Anaphylaxis 101: Get the Facts, Be Prepared

Karen was pruning a wayward philodendron plant when she broke out in hives and had a difficult time breathing. It was the first time anything like this had happened to her so she washed her face and waited for symptoms to subside. She didn't know she'd just had an anaphylactic reaction or that her frightening symptoms, while short-lived, could have been life-threatening. She didn't think to notify her doctor but decided to stay away from the plant in the future, just in case it was causing these symptoms.

Karen's story is not unusual. Many of us are not aware that hives; swelling; rashes and difficulty breathing; nausea and vomiting; and severe gastric pain can all be symptoms of anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition. Rather than go through life in fear of the unknown or next episode--get the facts.

AANMA is partnering with EpiPen this holiday season to make families aware of what steps to take if an anaphylaxis emergency take place. Most anaphylactic reactions are rather dramatic and scary. Knowing what to do ahead of time is important. And because EpiPen has recently introduced a new design (with very simple instructions), you'll want to take a moment now to get the details.

Be prepared. Refill your prescriptions before the holiday rush gets away from you. And don't forget to ask family members to review the website before the holidays as well!

Perfect Presents and Last-Minute Dashes

It’s a white Christmas in the Washington, D.C. metro area – which is relatively rare. Having lived here all my life, I only remember a few, and they all involved blizzard conditions. I remember being a gawky 11 year-old and stepping through knee-deep snow across our front yard to Kathy’s house to play Barbies when suddenly I plunged into a drift so deep that only my head and arms and the yellow Barbie-doll case stuck out.

This snow is photo-perfect--but driving? Impossible. Even now with the roads plowed, perils abound. There’s the black ice. The cars that didn’t scrape the 20 inches of snow off their rooftops, sending the snow flying like a missile onto the cars behind them. The scarcity of parking spaces. The lines at the gas stations.

So, hunkered down with my hot decaf coffee, I finished my Christmas shopping online and found a great website with a few functional funsies for the people on your list with allergies:

The Spoon Sisters has the CUTEST little "Dust Bunny" microfiber dusting mitten. I love the microfiber dust cloths I use at home, but this one was way too cute. He’s (or she’s) machine-washable and one-size-fits-all. Ordered one for my daughter, Brooke, who loves bunnies but hates dust (and dusting – don’t we all).
It’s easy to find plenty of washable and adorable stuffed toys for little ones, but I love this wild and zany book, "Stupid Sock Creatures – Making Quirky Lovable Figures from Cast off Socks." They don’t mention the author’s name in the write-up – but someone really ought to do something about that, because these critters are simply too fun to pass up. And since they're socks, they're washable--which is a must for dust-mite control.

Now, to make sure that dust mites have no interest in orgies (yes, all they do is eat, poop, have sex and babies) the key is to control indoor air humidity. (Get a hygrometer from the hardware store; indoor air humidity should be between 35-50% but no higher.) But to de-nature the body part and fecal matter or little live wires still clinging to life, make sure you wash clothes in a product such as The Ecology Works Anti-Allergen Solution Laundry Detergent. One 40-oz. bottle washes 40 loads and is 100% biodegradable, plant-based and free of perfumes. You can even wash clothes, Stupid Sock Creatures that you make, washable stuffed toys and the Dust Bunny in COLD water! No need to turn up your water heater and gas or electric bills, buy a new washing machine (unless you need one) simply to rid your washables of dust mites. Check it out at http://www.ecologyworks.com/.

If you want these items in time for Christmas, move on it today! Or draw a picture, print out the website page, wrap it in a box and put it under the tree--but these are gifts that can be truly appreciated.

And please have a great time with your family and friends!

Happy Holidays!

By way of disclosure, AANMA does not endorse any products or manufacturers and was not paid to mention the websites or products mentioned in this blog post.

Pleasie No Cheezie; Cheapie Makes Wheezie

I as watching HGTV recently and saw a tip segment that recommended using cheesecloth as cheap air filters -- you place the cheesecloth behind ventilation grills in your house. I checked around online and found a lot of little tipster blogs recommending the same thing.

