My Life as an Asthma Mom

  More fun with tree nuts.   Son #2 is always careful in checking things before he eats. We're visiting family and were sitting down to Sunday brunch when he noticed the tray of pastries. Mmmm.    Except the cinnamon rolls were on the same plate as some almond pastries. Not good. That means the entire tray is contaminated now. So my son can't eat anything on the tray. He asked if I had any Benadryl, he wasn't sure if there was any cross-contamination with the pastries and cinnamon rolls. So, how do you know if it's safe?    Well, we weren't taking any chances. I didn't pack any Benadryl and I realized we didn't have the Epi Pen with us either. Son #2 keeps it in his back pack for school, and of course he didn't bring that when we came to visit family. He decided not to chance it, and have something else for brunch instead. You can never be too careful with a food allergy. We read labels, and check all the food when we are at someone else's house. We...

It's that time of year again, it's the annual walk to help support our state's American Lung Association. We have participated in the walk for several years now. In fact, I called my state American Lung Association office to ask how to get involved in helping other people with other people, this is one of the ways I can help. We form a team and help raise funds for asthma research and programs. I've also been involved with several committees that needed input from people with asthma or parents of kids with asthma. Our state chapter has a lot of information about tobacco, asthma, clean air, lung disease and even influenza.  They also have programs they offer statewide, one is Open Airways , which is a FREE six week set of classes that teach kids how to manage their asthma. It's taught in schools once a week, (each class is about 45 minutes) and it has been shown that kids who take it miss less school days and have fewer emergency rooms visits. They also have a summer...

     I was listening to a webinar about inhaler technique. The pharmacist had statistics from several studies that show anywhere from 50-90% of patients, doctors, and even pharmacists don't know how to use an inhaler properly.    I hate to admit it, but I think I was one of them! The presenter listed several common mistakes, the one I make is that I don't breathe in slightly BEFORE I depress the inhaler. The propellant comes out at 50 miles per hour, so if you don't start breathing in, the medicine can go to the back of your throat.    Many people use a spacer with their inhaler if they are having problems with eye/hand coordination. I am one of those and am going to start using a spacer so I don't get confused about when to inhale. The other mistake many people make is to breathe in quickly - since the medicine comes out quickly. You actually need to breath in SLOWLY, usually 3 to 5 seconds. This will draw the medicine down deep into the lungs. The ph...

Lowe's "Zero Voc" paint Many of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that my first bachelor's degree is in Interior Design, and I feel that it's my duty to "practice" new ideas on my house to keep my skills sharp! Part of that includes painting, and a new coat of paint is the cheapest and easiest way to change the whole look of a room.    If you have ever painted a room, you know how strong the paint smell can be. Being able to open windows and doors and have a little fresh air is a must.    Strong scents that don't bother other people can set off an asthma attack for someone with asthma. I tell people that when you have asthma, your body reacts like a "Drama Queen" and over-reacts to everything!   The technical term of what happens with the lungs is that they are hypersensitive and hyper-responsive. Which means our lungs are extra sensitive to smells, pollen, pollutants, etc. And when they are exposed to any of asthma trigg...

    I found out first hand this week that crying can cause an asthma attack. Did you know that strong emotions can be an asthma triggers? Me neither! But I found out this week that it is a trigger! Weird, right? Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America list many triggers for asthma. Here's the part where they talk about strong emotions: Feeling and Expressing Strong Emotions anger fear excitement laughter yelling crying When you feel strong emotions, your breathing changes – even if you don’t have asthma. It may cause wheezing or other asthma symptoms in someone with asthma. My college aged son moved out this week, and you would have thought it was the end of the world. Well, he is my first to leave home, you know...... I was doing the "ugly cry" as Oprah calls it. The one where you are sobbing so hard, you can't catch your breath. Then the asthma cough started and I knew I was in trouble. I knew I needed to calm down. I was debatin...

              Who knew you had to get permission from your doctor to drive if you have asthma?  It's been a while since I renewed my driver's license since In fact, I am one of those people you hate. I have NEVER had a ticket (and let's say I've been driving for quite a while.....)    So my driver's license division just sends me a renewal every four years. Check to see what is needed for your state or country. In my state, you need a doctor's clearance if you have an inhaler, because it falls under the "pulmonary medical condition.)    Weird, right?    That means every few years, I have to take a form to my doctor to fill out that says I can safely drive a car, even though I have asthma. I don't know what idiot came up with that rule, because it's really annoying.   I have to take time off work, drive across the county to my doctor, have him fill out the form, and then ask them to fax it to the Driver's License ...

