Friday, December 10, 2010

Nancy Gets a Flu Shot ...

How did it get this late in the year without getting a flu shot? I write about flu shots, read research, ask all my friends if they got their flu shots but here I am on December 10, 2010, finally getting around to mine! Okay, so I have somewhat of an excuse. Because I have asthma, I’m not eligible for those grocery or drug store “drop-by” shot programs. I have to make an appointment with my doc which is no problem except that I haven’t been home much lately…so when there was an opening this morning, I grabbed it!


No lines. No fees. No problems. It’s not too late to get your flu shot. Some research suggests that getting a flu shot may just help the immune system fight those bugs that tend to activate asthma symptoms. Shot appointments are pretty easy to get and supplies are plentiful unlike years past. No excuses!

Read AANMA's latest Flu Tips story: http://www.aanma.org/2010/12/flu-tips-for-people-with-asthma/

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Enter the breathe-easy sleep zone

We admit it. We were skeptical at first. When we first heard about the PureZone Personal Air Filtration System , some of us thought it sounded like a gimmick. A machine that blows HEPA filtered air out your pillow case?!!? Wouldn’t it be noisy? Wouldn’t it be cold? Wouldn’t it be WEIRD?


But you know what? Some things you just have to experience. First our ad rep, James, put it on his son’s bed – and Trevor, who has asthma and sleeps fitfully every night, slept quietly all night long, without tossing and turning and throwing all his covers off!

Then Cathy, an AANMA member in Texas, tried it and wrote:

“I used to never feel rested because I have trouble breathing at night – my husband says I make noises in my sleep that don’t sound human! He has to sleep on the other side of the house to get a good night’s sleep. All of this changed the first night I used my HEPA filter pillow. When I woke up, my nose was clear, and I could take a deep breath with my mouth closed for the first time in years. I felt well-rested – I had forgotten what it feels like to be well-rested! After a month of using my pillow each night, I feel like a new person.”

Letter after letter of praise came in.

Will you have the same response? We don’t know, but clinical studies show that the PureZone eliminates virtually all airborne particles in your breathing zone all night long.

We were so impressed we invited them to put the PureZone in our online store. For a free trial or a $50 discount, enter the code AAT50. And PureZone donates a portion of each sale to AANMA!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Breathe at School: It’s the Law in 50 States – Almost!

First day of school – it’s a rite of passage for kids and their parents. The tearful goodbyes and clawing at the school bus door -- well, it’s not always the children. One mom wrote this morning that she keeps feeling misplaced or like she forgot to pack or do something. “But it’s not Jimmie’s inhaler and auto-injectable epinephrine!”

Jimmie has asthma and food allergies. This summer, Jimmie's mom taught him how to cross the street safely, what to do if his clothes catch on fire and how to call 911 if he sees an emergency. She also made sure he could use his inhaler and auto-injectable epinephrine correctly if she wasn’t around.

“He knows the names of his medications and when to take them,” she said, “but do I feel he’s 100 percent ready to make every decision on his own? Not yet but he’s learning. The school nurse and his teachers know that he’s learning, too. They don’t expect him to get it right every time. I’m so fortunate that my kids go to a school where the staff is supportive.”

BREATHE: There Ought to Be a Law
Students with asthma can carry inhalers in all 50 states, and 46 have laws protecting students' rights to carry and self-administer auto-injectable epinephrine. Students with anaphylaxis need state laws in: New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin -- contact Sandra Fusco-Walker, AANMA's Director of Advocacy, at sfwalker@aanma.org to get involved today.

Learn more about asthma and anaphylaxis medications at school.

Nancy Sander
President and Founder
Allergy & Asthma Network
Mothers of Asthmatics
http://www.aanma.org/
www.facebook.com/AANMA
http://twitter.com/AANMA
http://www.greatamericanasthmachallenge.org/

Monday, August 23, 2010

Jovante Woods made national headlines…

…but not in a way he and his family would have expected. The 16-year-old football player and son of Ickey Woods, a former Cincinnati Bengals player, died of asthma last week. We posted the story on Facebook and have been following the many news stories. I as reading one in Black Voices on Sports by Boyce Watkins, PhD. At the end, he added thoughtful commentary:

"The death of Elbert Jovante Woods makes me wonder just how safe our young men and women are when playing high school sports. I can remember competing in track and field, where it was common for athletes to vomit after practice, become short of breath and even work out to the point of nearly collapsing. Most of us defined this stress to simply be a part of getting into shape, but I've always wondered whether most coaches are equipped to know when a hard workout has become a health hazard.

