My Life as an Asthma Mom

  If you have heart problems, your doctor might prescribe a beta-blocker. It can slow your heart if it's beating too fast, and it can help lower blood pressure.  But - if you have asthma, beta blockers can make asthma worse.  That's why it's important that your doctor knows about ALL of your medical conditions.  How do beta-blockers impact asthma?   First, it's important to know that there are two types of beta-blockers.  Nonselective beta-blockers -  these affect the blood vessels in your body (including the lungs)    Selective beta-blockers (cardioselective beta-blockers)  - these affect your blood pressure and heart rate    What does this have to do with asthma?   Nonselective beta-blockers have a side effect of causing a bronchospasm (when the airways suddenly narrow when the muscles contract) which can make it hard to breathe  According to Healthline :   "Doctors don’t recommend nonselective beta-blocke...

Here we go again - Back to School time! Do you dread back to school time because your kids will be sick? All. The. Time.?  It seems like when school starts, my kids were constantly sick.  And when one kid gets sick, it would go through the whole family.    Worse with asthma  My kid's classmates would have snotty noses and be sneezing (never covering their sneezes.....) but that was about it for symptoms.  Meanwhile, since all 3 of my kids have asthma, they would be sneezing, wheezing, and coughing. They would have to whip out their inhaler at school and take a couple of puffs. I would always have them or the school nurse call me if they needed their inhaler at school. I needed to track how often they were using it.  I needed to know if they were getting worse, and if it was time to adjust their inhalers to a higher dose, or add another inhaler while they were sick.  They would usually end up missing school. A LOT of school.  They would e...

  Do you live in the U.S.? Are you in an area blanketed with wildfire smoke?  The western U.S. is in a prolonged drought - and covered in wild fires. And the upper Midwest of the U.S. is getting wildfire smoke from Canada.  Air purifiers can help clean the air in your house or apartment - but they can be pricey 🤑 If an air purifier isn't in your budget, you can make a do-it-yourself version for about $40!  Yes, $40!   You will need: Box fan Square air filter  (with a MERV rating of 13 - just look at the label on the filter)  Michigan Medical has a video that shows how to assemble it:   "Build a Do-It-Yourself Air Purifier for About $40"  Instructions: Tape the air filter to the fan  That's pretty much it.  Look for the arrows on the air filter and make sure the arrows are facing away from the fan so the air blows through the filter into the room. In the video, the doctor tape it with a piece of tape, but some people like ...