Why am I doing an asthma blog?!

My name is Andrea, and I hate asthma! It has dramatically changed my life. I've gone from being an Interior Designer, to going back to school for another degree (in Public Health) to help other families with asthma. I got a crash course 10 years ago when one of our children was diagnosed with asthma.

Asthma can be overwhelming with all of the unique lingo, medications and equipment.

I am asthmatic, and it comes from my husband's side of the family as well, so unfortunately, all three of our children are asthmatic.

We've had countless doctor visits, middle of the night ER visits, and 12 hospitalizations for asthma. We all have different triggers and severity levels.

By sharing what I have learned over the last 10 years, I hope to be able to take some mystery out of this chronic illness and help others along the way.

Comments

  1. How old are each of your children, and how does asthma affect each of their lives?

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  2. Hi Savannah!
    #1 son is 19, and he seems to have trouble with exercise induced asthma, he seems okay if he uses his inhaler before playing sports. He also has problems with respiratory infections, his cough last for at least a month. Also, he suffers from allergies. He is almost done with 4 years worth of allergy shots. It has seemed to help.

    #2 son is 15 and his severe asthma shows no signs of letting up. He also is allergic to any living thing (and also tree nuts). He's completed allergy shots, but we always carry an epi pen and carefully scrutinize any food we haven't personally prepared. There's a lot of cross contamination issues that are really frightening. I was really worried this weekend during all the fireworks from 4th of July. The smoke is not his friend. His asthma hits hard and out of the blue, I carry my cellphone everywhere I go (even to movies). And have had to dash out of grocery stores, work, etc to help him. He can't take a deep enough breath to use an inhaler, so we end up taking the nebulizer to the school. This year, we'll be getting a new one so we can keep on hand at the school.
    Kitty also has horrible allergies and she is always in the middle of allergy shots.(Immunotherapy) So much for her wish of getting a horse for the back yard! Her asthma really flares up with respiratory infections. She usually starts dropping on her peak flow meter, so I have a little advanced warning and can just keep her home from school.

    The hard thing is they're all different and on different medications and show different symptoms. Many a times I've told the Dr. that something is wrong, I just can't put my finger on it. It's almost like being a detective trying to figure out what is causing their symptoms and how to treat them.

    But I still feel like I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have such amazing kids. Our battle with asthma has made us closer as a family.

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