How do we know the difference between a kid who's simply whining about a tough practice vs. one who is actually experiencing serious physical problems? I honestly don't know the answer to this question, but it is certainly something to think about."


Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics is concerned, too. It’s not that we think people intend to reject good safety measures (they don’t) but primarily because asthma is an insidious and deceptive disease in which early perception, recognition and response are critically important and easy to miss.

Most asthma deaths can be traced to preventable causes (yes, causes, plural -- as in, more than one, otherwise known as a perfect storm). For example, was Jovante’s inhaler empty? Few people ask this question and even fewer know that inhalers run out of medication before they run out of the propellant. So the inhaler doesn’t feel empty when, in reality, it is. That's why our organization successfully lobbied the FDA to advise manufacturers to place dose counters on metered-dose inhalers; this technology is currently being phased in.

Another mistake comes with being young and invincible and thinking that you haven't pushed yourself hard enough unless you're breathless or throwing up on the football practice field. These long-held stoic but faulty beliefs put our young athletes at risk of fatal respiratory, cardiac and neurologic events.

Each fatal asthma attack can teach all of us something if we pause and honestly explore what went into that perfect storm that brewed silently hours, days and even weeks before. Easily said and terrifying to do -- which is exactly why it doesn’t often happen. While it may have been one event that pushed Jovante over the edge, it was not just one event that got him there. This is true for anyone who dies of asthma.

AANMA is on a mission to eliminate asthma death and suffering, and to ensure that every child and adult receives asthma care consistent with National Institutes of Health Asthma Guidelines. AANMA’s Great American Asthma Challenge asks every person to do their part. It’s easier than you think to bring our nation to zero asthma deaths and improve quality of life along the way! All it takes is one person, family and community at a time taking simple steps together.

AANMA and the newly formed Congressional Asthma and Allergy Caucus will meet to examine life-and-death asthma issues and ways to ensure that all children and adults with asthma know what to expect and how to obtain appropriate care and written strategies that work for each everyone.

In addition, we recently developed and conducted Express Seminars on Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm for School Nurses at the National Association of School Nurses annual conference, sponsored by Teva Respiratory. In coming weeks, a highlights video and resource materials will be posted on AANMA's YouTube channel.

We're also forming a coalition of school nurses, coaches, parents, physicians, teachers and school administrators to define evidence-based best practices for recognizing and treating serious respiratory issues relative to sports- and school-based exercise programs.

Finally, a shout-out to Chris Draft, Anthony Armstrong and Adam Carriker of the Washington Redskins! All three have asthma, and Anthony caught and carried the first touchdown of the season! Yes, I know it's "only" the preseason, but for diehard fans like me, the season is ON! Winning over asthma is very much like winning a football game: You have got to know where the goal is and have an executable plan that's going to get you there. No one does it alone - it takes a team.

Dr. Watkins, thank you for asking the right question. Now let’s look for the right answers. Jovante's death is not in vain if we learn something from it. May God grant peace to those who love Jovante, and may their hearts be filled with fond memories that never fade.

Nancy Sander
President and Founder
Allergy & Asthma Network
Mothers of Asthmatics
http://www.aanma.org/
www.facebook.com/AANMA
http://twitter.com/AANMA
http://www.GreatAmericanAsthmaChallenge.org/

Monday, August 16, 2010

Get out of his way! (... and meet 3 Redskins with asthma!)

Anthony Armstrong went over the line this time -- and scored the first winning touchdown for the Washington Redskins this season. Yes, I know it was “only” a preseason game, but it was awesome!
OK, I’m a diehard Washington Redskins fan from way back before Joe Theisman broke his leg on live television. But few fans know that awesome Anthony has asthma! In fact, three Redskins have asthma and aren’t afraid to admit it.

Like Anthony, Chris Draft (linebacker) and Adam Carriker (defensive end) think it’s better to get tough with asthma than to try to tough it out. They each have their own treatment plan.

“It’s not about what you have (asthma), but what you do about it," Chris said in a recent interview with AANMA. "On the football field, performance is all that matters. Nothing else. There are no excuses. You have to take care of your body so it will take care of you out there.” Chris established the Chris Draft Family Foundation and the Asthma Team (TM) to encourage young people with asthma to get an asthma action plan that works for them and then to live by it.

There are times when all three players have been caught short of breath on the football field. They tell their stories in an exclusive interview with AANMA in Allergy & Asthma Today magazine, due in mailboxes next week!

