My Life as an Asthma Mom

  Is it OK to ask my doctor for a different inhaler?  Well....the short answer is yes.  Don't like your inhaler? Want to try a different kind? It's perfectly OK to ask your doctor about that! Some organizations are trying to encourage doctors to slow down and listen to patients preferences. And part of that is deciding WITH your doctor what is best for you. Shared Decision Making  Allergy & Asthma Network and CHEST have created a tool that allows clinicians and patients to work together to find the best treatment.  The patient tells the doctor their preferences, and the doctor figures out their labs and bio markers.  That helps them figure out the best medicine for their asthma.  They say: "Targeted therapies + shared decision = personalized medicine" Here's an example of what you fill out as a patient Pretty easy, right?  Having a say in what inhaler you take for your asthma is important.  If you don't like it, you won't use it - right?...

 This is one of those words that can strike fear in people  Mold For those of you who have had mold in an apartment or home, I get it. I do.  I had black mold in my first two homes.   I've attended many in-depth trainings for my environmental health job. And I now help other families with evidence based interventions. (And a few stories about our experiences thrown in.) Here are some basic things I learned along the way: Health Effects of Mold Mold can irritate the throat, lungs, eyes, skin and nose. It can also cause an asthma flare. When we  found black mold in our play room, our daughter had just been discharged from the hospital after a battle with pneumonia.  Can I link it to the mold? Maybe? You don't need to "test for mold"  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says: "In most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary." When we had mold in our first home (20 years ago), the disaster cleanup company wouldn't allo...

  It seems weird that the Winter Olympics are starting in February. Didn't we just have the Summer Olympics?! Oh right....the Summer Olympics were postponed for a year due to the pandemic.  Some people wonder if athletes can compete at the Olympic level if they have asthma. Can someone with asthma be the Best in the World at their sport?  Well.........Yes! About 8% of Olympic Athletes have asthma. That's the same percentage of the general population. So if they can compete on a world level, there's no excuse for us not taking a walk around the block, right? Asthma Triggers for Athletes Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA) or Exercise Induced Bronchospasm (EIB) is a common asthma trigger in athletes, so that can make it extra hard to train for the Olympics. They train for HOURS every day, day after day, year after year. It must be hard battling their exercise trigger. There can also be other asthma triggers that Olympic athletes have to deal with (that their competitors don't...

    When I look back to our 22 journey with allergies and asthma, I wish I would have done things differently. If only I had known what resources were available to our family! Since my kids were ALWAYS sick, I decided to be a stay at home mom. Trying to pay the bills on one income with 3 kids with allergies and asthma was nearly impossible. Especially since we were frequent visitors to the pediatrician, Asthma Doc, After Hours Clinics, Urgent Care, ER and hospital.  Hospital Bills   My kids were in the hospital a total of 15 times (12 for asthma), plus they had several surgeries. So we  had a LOT of medical bills. We had an ongoing payment plan at our local hospital.  I would call their billing department to ask them to add our portion of the hospital bill to my tab - and the employee would laugh. I would tell them, "I'm not kidding. We have a payment plan, and I need my 20% of the bill added to our tab." Then the employee would say, "Ohhhhh." Mmhmmm. ...

  I'm into podcasts these days (I know...I'm always late to the game!) I was listening to "Chasing Life" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  They had an episode called "In the Blink of an Eye" and talked about how their producer received a traumatic brain injury.  The producer was involved in a bad car accident and doesn't remember much about it. The doctors didn't hold out hope that she would come out of the coma.  But - she's ready to go back to work about a year after her accident, lengthy hospitalization, and physical therapy.  It was interesting to hear about Dr. Gupta and his producer talk about being resilient. Life happens and many times there are things outside our control.  So....how do you handle life when it throws you a curve ball? I loved this quote from Dr. Gupta: "We will all one day find ourselves in circumstances we would not have chosen. And when we do, we must remind ourselves that what is in our control is how we react to the hand w...

                                                                            Do you ever feel like you make things worse when you try to clean? That when you do chores, it just stirs up the dust? Or that the strong scented cleaning supplies set off your asthma? We ran into this problem when my kids were little. My kids thought I was the Meanest Mom Ever because I would make them help with chores.  I would tell them that they helped make the mess, so they had to help clean it up. Makes sense, right?! They complained that their friends didn't have to clean their rooms-  their mom or the cleaning lady did it for them....

  Like most caregivers, I am Burned.Out. How many of you moms out there "get it"?  Having kids with chronic health conditions can cause a lot of sleepless nights, doctors visits, ER visits, hospital stays, and stress.  Things were a LOT worse when my kids were little. They were in the hospital 12 times (2 ICU's). We were on a first name basis with Asthma Doc and his staff.  But, just because my kids are adults doesn't mean they stopped having problems with their asthma. Sometimes, I have had one of my adult kids call and ask me to drive them to the ER because their asthma is flaring up, and they're too sick to drive.  Are you burned out? Isn't this  normal? Aren't most caregivers stressed out all the time?  Well, Mayo Clinic says you are burned out if: You feel overwhelmed/constantly worried You are often tired You get too much/too little sleep You gain/lose weight You are easily irritated or angry Lose interest in things you enjoy Feel sad Have lots ...