Trouble is, it’s bad advice for a number of reasons. Your home’s heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system controls the quality of the air circulating through your home -- and ultimately into your lungs and bloodstream. It's true: You are what you breathe! So changing or cleaning your air filter on a regular basis should be Priority No. 1.

Second, a well-maintained system costs less to operate than one clogged with bacteria-laden dust! A dirty system forces motors, fans and coils to wear out faster than one a system that gets an annual or biannual check up. You can buy maintenance contracts that cover parts and service from reputable HVAC companies.

Third, if you don't use the right type of filter for your system, or if you neglect to clean the filter or to maintain the unit properly, you could void your warranty. Then you're looking at BIG money that you would not have needed to spend.

And finally, you never, no not ever want to impede the flow of air to any vent in your home, in any manner. That means no cheesecloth, furniture, cardboard or other obstruction should get anywhere near the floor or wall registers that allow air to flow into a room or the return vents (these are where the air inside the room gets sucked back into the HVAC unit, filtered and then sent through the ductwork to the floor or wall registers completing its circuit). This not only creates the problems described above -- it can alter the distribution of air, making it damp or cold in some rooms while others are too hot.

With the holidays upon us, the turkey and ham in the oven, the kids running in and out of the house, friends and family joining the throng – we want and need to breathe clean air. Nothing cheezie, please!!

A Gift to Remember

A Gift To Remember


So you’ve been crunching the holiday budget and need to cut back on spending here and there. Join the crowd. Cut back on junk food, use coupons and carpool but do not ration or skip medications or dodge your asthma action plan!

Would you want to receive a gift from your parents knowing they can’t afford their high blood pressure, diabetes or heart medications? Would you want a gift from your brother if you knew he didn't refill prescriptions for your niece and nephew?

Gifts that mean the most come from the heart, not the wallet. Your family and friends would rather you give the gift of health to your children or yourself. They might also appreciate...an empty photo album with a promise to help organize the photos to go inside. Or try a homemade voucher redeemable for babysitting, washing the car, taking out the trash, folding laundry or running errands. Try posting this blog on your FaceBook or Twitter pages and help friends with asthma and allergies discover many helpful resources and support.

Make this a holiday you’ll remember because of what you and your family and friends enjoyed together rather than what you gave or got.

Take care, Nancy Sander

Makes No Scents at All

Oh, no. Holiday travelers beware! This news comes straight from corporate Holiday Inn headquarters:

“Holiday Inn has over 3,000 properties across the world and each one is getting a facelift with improvements in bedding, landscaping, and believe it or not, a Holiday Inn scent. Every hotel is now obliged to plug in a lobby 'scent machine' producing a mild aroma of ginger, white tea, citrus and musk. The cheaper Holiday Inn Express sites will be pumping out a scent of sweet grass and green tea.”

www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/09/26/new-logos-for-holiday-inn-hilton-worldwide/#

It’s enough to make me gag, along with this warm and fuzzy little article posted below:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/realestate/commercial/26inn.html

All I can say is: What are they thinking??? Who are they fooling???

First, good hotels – just plain old regular hotels that want to stay in business – should continually improve their product if they want to attract and keep our business. They should be well-lit outside. They should be neatly landscaped. The beds should be comfortable and the pillows as well. So, what do they want? Applause?

But hotels lobbies should not smell, nor should franchise owners be obliged to make their lobbies smelly unless they want to dramatically limit the number of people who will even consider using a Holiday Inn hotel. When hidden scent generators send chemical cocktails wafting through the air, sinuses and airways will suffer. And after a long day on the road or in the air, the last thing we want to do is choke in a scented hotel lobby or nurse a headache or tight chest all night because someone thought it might be a good idea.

I mean, where are you going to go? How will you book another hotel at the last moment? And will you get the same rate? How many times will you need to walk through that lobby during your stay? Is that where the free breakfast will be served? Where is the scent piped in from? At the lobby desk? Will Holiday Inn reservations clerks notify potential customers that they scent their lobbies?