What? You don’t get Allergy & Asthma Today magazine? You must not be a member of Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics! Joining is easy online (or by phone, 800.878.4403) and supports AANMA’s mission to eliminate asthma and allergy death and suffering through education, advocacy and outreach.

Once you join AANMA, you’ll never be alone. There’s tens of thousands of us dealing with asthma and allergies! You’ll get our e-mail news updates, notices of events and new services, The MA Report e-newsletter, and of course, Allergy & Asthma Today magazine for one year! You can pick up the phone and call Nurse Carol Jones or send her an e-mail. You can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Don’t waste another moment. Join AANMA today! And as soon as you get the fall Allergy & Asthma Today in the mail, open it to page , and read "Get Tough on Asthma." Once you're finished, make three copies. Give one to the local high school or college football coach. Give another to the school nurse and the third to the principle at your child’s school.

Now, where did I put those Washington Redskins M&M’s?

Would you like to meet Chris, Anthony and Adam? Here’s your chance:

Chris Draft has teamed up with Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics to invite kids with asthma (and their families) to visit Redskins Park this Wednesday or Thursday morning, August 18 and 19, and find out how the pros Tackle Asthma!

To sign up, contact AANMA before 4 p.m.Tuesday, August 17. Space is limited; selected families will be notified by 6 p.m. Tuesday.


Send your name, address, phone number and how many family members will be with you to
 lross@aanma.org or call 800.878.4403 (8 a.m.-4 p.m. ET).
Visitors will be invited to watch the Redskins practice from the VIP tent, then talk afterward with Chris Draft and teammates Anthony Armstrong (wide receiver) and Adam Carriker (defensive end), who also have asthma.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

On a Clean Streak!

If it’s too good to be true, it usually isn’t, right? Like every other good cliché, I’ll follow with a few more: “This one is an exception to the rule” and “Try it -- you’ll like it.”

Look, when ActiveIon sent us an Ionator to try prior to accepting their ad in Allergy & Asthma Today magazine, Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics staffers didn’t raise an eyebrow or volunteer to do the testing. We get our fair share of kooky products that never merit ad space, and quite frankly, we thought the ionator was going to be another one of them. I mean, what’s exciting about using an energized water sprayer to clean your kitchen, bathroom and everything in between, and to kill germs? It’s just water, for goodness' sake!

So I took the ionator home to get the testing behind me.

I opened the box, removed the unit (looks cool, sturdy, space-agey) pushed a button to release the plastic water chamber and filled it with tap water. No soap, detergent, bleach, scents, alcohol, fumes or chemicals the names of which I can’t pronounce. Just water.

I snapped the chamber back into place, pointed the nozzle at my clean granite kitchen counters and pulled the trigger. A green light glowed through the water as a fine mist spritzed across the counter. Without fanfare, the water’s molecular structure was changed so that it could adhere to dirt and germs long enough to be wiped away – which I did with my well-worn kitchen dish towel.

Hmm, that was easy enough -- but wait a minute. My kitchen counter was already clean, right? So why wasn’t it as shiny and smooth and soft as the spot I just cleaned? I cleaned another section – same thing! The ionator-cleaned surfaces reflected a perfect mirror image of the overhead kitchen lights, whereas the surfaces cleaned earlier that day reflected the light like the moon on a cloudy night!

OK, game on. If the ionator will do this to the granite, what will it do to my stainless-steel refrigerator – the fingerprint bane of my existence? Spritz, wipe and sparkle. No smears to polish. I took aim at the kitchen sink. I was blinded by the light (couldn’t resist yet another cliché) bouncing off the faucet and how brand new the sink looked -- mind you, without any effort.

Room by room, I put the ionator to the challenge. I was sold. Completely.

Then, last night we had a few neighbors over for dinner. Oh, you should have seen the hubbub in my kitchen last night! It looked like an Activeion ionator infomercial, starting when one of the guests asked what that spray thing was sitting on the counter. I picked it up and said, “My secret weapon. Don’t anyone move.” All eyes turned as I removed and then filled the water reservoir with tap water (I had to prove I was only using tap water), popped it back in the sprayer and pulled the trigger.

I shot a fine spray of ionized water onto the granite countertop, wiped it dry and invited (with flair) my guests to compare the ionator-cleaned spot to an untreated spot. One said, “It’s shinier” and another agreed that light reflecting on the ionator-cleaned spot was sharp and clear but the same light cast a halo on the uncleaned section. Another touched the surface and remarked how smooth it was before picking the ionator up and using it on another section of the countertop.

