My Life as an Asthma Mom

One thing I am worried about as summer is starting is if my daughter Kitty will remember to take her daily, controller (or maintenance) asthma medication. I remember listening to a webinar where a doctor talked about the dangers of not taking asthma medicine during the summer. (I wish I could find the webinar, but I can't remember which doctor gave the presentation.) I did find a website where someone asked that same question. Dr. Daniel More answered a question on About.com I think the problem is that kids and adults may be start a different routine. Kids are out of school, so they are sleeping in, going to summer camp, starting swimming lessons or attending sports or dance camps. So their regular routines are thrown off. The same thing can be said for adults who are traveling, we may forget to take our daily, maintenance asthma medicine too. Dr. More said: "There are many reasons why stopping asthma medications during the summer is a bad idea. First, it...

http://www.myproair.com/ Did you know there is a new dry powder rescue inhaler that is soon to hit stores? (If it hasn't already.....) The new inhaler is made by TEVA pharmaceuticals. In the press release, it says that the inhaler is "the first and only breathe-actuated dry powder rescue inhaler". I had to read that twice......but it looks like instead of being like a regular inhaler (that comes out in a spray) this is a dry powder. It sounds like other asthma medications that are dry powder - but they are usually daily, controller (or maintenance) medications. This is a rescue inhaler. There's also a quote from Dr. David I. Bernstein of the University of Cincinnati. He says, "The approval of ProAir RespiClick is significant as it eliminates the need for hand-breathe coordination during inhalation."  In simple terms, it's made for those of us who have no coordination and can't chew gum and walk at the same time. With this inhal...

        I just met Al Keith at an asthma conference this month. He is an inspiring guy!    He became a respiratory therapist after his daughter passed away as an infant. His daughter had an amazing respiratory therapist who inspired Al Keith to then become a respiratory therapist. His dedication and passion has impacted many lives over the years. As a respiratory therapist, he provided asthma education to his patients. In 2002, he created Asthma Blues , which combines music and asthma education. The music CD uses different types of music (blues, country and rap) to teach people how to take care of their asthma.  He uses guidelines from the NHLBI (National Heart Lung Blood Institute) to create the songs. They are pretty funny - you can listen to one of the songs here and read the lyrics on the screen. Studies have shown that the music and educational program are successful in helping people control their asthma.What a creative appro...

We were traveling last week, and of course someone in the family was sick. It seems like EVERY time we travel, someone is sick. I guess that's what happens when Hubby and I both work. Both of our sons work and go to college, and daughter Kitty is in school with 1200 other germ infested students. So there are LOTS of germs floating around. So, what to do when you travel and you have asthma? We started by checking to make sure we had our Out of State Coverage cards from our insurance company. Then Hubby looked up locations that were covered in the area where we were traveling. There were a few doctor's offices there that would accept our insurance. There was also a hospital.  Then we made sure we packed maintenance medications, the rescue inhalers and allergy medicine. Oh, and LOTS of tissues. The problem we found when we travel is that we are off our regular schedule. So, we had to remember to take our maintenance medication each morning. At home, we have ...

Allergies and asthma can be so hard to figure out some times. Sigh.  Daughter Kitty has some pretty severe allergies - to everything! In fact, she has already completed 6 year's worth of allergy shots (immunotherapy.) Kitty is allergic to grass, trees, flowers, bushes, cats, dogs, horses, bunnies.......basically anything that is alive! The 6 years worth of allergy shots were supposed to desensitize her so she wouldn't have so many symptoms (sneezing, watering eyes, runny nose, asthma attacks). It was also supposed to decrease the amount of allergy medicine that she takes. No. Such. Luck. I buy allergy medicine and nose spray by the bulk at the warehouse store! Now, she has sneezing fits in the shower. She can easily sneeze 20 times or more. Her whole face is red by the time she gets out of the shower. The weird thing is that she won't have any allergy symptoms, then once she showers, the sneezing will start. And go on, and on, and on.  I d...

I just read a story that researchers have discovered the cause of asthma. The article said the researchers are 'incredibly excited'. The researchers are from Cardiff University, Kings College (in the UK) and also the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. The study was completed in the UK, and researchers were able to identify the calcium-recepting sensor (CaSR). The researchers also found that if they used a certain class of drugs on the CaSR (calcilytics)   they were able to block the sensor. Calcilytics are used now on osteoporosis (for people with brittle bones) but they are finding that is also works for asthma. They said that they can reduce the calcium level in the cells, which makes them less 'twitchy' - and that is the root cause an asthma attack.  You can watch a video that explains the research  I am so glad that there are great minds out there researching the cause of asthma, new treatments.......and dare I say some day they may discover a cure for as...

I keep thinking life will calm down....yeah right! I haven't been able to blog for a while since I have been traveling and have a MAJOR event to plan for work. It seems like asthma never fails to surprise me. Daughter Kitty is on the high school soccer team which plays in the fall, and hasn't had any problems with asthma (except for once when she had a nasty cold.)  She is also running track for the school, which is in the spring. Now she is having symptoms of exercise induced asthma. Some people call it exercise induced broncho constriction. (EIB) These are the symptoms of EIB from the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.  Shortness of breath or wheezing Decreased endurance Tightness in the chest Shortness of breath Cough Upset stomach Sore throat  There is also a video on the website featuring Mike Kloser, who is an elite endurance athlete who has won the Eco Challenge 3 times.   Son #1 also has EIB. He d...