What if you have asthma and you work there? Will you be conveniently dismissed because you miss too much work due to asthma? Will you have to file for workman’s compensation or unemployment? Will your health insurance rates go up when you file for COBRA?

Whose bad idea was this? Leaves me to wonder if the scent machines were simply a cheaper alternative to changing out musty carpets and drapery or mold growing behind the wallpaper.

To be honest, I’ve never made a hotel reservation thinking how nice it would be for the lobby to be chemically infused with imitation molecules that leave a slimy feeling in my nose, mouth and throat and that grip my chest. The real kicker is that the cheaper hotels get only two scents and one of them is green tea (why not just serve some) and the other is sweet (freshly mown) grass?!

I want my hotel to be a respite, one where the people who work there are happy for my business. I need their smile more than a scented reminder that I have asthma and will need to reach for my inhaler before handing over the credit card. It’s not too much to ask for clean bedding, a comfortable bed, a clean bathroom and clean air filters, clean ductwork and no mold. And every bit of this can be accomplished without ever using a scented cleaner.

I know because I’ve experienced the PURE Room hotel room now installed in many hotels across the country. Once you’ve tried one, nothing else compares. When making hotel reservations, don’t just ask for a non-smoking room and a scent-free lobby - ask for a PURE Room. It’s what every hotel room should be: clean and odor-free.

By way of disclosure, PURE Room advertises in AANMA’s quarterly magazine, Allergy & Asthma Today but has no idea I’ve written this blog. Please share this blog post with your friends and let Holiday Inn know what you think about their stinky plans.

Safe travels,
Nancy

ACAAI Meeting Yields Real World News...And The Saga of the Stinky Sink

Sandra, Marcela, Carol and I just got back from the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy Asthma & Immunology.

Sandra Fusco-Walker, AANMA's Director of Patient Advocacy and I attended many meetings relating to preserving and increasing patient access to the medications our physicians prescribe (don't you just hate it when you pick up a script at the pharmacy and it isn't what you and your doc discussed?), to diagnostic and monitoring testing, and of course access to our allergists (they go beyond the diagnosis and symptom treatment to address the problem at its core).

There are a lot of justified concerns among sister organizations that the current health care reform tornado sweeping through Congress will leave many of us breathing its dust. We encourage you to be in contact with your members of Congress. I just wrote my Senators and asked them to take the time necessary to do this job right. Our system isn't completely broken but it might wind up that way if we rush legislation.

Carol Jones, RN AE-C presented a poster on the impact of the CFC to HFA Transition on people contacting AANMA's Patient Support Center. She'll be sharing results in an upcoming issue of The MA Report newsletter (are you on the email list to receive it? If not, sign up at editor@aanma.org). She also worked at our booth along with Marcela Gieminiani, AANMA's Director of Programs and Services. Marcela also directs AANMA's Hispanic Outreach Publications and Services (HOPS) - a busy lady.

On a lighter note: While at the conference, Jim Burnett, President of Ecology Works, stopped by our booth with a sample bottle of Vital Oxide. Because he knows I'm a stickler for details, he had a boatload of scientific evidence at the ready to support the miriad of claims made on the Vital Oxide label and then some!

Vial Oxide Disinfects as it Cleans  Kills 99.9% of Bacteria MRSA, Norovirus, E. coli, Salmonella enterica, Staphylococcus aureus, Legionella pneumophila, Aspergillus niger.

My first reaction was, "this stuff has got to stink" and since I'm extremely sensitive to some scented or chemical sprays, I was reluctant to give it the whiff test. But I did and wow! I was so impressed I read further:

...provides mold and mildew preventio, broad-spectrum disinfection and odor elimination.

I thanked Jim and tucked the sample in my bag before heading off to my next meeting. Over the next few days, I used Vital Oxide to disinfect my hands instead of the hand sanitizer I'd packed (which dries my skin terribly). At the conference, in the hotel, at the airport.

It was middle of the day when I returned home, opened the door and caught a whiff of something foul. My husband swears I was a beagle in my former life because he could smell nothing.