“Oh! Look, a green light comes on!” someone remarked as she sprayed. By now you’ve probably guessed we're either a very rowdy bunch or in need of a little more excitement in our lives, but the green light gave me a chance to explain that Activeion’s ionator HOM is the greenest way to clean. Not only was my kitchen getting cleaned by the neighbors at the end of our party, but it was getting clean and sterile with just purely ionized WATER from my tap!

It’s easy to store, hold, carry, use. No mess. No drips. No fragrance. No dangerous ozone. No dirty sponges.

Just spray and the stainless-steel sink is spotless. Spray, the refrigerator gook is gone. Spray, stovetop and back wall are grease-free. Spray and wipe away all germs on doorknobs, the phone, the bathroom and and car! The highchair, car seat, crib rails at day care. Every classroom should have one of these!

Best of all, after all that cleaning – my hands were smooth! No irritation from cleaners or from wearing gloves – both of which are a problem for me. I could have sold six ionator HOM units last night! I got up this morning to find my ionator went missing. My husband said a neighbor borrowed it. "What?!" I exclaimed and then went online to buy myself a second one. Technically, the first one was free, and it’s easy to say good things about free products. It’s quite another to... (OK, one more) put your money where your mouth is.

Remember, you are buying the ionizing technology – the active ingredient, water, comes out of your tap. What if you could get rid of the annoying child safety latches and nearly every smelly cleaner under your sink? How much money would you save? Plenty! Try adding it up!

I tend to use vinegar and water, lemon and salt, and vinegar and baking soda to clean most of my house because cleaners choke my airways and eat away at my hands. But compared to the ionator, they're time-consuming.

Just to be very clear, this was my experience not a paid endorsement or “certification” (be wary of these) by any measure. Activeion’s ionator doesn’t need to buy anyone’s seal of approval but yours. It works as advertised or you get your money back. And yes, they pay to advertise in Allergy & Asthma Today magazine! Thank you!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Shopping for School Supplies with Asthma

I was searching Aisle 3A for plastic pellets to recharge the ongoing rock-tumbler summer science project at our house when I heard it.

My radar zeroed in on a sound coming from Aisle 2B: a wheezing child “chop-talking” to his dad. You know, “chop-talking” – that staccato sharp sentence phrasig where you get out a few words, take a shallow breath and speed through the next couple of words in the hopes that you can get it all out before being whisked away to another aisle – which is exactly what happened. They rounded the corner of 3A and my heart sank.

The boy was all of probably 5 years old, purple shadows half mooned under his eyes. Face dusky white, his mouth curled into an “o” before heaving a single sharp cough. “You OK, buddy?” his dad asked as they continued on to Aisle 4 looking for items on the “back-to-school” list he carried in his hand. “Yeah,” the boy coughed.

I wanted to say, “No, Dad, he’s not OK -- he’s only one or two triggering events away from death’s door!”

But I didn’t. It would have come out all wrong, and why should he listen to me anyway? I could be some crazy woman for all he knows. What if his son has never been diagnosed with asthma? What if he was afraid to leave his son with a sitter while he did the shopping? I thought of the phone call we’d just received from a mom whose 11-year-old son recently died of an asthma attack, and of the words of so many who've lost loved ones to asthma: by the time it looks serious, it’s too late. I started to speak and stopped. I left the store.

I have more than 30 years of experience with asthma. I’m not a doctor or nurse, but I can pick out a child or baby with asthma symptoms a mile away. But this dad only had the experience of his son and whatever the medical care provider had time to impart. He doesn’t know any better. As I unlocked the car door and slid into the driver’s seat, I thought, "Maybe he would appreciate my help."

If only I'd known where he was parked -- I could have slid my business card under the windshield wiper. Instead, I turned the key and backed out of my space, still unable to clear the stoic face of this boy from my mind.

Children who wheeze from the time they're infants or toddlers tend to become that way -- stoic -- as they grow older. They have to be; otherwise, they miss out on too much in life. While parents are trying to discern what’s normal and not (we get this question every day), they're also deciding whether the symptoms warrant another day off from work, another visit to the doctor or paying a babysitter to come to the house. It’s not as if they can keep their children tied down. Families have no idea that they're becoming conditioned to accept a certain degree of asthma symptoms as acceptable or tolerable even when they're dangerously not!

It happens so innocently. We hear it all the time: "Well, he’s just a happy wheezer. Always has been.” “He gets a cold if the wind blows the wrong way.” “She’s been worse. She’ll be OK.” “She’s a tough one, that’s for sure.”

