My Life as an Asthma Mom

      For those of us with asthma, controlling the swelling in our lungs is important. If we having swelling in our lungs, and then get sick - we can easily develop pneumonia or bronchitis and end up in the hospital. This has happened to my children many times.    We make sure we have refills on our daily, controller (anti inflammatory) inhalers, and when we only have a couple of refills left, we set an appointment with the doctor to make sure we have more refills.      We also make sure we have a reliever inhaler - and I have them in several places so I don't have to run far if I have a sudden asthma attack. I have one in my purse, one in my nightstand upstairs, and one at my desk downstairs - just in case.      When I get really sick (I'm looking at you COVID), my cough is so severe that it's literally impossible for me to use an inhaler. I can only use my nebulizer for breathing treatments. It allows me to just sit and breathe i...

  The flu is raging across the U.S. right now, and my local TV station is reporting high hospitalization rates. Yikes! This worries me because asthma makes every respiratory infection worse. And the flu can lead to pneumonia - which can be deadly.  In fact, my two youngest kids were hospitalized repeatedly when they were little - thanks to RSV and pneumonia. I have also been in Urgent Care a few times with the flu.  What flu symptoms should you watch for?  Symptoms of the flu:  High fever and chills  Body aches Extreme weakness or fatigue Headache Constant cough  Diarrhea or vomiting Stuffy or runny nose  Sore throat  With asthma, you can have swelling in the lungs, which can make any infection worse. Sigh.  Sometimes I wonder if I should tough it out, or go the ER or hospital?   Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America   (AFFA) list  Emergency flu symptoms  for CHILDREN:   AAFA's website recommends CALLING ...

  Let's face it, most moms are responsible for planning and making the holidays magical for our families  Cooking, shopping, decorating the tree and house, planning activities, arranging family photos and coordinating outfits, writing out holiday cards, etc.   Did you know that all of that stress can cause an asthma attack? Stress is a known asthma trigger.  So are strong emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, laughter, or excitement. And you may experience all of those emotions - sometimes in one day during the holidays!  Toxic workplaces can take a toll on your stress and emotions.  Traffic seems to be much worse during the holidays. I had several near accidents last week because people didn't use their blinkers. I will gladly let you in my lane, but I can't read your mind. If you want to pull over in front of me, put your blinker on! Family gatherings can be an adventure. Just because you are all related doesn't mean you will see eye to eye on ...

  We are a family of 5, and four of us have asthma. Sigh. My 3 kids are adults now, but when they were younger they were sick - All. The. Time. After a bad experience with our primary care doctor, we switched their asthma care to a specialist.  I then learned the importance of making sure my kids took their daily, controller inhalers every morning and every night. (Many doctors are now referring to the inhalers as "anti inflammatory' inhalers so patients understand how they work.)  You can see the bronchial tube on the right is more swollen than the bronchial tube on the left. When your bronchial tubes swell (because you were exposed to an asthma trigger), they will  make mucus to protect your bronchial tubes.  You can see how hard it would be to breathe through a bronchial tube that was swollen on the inside and full of mucus. And then (as if that wasn't bad enough already), the smooth muscles bands around the outside also shorten and squeeze.  So you have...