My Life as an Asthma Mom

I was thinking about random thoughts about asthma. I just gave a presentation about asthma to a group of people, and they were surprised by a few things. It's legal to carry asthma inhalers in public schools in every state in the U.S. (BUT you and your doctor must fill out a form every year from your school district.) It's also legal to carry an Epi Pen with you at all times (but fill out the school form first) Asthma is the Greek word for 'panting" which is what it sounds like when you are having problems breathing You can develop asthma anytime, even as an adult. It's called adult-onset asthma.    You can get help paying for your asthma medications (or any other medication!) We use NeedyMeds to find a company that will help us with co-pays for my son's Xolair injections. NeedyMeds doesn't sell medication, they help you find a company that can pay for co-pays. NeedyMeds also has a page that can help you find free/low cost/sliding scale clin...

You can do just about anything with asthma, as long as you know what your triggers are and how to avoid them. A trigger I try to be careful with is cold temperatures, so I don't spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter. But it may not be a trigger for other people with asthma, so they can still ski, ice skate, snow shoe and jog in the winter. In fact there are a lot of Olympic athletes who have asthma , so if they can exercise, we can too! My kids aren't the best athletes, but there are other ways to build up your lungs. Musical instruments are a great choice. Especially those that you have to blow into such as the french horn, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, flute, oboe and even bagpipes. My kids all play different musical instruments, and it really seems to help increase their lung capacity. Son #2 has severe asthma, but is usually able to play his horn. I think the fact that he has to breathe deeply and then blow into his horn has helped strengthen his lung...

We have high pollution levels and drove up the canyon to try to breathe a little fresh air. Once we go up into the mountains, the air is clean and warm.    We are in the middle of January yuck - the inversion. For those of you not surrounded by mountains, you are probably wondering what that is. I live in a "bowl" or valley that is surrounded by mountains. The mountains trap the pollution and cold air. There is warm air above the valley, but the warm and cold air don't mix. Kind of like when you have a bottle of oil and vinegar salad dressing.You have two layers, and they don't like to stay mixed. You have to shake it up to mix the two. Well, I am waiting for a storm to "shake up" our weather or "mix the two." Our air is "red" or unhealthy.    At night, I have to keep my inhaler on my nightstand. I have been waking up several times a night and have needed to use my inhaler. I've never had to do that before!    My ches...

    *Sigh* just thinking about paying for prescriptions makes me tired. Hubby and I and all three kids have allergies, and we all have asthma except for Hubby. So that can add up to A LOT of allergy and asthma medication at the pharmacy. I was thinking of all the prescriptions we get: Albuterol Dulera Epi Pens Singulair Symbicort Xolair Xopenex Zyrtec We spent a lot of time at the pharmacy too. In fact, I don't even give my name when I walk up, I just go up to the window and they turn around and grab our prescriptions. Last month I was there when a college aged guy walked up to the counter and kind of stammered "uh, my name is ____ and I need to pick up a prescription." Amateur. Of course it's probably not a good thing that they recognize us and know each prescription that we take. We must be the "asthma family!" So how do we afford all these prescriptions? Well, it isn't easy. There is a website that can help with prescription co-pays. ...

Ah, the middle of winter. Everything is freezing cold-and I mean freezing! Actually, it's below freezing here, it was -8 last night. In fact, I took the car through the car wash (since it was covered in grey frozen sludge and salt) and the door froze shut. Nice. My house is nice and toasty warm, but with the heater on all the time, it's really dry. My lips are chapped, my skin is dry and I'm thirsty! I am tempted to buy a humidifier and run it while I am home. But humidifiers have good and bad traits. Yes, it can help make the air moist, but it can make too much of a good thing. I was reading an article on American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology  website about allergies and humidifiers. They said if the humidifier puts too much moisture in the air, that can cause problems with dust mites. Dust mites like it when the room is humid. It can also cause problems with mold. (Where do you usually have mold problems? In bathrooms and kitchens-where there is a lot ...