Following the odor up the stairs across two rooms and into the kitchen I zeroed in on the culprit within seconds. The garbage disposal. Before unpacking my suitcase, I tackled that stinky monster, wrestled with every cleaning trick in the book until it was spotless. But the smell was still there.

Remembering the Vital Oxide sample was in my roller bag, I retrieved it for the ultimate test. Could it get rid of the smell? Following instructions, I sprayed every reachable component of the disposal and waited for it to dry. After unpacking my bags, I returned to find that NO smell remained. I didn't get another foul whiff from the sink again until four days later. I Vital Oxided it, waved my arms and commanded "stink be gone" as my husband grinned and shook his head. But it worked!

I will get to the bottom of the stinky sinky even if I have to call a plumber but I figure if this product can do what commerical disposal cleaners, lemons and rock salt, vinegar and baking soda, and ice cubes could not do alone, what could it do on other things? We'll just have to wait to find out because normally, our house doesn't stink.

But seriously, we saw a lot of great products and news at the American College of Allergy Asthma & Immunology meeting that we'll be sharing with you over the next few blogs or so.

A post script: I sent an email to Jim about the experience and he wrote back that he had the same stinky sink issue we have and he did the same thing. Then he said, "Its funny, we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on tests proving we take out hospital-grade bacteria like norovirus, MRSA, and H1N1, but the fresh clean absence of odor is always what most people are first to notice. This quick odor removal is a result of the magnetic like attraction to sulfur and nitrogen bonds. Vital Oxide "disassembles" the malodors on a molecular level - no nose numbing cover up or heavy masking fragrance."

By way of disclosure: This blog is not a paid endorsment of Vital Oxide, Ecology Works, or National Allergy Supply Company , but I sure hope they will advertise in a future issue of Allergy & Asthma Today and support AANMA's patient education, advocacy and outreach efforts. Don't you? Drop a hint at: http://www.ecologyworks.com/.

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try Another Doctor’s Office

After hearing from many of my neighbors about how difficult it was to find the H1N1 flu shot, I called my doctor’s office. No problem. He fit me in that morning, no lines, no waiting - in and out of the office within 10 minutes.

I’d also heard that the H1N1 vaccine was supposed to hurt more than seasonal flu shot. Maybe it depends on who’s giving it. No pain and all gain for me.

A few neighbors said their docs weren’t giving the shot at all because the paperwork was onerous. So I expected it would take more time to fill out the papers than it would to get the shot. But it didn’t! So I asked the nurse what the squawk was about. She said she had no idea. I signed my name in three places on three different clipboards and headed to work.

I called my son in Atlanta, and he reported a similar experience. While at the pediatrician’s office for the baby’s well check, the whole family received their vaccines. The pediatrician was adamant. Said he’d seen what happens to the little ones who get really sick. No one was leaving his office without a vaccine as long as he could help it. I’m relieved.

Now that I’ve had both flu shots, I feel free to go to the movies, go out for dinner, spend hours in a bookstore, stand in line at Starbucks (venti decaf skim cap), shop for groceries or get on a plane without fear of seasonal or H1N1 flu or the horrible, lingering airway inflammation, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath lasting months after recovery from the virus.

NEW: Adverse Reactions to Vaccines is a special supplement to Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (October 2009, Volume 103, Number 4, Supplement 2) just released by the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI). World-renowned allergists and immunologists wrote and edited this supplement for primary care physicians and allergist/immunologists who encounter patients (or parents of patients) like those of us with an elevated risk or history of adverse reactions to vaccines. Find out more at Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) in my blog post, To V or Not to V: This Is the Question.

Allergy-Free Fall Holidays

Fall holidays conjure a cornucopia of delectable visions: homemade pumpkin pie, candy corn, turkey with savory stuffing and glistening cranberry sauce. But indulging in these special-occasion treats can be risky for the 12 million people in the U.S. with food allergies.

