on the airplane?"  You might be surprised!   Think of everything else you touch - door knobs, elevator buttons, the TV remote in the hotel.  I use the antibacterial wipes like a mad woman. And follow it up with hand sanitizer. T...

If you are having a miserable time this spring, then join the club!  Want to know where your city ranks? Are they one of the top 2018 Allergy Capitals? Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) just released their Allergy Capitals Spring 2018. They rank the 100 largest American cities every years. The Hubby and I and all 3 kids have allergies, and we are miserable all spring and summer. In fact, at 11:30 last night, 2 of my kids were in a panic because they were out of their allergy medicine! They are NOT going to have a fun day today.... Where does YOUR city rank for allergies? AAFA says: "The top five most challenging places to live with spring allergies this year are:" "1. McAllen, Texas 2. Louisville, Kentucky    3. Jackson, Mississippi 4. Memphis, Tennessee 5. San Antonio, Texas" What do they look at when deciding which cities make the list?   Allergy medication usage (we personally keep the wareh...

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the Allergy & Asthma Network Asthma Blogger Summit. Thanks Tonya and Allergy & Asthma Network.     Who is Allergy & Asthma Network? "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." A big part of what they work on is advocacy.    What is advocacy? It's talking to your legislators about important topics for allergies and asthma. As you can see from the slide, there are several things Allergy & Asthma Network are working on: Safe, effective and affordable medication Affordable and high-quality healthcare and insurance coverage Nurses in all K-12 public schools Appropriate funding for allergy & asthma health and research programs Access to innovative therapies and technologies to advance medica...

It's spring and my nose knows it! You can hear LOTS of sneezing going on at my house right now. In fact, we buy allergy medicine and tissues in bulk. Hello warehouse club, we are headed your way! My husband and I passed on our allergies to all 3 kids, so we are all miserable together in the spring and summer. Actually, we are miserable year round with allergies, but spring and summer are the worst.  And nice mom that I am, I also passed along my asthma to all 3 kids too! So it's fun with allergies AND asthma at our house. The funny thing about it though is that all of us prefer different medicines to treat our allergies and asthma. Daughter Kitty likes one allergy pill, while her brothers each like a different brand of pill. And Hubby and I both like different allergy nose sprays.  It's important that you need to find what's right for you and your body. We have all had LOTS of visits with Asthma Doc, and he has recommended that each of...

    In every profession, you have titles, licenses and certifications. In the world of asthma, the goal is to be a Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C).  If you want to learn more about asthma, you want to learn from the best, right?! That's where an AE-C comes in. An AE-C is a voluntary certification in the U.S., so, those of us that have studied for and passed the exam do it because we want to be known as an expert in the field. (I didn't even get a raise after passing the exam and getting my certification!) It's not a easy exam (only 65% of people who take the exam actually pass it) , and it's not cheap (I paid $350 to take the exam ) and it takes about 3 hours. Did I mention that it's not an easy test? There are only about 3,500 AE-C's in the US that have passed the exam (that's not many considering there are over 25 million people here that have asthma! )  How do you qualify to take the exam? NAECB (The National Asthma Educator Certificati...

My friend was telling me that she just had to use her Albuterol inhaler, and now her hands are shaking. She said that she probably had to use her Albuterol inhaler because she stopped using her controller inhaler . When looked at her surprised, she said she stopped using her controller inhaler because she didn't like the way it made her feel.   I wanted to give her one of those, "You know better than that!" lectures. Instead, I gently reminded her that her controller inhaler does just that - controls the swelling in her lungs . It's a preventative medicine (just like people who take medicine for high blood pressure or high cholesterol.) You have to take your preventative medicine every day, knowing that it works.  I grabbed my asthma medication poster from Allergy & Asthma Network and showed her the rainbow of inhalers that are available.  I told her that if she doesn't like her medicine, let her doctor know! The doctor is going to send ...

I popped into the pharmacy yesterday to pick our daily controller inhalers for my daughter and I, and had quite the shock at the register. They range up at $155. It's a new pharmacy tech, so I said "Wait a minute. What was so expensive?" He said my daughter's controller inhaler was $80, and mine was $75. I know that my pharmacy will find a manufacturer's coupon and apply that to our co-pay, so instead of paying a $80 copay for my daughter's inhaler, it will be $30. My co-pay for my inhaler is usually $75 but with a coupon, I can get it for $25. Some of you may be thinking, "I pay WAY more than that each month for my inhaler!" I get it. My work has a $6,000 deductible for our insurance, which is a complete joke. My coworkers have to pay $250 EVERY month for their inhaler. They also have to pay full price for every doctor visit and emergency room visit. So, I use my husband's insurance instead. It has a lower deductible and ...