          Do you have a working vent in your bathroom? It helps control the amount of steam that builds up while you (or your kids) shower or bathe. It helps vent out the extra moisture in the room - and most of us know that extra moisture can lead to mold. And I hate mold. I've shared my experience in this blog about the 2 1/2 months it took us to get the mold fixed in our previous house.  Anyway, back to the bathroom. It's a great place for wet, slimy things to grow. Make sure you stop it in it's tracks by washing your shower curtain regularly.    Ever felt a little slippery stuff on the shower curtain? Might be time to throw it in the washer and dryer. We have another bathroom that has sliding shower doors, and they're hard to keep clean. My father-in-law uses a squeegee to clean the shower doors off after each use at his house. But we haven't convinced the teenagers that it's a good idea to do the same thing at our house. The track that the sh...

     I am developing a "Newly Diagnosed Packet" for asthma and would like some input! I have found a lot of information here and there, but haven't found something that seems to cover all areas of asthma.    For most people, getting all of the information at once can be overwhelming. I was given 30 pages of printouts from the internet by the respiratory therapist while Son #2 was in the hospital for the first time.   That is how I was educated about asthma! I was so confused and couldn't make sense of any of it! Fast forward 11 years, and I know more than I ever cared to about asthma! (12 combined hospitalizations for 2 of my kids and many, many doctor visits every year) I am designing something that would be broken down into sections (asthma basics/signs and symptoms/triggers/medications etc) That way, people can just read the section that they need. What are some of the things that you wish you would have known when you first learned about asthma? What ar...

          When we bought our historic home years ago, there was a lot of dust in the heater vents. Over 50 years of dust in the vents. We decided to have the vents cleaned out before we installed central air.   Asthma Doc has always told us not to use a swamp cooler when you have asthma. He said it increases the humidity level in the home and often blows contaminants through the wet pads on the swamp coolers.    So the first thing we did when we bought the house was call the contractor for a central air unit. The previous However, we didn't want to install central air and blow 50 years worth of dust and gunk all over the house, so we had the had the vents cleaned out.    I'm sure there were some things coming out of the vents while the previous owners were using the furnace, but we wanted a fresh start.    Also, the previous owners didn't have asthma or allergies! We always have to take extra precautions in our homes. Most of t...

Well, I didn't see that one coming.    We were having a great garden party on Mother's Day, we had worked all day Saturday getting the yard cleaned up and it looked beautiful. The longer I sat outside on the patio, the more I sneezed and wheezed. I didn't want to get up and leave our guests, so I just visited with them.    How bad can allergies get, right?! Well, I finally gave up and went in the house, but by then it was too late. We still had guests at our home, so I couldn't hop in the shower. (Which is what I normally would have done).    So, I changed my clothes, washed my face with soap and water and ran a wet was cloth over my hair to try to capture some of the pollen. But it was too little, too late. I started the lovely 'asthma cough' and ended up staggering over to my purse for my inhaler.   Happy Mother's Day! Gotta love my inhaler though, it's worth EVERY penny. I still felt lousy after that, so I ended up taking a nap (isn't that what we...

Sure, stuffed animals look cute! But what do they do for those of us with allergies and asthma? They're full of dust! And dust just happens to be one of the most common allergies, so if your kids are sneezing and wheezing, the stuffed animals could be to blame. I just read an short article about stuffed animals, and it said stuffed animals could be harboring millions of dust mites and making your family's allergies worse. Washing stuffed animals Most kids love stuffed animals on their beds, so we wash Kitty's stuffed animals once a month in the washing machine in hot water. Experts suggest washing stuffed animals every 2 weeks. But I always feel like a murderer when I'm trying to push the stuffed animals down into the water in the washing machine so they get clean. They always bob up to the surface like they are searching for air.  Putting stuffed animals in the freezer    One of the ideas the experts suggest is putting stuffed animals into the freezer for 24 hours once...

      This is what we packed for a short weekend trip to the coast for a family of 5 with allergies and 4 with asthma. We needed: 3 bottles of Singulair 1 bottle of generic Zyrtec 1 Advair 250 disc 1 Advair 100 disc 1 Advair inhaler 1 box of Albuterol for the nebulizer 1 Albuterol inhaler 1 Peak flow meter 1 tubing kit for the nebulizer 1 BIG box of tissues (not pictured-because it's empty now ....) You never know when you might need something, it's better to take things with you and not use them than not have something. Traveling with asthma can be adventure, luckily we were all fine this time. But pack everything you have! Even if you think you may not need it. You don't want to be in another state and not have medication, a trip to the Emergency room can easily cost $2,000. So, stock up and have fun if you are traveling somewhere this summer. Make a list and check it twice and make sure you have ALL of the medication, spacers, peak flow meters, nebulizer and tubing kit...