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) and its allergist members -- doctors who are experts at diagnosing and treating allergies and asthma -- know that food allergies don’t have to get in the way of holiday fun. ACAAI offers the following tips to protect you, your child and holiday guests with food allergies:

1. Tricks and treats: Purchase treats that your child can enjoy safely, and swap them for treats with allergens after trick-or-treating. Send candy your child can consume to school parties or send non-food goodies such as Halloween stickers.

2. Be the class baker: Volunteer to provide the snacks for holiday parties at school to ensure there will be foods available that your child can enjoy.

3. Inform your guests: Let guests know that you or your child have dietary restrictions, and offer to let them bring holiday themed plates, cups or napkins, rather than food.

4. Give your host a heads-up: If you’ll be attending holiday festivities away from home, let your host know about your food allergy. Offer to bring safe foods for you and others to enjoy.

5. Don’t overlook the turkey: Basted or self-basting turkeys can include common allergens such as soy, wheat and dairy. Your safest bet is choosing a turkey labeled “natural,” which by law must be minimally processed and should contain nothing but turkey and perhaps water.

6. Hang on to food labels: If you’re the host of a holiday feast, keep the ingredient labels from the food you’re serving for allergic guests to review before digging in.

7. Carry medications: Always have emergency medications on hand just in case unrecognized food allergens are hiding in holiday treats.

8. Discuss strategies with your allergist: An allergist can help you prepare for the holiday season and suggest allergy avoidance techniques to keep you or your child safe. Your allergist also can help you and your child become “label detectives” so you both know what ingredients to watch out for.

For more information about allergies and asthma, and to find an allergist near you visit http://www.allergyandasthmarelief.org/.

This information was posted by Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA).

AANMA Inhaler Poster in the New York Times!

What fun to pick up a copy of the New York Times... and there on the front page of Sunday's Metropolitan section, is a photograph of a school nurse and a student... and right there, hanging on her wall, is AANMA’s Inhaler Poster!

The article was about school nurses being on the front lines of H1N1 containment and featured Nurse at P.S. 70 in Long Island, NY. I love that she hung the poster at the student’s eye level. Click here to read the article.

Yeah Nurse Akhtar! And thanks to our sponsors who made it possible for us to develop, produce and distribute the poster:

- The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI)
- AstraZeneca
- ExxonMobil
- Teva
- Children's Hospital Boston
- EMNet
- Center for Pediatric Emergency Medicine, NYU Langone Medical Center

Eggs, Flu, Young

Eggsactly thirty years ago, my daughter, Brooke, was diagnosed with food allergies – egg being one of the foods producing dramatic hives and wheezing. Getting the diagnosis wasn’t easy. Oh, the symptoms were quite evident but in those times, food allergies were more or less considered a disease of neurotic moms and there just wasn’t much direction or advice in the medical literature.

So each flu season, I faced a quandary. Flu shots contain trace amounts of egg protein. Should I waltz my daughter to the doctor for a shot that could make her sick -- or risk the ravages of the flu that could mean months of lingering asthma symptoms? The more questions I asked, the more controversy I found… that is, until we consulted with an allergist who, after testing Brooke, said it would be possible to give her the shot in gradual doses over the period of an hour or so. Eureka!

Fast forward thirty years, and parents of children with asthma and egg allergy face the same question, this time with an H1N1 twist. The good news is that H1N1 flu vaccine is prepared in the same manner as the seasonal flu vaccine.

Here’s a primer of sorts if your child has confirmed or suspected egg allergies and has asthma. You can also find more information from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI). 

1) Consult with an allergist.

2) Tell the allergist about symptoms that your child experienced when eating or touching eggs – raw (found in lemon meringue pie, for example), cooked, in baked goods, etc.

3) Mention any history of life-threatening egg allergy symptoms such as difficulty breathing, throat swelling, wheezing or fainting. These usually indicate the need for additional testing before administering the H1N1 vaccine.

4) The allergist will use skin prick testing: a small droplet of egg protein and another droplet of the H1N1 vaccine are placed on the skin. A tiny prick is made underneath each droplet.

Negative test results indicate that no allergic reaction occurred during the first phase of testing. In the second phase, the allergist will inject a small droplet of the diluted vaccine into the skin.