   It's that time of year again-all the stores are having 'white sales' and now is the perfect time to replace all of the pillows in the house. Why? Well, when was the last time you got new pillows? If you can't remember, you should probably replace them! We sleep on the same pillow every night, and we drool on them (fess up all of you who have allergies and stuffy noses!) Cold season also means runny noses and coughing, and that lands on the pillow too. Spring and summer can bring a head full of hair and pollen. And during the heat of summer, when you are sweating, guess where that ends up? Yep, on your pillow. So, think of all the fun things your pillow contains-drool, runny nose drippings, pollen and sweat. Mmm, makes you want to cuddle up in your bed, doesn't it?! We replace our pillows every January when the stores have white sales on all of their bedding. Pillows aren't that expensive, I found a 2 pack of pillows on sale for $5 at a national chain s...

 I am NOT shaking hands with people when I meet them. I've been watching the news and seeing hospitals across the nation overwhelmed with people who are sick with the flu. I'm going to take a cue from Howie Mandel (who is a bit of a germi-phobe). He doesn't shake hands with people, but instead "fist bumps" them. I think we all know what a fist bump is, you just hit knuckles with the person you are meeting.  Time magazine even wrote an article, "A Brief History of the Fist Bump." Even though I had the flu shot this year, I am REALLY worried about getting the flu. You can still get the flu if you've had the vaccine, but it's supposed to be less severe and not last as long. I worry because with asthma, everything is worse. Brian Williams talked about the flu on the Nightly News and said that people that are getting the flu are "falling like redwoods." He said it hits hard and fast. They are telling people to stay home if they are ...

  American Lung Association has an ask the expert "Lung Helpline." You can talk to a Registered Nurse or Registered Respiratory Therapist who has years of experience in the health care field. You can call the number on their website 1-800-LUNGUSA or 1-800-586-4872 and talk to someone. Or you can submit a question online, there is a link on their website to do that. They can give you information on a variety of things, such as: Asthma Education Medication counseling Medicare/Medicaid/private insurance issues Smoking cessation Doctor referral Intensive care for babies, kids and adults Lung cancer Allergies Emphysema It sounds like if they don't already know about something, they can find out for you. From time to time, people ask me for advice on the blog. This would be a great way for people to get the help they need. I've had A LOT of experience with asthma (3 kids and 13 years worth of experience.) But their experts could answer all the technical ...

  If you live in an area with bad air quality, how do you know if it's okay for your kids to play outside at recess? The air quality is so bad here, it looks like you have to chew it before you can breathe it in! But how dangerous is it? The Utah Department of Health's Asthma Program has a website just for schools. It's called Recess Guidance For Schools Based on Air Quality . You can Check to see what the air quality is for the day.  You can get air quality recess alerts via email.  You can even watch a clever video about air quality, schools, and recess. Some days the pollution LOOKS really bad, but technically, it's "safe to breathe." There are days when it's safe for healthy people to breathe. Today, the warning says: Health Advisory: Sensitive people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion. ...

  All the news programs were talking about flu season last night and how the numbers are off the charts. On my way to work the radio station was talking about the flu. They had a parent on the radio whose healthy college age son contracted the flu and suddenly died. Yikes! I found Google Flu Trends, which tracks the flu. The United States is bright red-which is the "intense" category. If you want to see another site that tracks the flu, you can visit Flu near you It's a real-time tracking tool for the flu. NBC news reports that 29 states have reported "high rates" of the flu. They report that 2, 257 people have been so sick, they have had to be hospitalized. And 18 children have died. From the flu! They said this year the flu season has hit early, it hasn't hit this early since 2003 or 2004.  The story also says that: .... for people who reported both flu symptoms and vaccination status, of those who got the flu, three out of four were not va...

Blech. The air quality here is terrible. We have beautiful mountains that surround us but that can cause problems. Since we are surrounded by mountains, we have a beautiful valley or "bowl" that most of us live in. In winter, when the weather is really cold (it was 4 degrees Fahrenheit when I drove to work) we get bad air.  Why?  Well, years ago you probably learned in science class that hot air rises. If it's really cold outside, the cold air gets trapped under the hot air because the cold air is denser. Then the pollution is trapped in the cold air and we get to breathe it in. I get email alerts every day from our state Environmental Quality office. Today it said: Air Quality Condition: Unhealthy for sensitive people, Wood Burn Forecast: NO BURN Health Advisory: Sensitive people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion. What this m...