If your child still shows no signs, symptoms or skin reaction, your child can get the full dose of H1N1 vaccine but then must wait a full 30 minutes at the allergist’s office before leaving. That way, if your child shows symptoms such as hives, flushing or shortness of breath, the allergist and nursing staff are prepared to recognize and treat it.

A word of caution: A negative skin test to egg-based H1N1 vaccine does not mean you or your child no longer has egg allergies! So don’t go home and think you can serve up scrambled eggs or stop reading food labels!

OK, so what happens if the test result was positive, i.e. show that your child is allergic to the vaccine?

“If the test result is positive and the person is at high risk of complications from the flu because of pre-exising respiratory or heart disease, the vaccine still may be given using desensitization procedure,” said Sami Bahna, MD, PhD, president-elect of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), and professor of pediatrics and Medicine and Chief of Allergy and Immunology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. “This is compatible with the 2009 Policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics.”

The vaccine would be administered under the skin in gradually increasing doses at 15 to 20 minutes until the total dose is given. Dr. Bahna cautions that the procedure should be done by an experienced physician in a medical facility where measures are readily available for treating any potential reaction. The allergist is well trained and qualified for that.

A final note: FluMist vaccine is not approved for use in kids or adults with asthma, or for those with members of the immediate family who have asthma. The antiviral Relenza is known to provoke coughing and wheezing in patients with asthma. Tamiflu is a reasonable alternative but it must be used in the early stages of the flu.

And the last word: ACAAI states that even though most cases of H1N1 are mild, many of the children who have died were ones who had asthma. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released updated data showing that the most prevalent underlying illness among patients hospitalized with H1N1 was asthma (26 percent of all adults hospitalized with H1N1 had asthma). In most cases, it appears that symptoms begin to improve and then the child’s symptoms rapidly decline. Contact your allergist now to discuss specific actions to take should your child or someone in your family develop seasonal flu or H1N1 symptoms. By all means, get both flu vaccines in a medical-care setting where reactions, if they occur, can be monitored.

Kids and adults with asthma are at high risk of complications and death from seasonal or H1N1 flu. You can find more information on AANMA's website.

In the mail at last! New issue of Allergy & Asthma Today magazine

AANMA is jumping for joy!! Allergy & Asthma Today magazine is in the mail! I feel a little like Neville (Steve Martin) in “The Jerk,” delirious upon receiving his copy of the Yellow Pages phone book at his front door. Why? Oh, my! Well…

Not only is this issue one of my top favorites, it almost didn’t get printed! This summer, our six-year-old servers collapsed and self-destructed - including our antiquated backup system. We lost EVERYTHING. Yup. Everything. Sparing you the gory details, we were able to piece things back together thanks to some very creative people at OSSI and our diligent staff. But it took time and working blind while continuing to provide members services as if nothing had ever happened.

The sleepless nights… If things hadn’t come together when they did, we wouldn’t have been able to share Juanita Rembert’s cover story, "Juanita’s Determined: Six Generations of Asthma Stop Here," and her mission to spare other urban Chicago families the same fate as her 21-year-old granddaughter, Tamika, who died of asthma while pregnant with her second child, leaving a two-year-old son with severe asthma and a grieving family with aching hearts. Learn more about the campaign “STOP ASTHMA DEATHS NOW” and how you can get involved.

Also featured is The AANMA Challenge: Planning to Win. It’s your blueprint (a.k.a. customizable written asthma action plan) to getting and keeping asthma symptoms under control. It’s a MUST-HAVE for every adult and child with asthma. Planning to Win was published with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and contains all the important details that generic asthma action plans leave out. Written by AANMA’s staff and medical advisory board, Planning to Win is for real people who are serious about shutting the door to asthma and moving on with their lives.

I am so glad we got this issue published because John Walsh, Co-Founder of the COPD Foundation, shares his inspiring story of how he and his identical twin brother learned they both had Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic disorder that leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders (COPD). Not all that wheezes or causes shortness of breath is asthma, even when symptoms may be very similar. Few people write or talk about it better than John.

If this issue of Allergy & Asthma Today had not gone to print, we’d be hard-pressed to tell the full story of Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill 2009: We’re on a mission…to STOP ASTHMA DEATHS NOW! We’re asking members of Congress to fix federal and state health policies – currently, some of these policies deny Medicaid patients adequate care and access to allergists and other specialists and medications consistent with NIH Asthma Guidelines. With healthcare reform debates in full swing, we need your willingness and financial support to make sure that no matter what happens in this process, people with asthma, allergies and related conditions do not suffer.

So I am thankful – yes, giddy - that the magazine is out! I am delighted our sponsors and advertisers have been patient: The American College of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, PURE Allergy Friendly Rooms for Your Next Hotel Stay, AeroChamber Plus Holding Chamber (Forest Pharmaceuticals / Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Monaghan Medical), OcuFresh Eye Wash (at your local pharmacy without a prescription), Allergy Zone’s NIOSH N95 Disposable Respiratory with Exhalation Valve (not just for flu protection – you can actually breathe while mowing the lawn and wearing one of these), NIOX MINO, The Childhood Asthma Control Test by GlaxoSmithKline and our Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill sponsors: The American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; ExxonMobil; TEVA; Schering-Plough; Genentech; Novartis; Aerocrine; and ImmunoCAP.

It’s incredibly wonderful to have everything back up and running, and even better knowing that through the process, good friends were by our side.

Catching Z-z-z-z-z's

Are your child’s nighttime asthma symptoms robbing you of precious sleep? Leaving you bleary-eyed and dozing in traffic the next day while your little one has made a miraculous and energetic recovery by morning? It’s a common occurrence leaving parents perplexed. You wonder, Did last night’s horrific coughing, gagging and wheezing really happen, and was it as serious as it seemed? The answer to both questions is most likely "Yes." And it’s possible to put an end to all of it.
The culprits for nighttime symptoms due to post-nasal drip resulting from nasal allergies could be airborne allergens circulating around your room. But which ones? Allergy testing can reveal the sources - but getting rid of them is another story. Get help with AANMA’s Indoor AIRepair kit, which you can download for free.

Another tip to try (30 days free) is PureZone; a HEPA air-purifying system that creates a sleep zone of purely filtered air. When I first saw the prototype of the product, I was skeptical that it could possibly work. Kids with asthma and allergies tend to toss and turn all night. So James, another skeptic who works with AANMA tried the unit to see if it would affect his son’s allergies and nighttime symptoms. After one night, he called and said it was the first night that his son had slept through without tearing off the sheets and blanket from tossing and turning and coughing.

It’s really a rather ingenious feat of engineering: a quiet fan tucked next to the mattress draws air from within the room through a soft HEPA filter tunnel into a washable pillow case covering your own pillow. When turned on, the white noise tunes out the rest of the world and the pillow case billows like a cloud.

You don’t feel air blowing on you – at least, I didn’t – but you notice that the air you breathe is, well, nice. Better still, significant research shows that patients who have allergy symptoms and asthma that worsen at night reported dramatic improvement in symptoms when using the product.

By way of disclosure, PureZone has not paid for this blog mention. AANMA makes no endorsements or claims about this or any product we write about. We hope you enjoy learning more about your options - let us know what you think!

Danish research: children born today are likely to live to the ripe old age of 100!

The question, in light of these findings: How well will our children with asthma fare throughout the next 90 years? How well will their lungs carry oxygen to their developing and subsequently aging hearts and brains? Will they have lung capacity sufficient to take walks and enjoy time with their great-grandchildren?

Is this good or bad news? The answer resides in the quality of one’s health and happiness, and in how well the planet is holding up then. The news about our children's expected longevity is all the more reason to protect and maintain healthy asthma-free airways in our children with asthma and allergic conditions today.

So much has changed in asthma care over the last two and a half decades since AANMA began in 1985. We now have a better understanding of the science, novel noninvasive diagnostic and monitoring tools as well as more effective and targeted medications with fewer unwanted side effects.

With a written asthma action plan - a strategy for overcoming, not coping with, symptoms - there is no reason we cannot usher our children born today into adulthood with healthy airways. Then, it will be up to them to use what we have taught them to stay healthy and active for 82 additional years!

Yes, it’s an awesome responsibility - but you’ve got help. AANMA has developed a new section of our website dedicated to families - PRECIOUS Breathers. The site is made possible through an AstraZeneca sponsorship (thank you!), and every word is written and produced by AANMA.

Not only will you find tried-and-true practical advice and create new friendships with families just like yours, you can ask questions through the Parent Support Center staffed by Carol Jones, RN AE-C. She knows your challenges - she spent the last “more than a couple of decades” working with families as an asthma and allergy nurse and is a certified asthma educator. She’s also experienced that whole family asthma boot camp thing with her husband, children and herself!

Check us out. You’ll be glad you did.

FDA: No more luring kids with flavored cigarettes

Today the FDA announced that it is banning cigarettes with fruit, candy and clove flavors. In many cases, tobacco companies have created these flavored cigarettes with the expressed intention of attracting young people. FDA's newly created Center for Tobacco Products intends for this ban to help cut back on the droves of young people who are drawn to smoking cigarettes every day.

Smoking can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory conditions--not just for the smokers themselves, but for people around them who have these conditions. It is crucial to nip this problem in the bud, and to keep kids from thinking that smoking is enjoyable or "cool." The ban on these products is a step in the right direction.

During an FDA media briefing, which AANMA participated in today, officials shared a few pertinent facts:

• Every day in the U.S., about 3,600 youths between the ages of 12 and 17 start smoking; about 1,100 go on to become daily smokers
• 1 out of every 5 U.S. deaths can be traced to tobacco use
• Smokers tend to die about 14 years earlier than non-smokers

Particularly troubling were memos from tobacco company officials that were quoted during the call. Lawrence R. Deyton, MSPH, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, mentioned directives from tobacco company higher-ups to develop cigarette flavors such as cola, apple and honey--because teenagers are known to like sweet things.

Deyton referred to these flavored cigarettes as a "gateway," noting that many smokers take their first puffs during their teen years and that these flavors are designed to "attract and lure kids into addiction." Let's hope that the new ban will help steer young people away from the deadly path of cigarette addiction.

Asthma: No Laughing Matter

Laughter may be the best medicine unless your airways are raw with inflammation - the kind associated with asthma. Researchers in Australia found that as many as one in three people with asthma start wheezing, coughing or feeling short of breath when laughing!

Laughing asthma is really just another form of exercise-induced asthma and both are signs that airway inflammation is out of control and I'm not joking. Need more convincing evidence?

Your allergist can measure various aspects of lung function using a machine called a spirometer. But to know if allergic asthma is causing airway inflammation, there is a new test now approved by Blue Cross Blue Shield that measures exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), a by-product found in your breath (no, it doesn't smell bad) if your airways are inflamed. The test is non-invasive, easy to do for kids and adults. 

This new technology takes us just one step closer to customizing asthma action plans to meet your specific needs...such as laughing until your sides hurt but without asthma symptoms!

To learn more about eNO, visit AANMA's website and search eNO. You can also visit Aerocrine or Aperion websites. And no, they didn't pay for these links but if I'd asked them to help sponsor this blog, I would tell you that, too.

Is Asthma Serious?

Seems like a silly question. But it isn't. That's why Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA) is conducting a short survey to see exactly what others think.

Personally, I hate taking surveys. I don't answer the automated phone calls - you know - the ones that come during dinner saying, "Help the country be a better place to live by taking our short...." Click. I'm so bad, I begrudgingly fill out the US Census survey every five years.

But this survey is different. Even I would take this survey because I care about asthma. I can't take the survey because I work for AANMA the nonprofit organization asking the questions. We're on a mission that we simply can't complete until we better understand how you answer the question: Is asthma serious?

By way of Honest Abe: There are no sponsors for this survey. No advertising. No links to other sites and no pop-ups. Take the survey and then watch for the results on September 25th, 2009. Thank you!!