By the time a child is ready for school, they’ve become accustomed to asthma, too! They’ve never known another way. Just like kids who don’t know there are leaves on a tree until they get glasses, kids with asthma often have no idea what it means to take a full deep breath until they’ve done it. Repeatedly. For long periods of time.

Part of preparing kids for school is making certain they start out the year healthy and armed with a written asthma action plan. Teach them when and how to ask for help. They need to know the names of the medications they use and when to use them. This is not optional.

Asthma is serious stuff: 10 children and adults die of asthma every single day! Many more miss school and sit on the sidelines, get picked last for team sports and bullied when they can’t keep up. This is the real world, folks. The stuff we as parents and grandparents don’t see.

And it’s also the stuff we can do something about -- just like teaching them not to take candy from strangers or showing them repeatedly how to cross the street safely until they can do it on their own. When our kids have asthma, our job is to help them breathe well and be all that they were born to be. No child was born to feel breathless, cough, wheeze, be congested, any more than they were born to play in traffic every day.

Check out these back-to-school resources for parents and kids:
-Is your child ready to self-administer asthma or anaphylaxis medication at school, if you live in a state that allows it? Ask your child these questions for starters.

-When is it OK for your child to go to school -- and when is it time to stay home?

-Some children have life-threatening food allergies. As a parent, how can you make sure that your child is safe during lunchtime at school?

-Student-athletes with asthma can thrive on the playing field as long as they're careful. Here are some tips.

Back-to-school tips to share or questions about your student with asthma or allergies? E-mail us at editor@aanma.org!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

It’s a Gas: Study Links Exhaled Nitric Oxide with Increased Risk of Childhood Asthma

Studies suggest that elevated FeNO (exhaled nitric oxide) is a reliable biomarker to identify children at increased risk for developing asthma. FeNo testing is non-invasive -- it's measured in exhaled air. Nitric oxide is a gas given off by inflammatory cells in the airways. The painless test may become standard for annual school physicals someday…we can only hope.
Click here to read about a study by U.S. researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Interferon: Asthma’s Holy Grail?

Could there be a cure for asthma on the horizon? Depends on whom you ask and what they know. I’ve sat on both sides of the answer, but now investigators at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center seem to be onto something highly intriguing.

They’ve determined that interferon -- a protein used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C and a variety of cancers -- blocks the production of Th2, cells known to cause inflammation leading to asthma and atopic dermatitis.

Normally, Th2 cells help protect against infections by secreting chemicals that bring on inflammation. However, Th2 cells tend to get carried away in some people -- causing them to over-react when exposed to otherwise harmless substances such as animal dander, pollens and pollutants. Like tapping the first in a long chain of dominoes -- once Th2 cells become reactive, a whole set of inflammatory chain reactions take place, causing common allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis.

“This finding is incredibly important because humans are being treated with interferon for a variety of diseases, yet no one has tried treating asthma patients with interferon,” said J. David Farrar, MD, assistant professor of immunology and molecular biology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. “The current therapies for asthma are inhalers and steroids, both of which offer only temporary relief.”

Dr. Farrar says that in isolated human immune cells, interferon targets and blocks Th2 cells before and after they form. In effect, interferon removes the key domino from the lineup.
But at what doses, and which patients are candidates for therapy, and when will a therapy be ready for use in what ages of patients and… ? So many questions, so little time! That’s why we’re writing about this topic in the Winter 2010 issue of Allergy & Asthma Today. Do you have questions you’d like to ask Dr. Farrar about this study? Send them to editor@aanma.org.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Exxon Mobil.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

As seen in AAT: Take the sting out of dry, red eyes

Most give it little thought, but we give it a lot! Allergy & Asthma Today advertisers are the best! They help us provide free news, reports, firsthand stories, practical tips, feature articles and other services provided by AANMA.

Advertisers don’t buy their way in; they earn it. They submit an ad for which every claim must be substantiated in writing and on file at AANMA. If we’re not familiar with the product from personal experience, we take it for a test drive – with the exception of prescription medications, of course.

For example, Laurie Ross, AAT Managing Editor, and I both tried OcuFresh eye drops and found them to be soothing. I suffer (ugh) from dry eye and am constantly using one eyedrop brand or another. What I liked about OcuFresh, besides the important fact it's preservative-free, is that each sterile vial contains more than enough liquid to flush both eyes. Laurie is a swimmer who's constantly fighting the chlorine red-eye. She said using OcuFresh took the sting out right away. She also took some of the sting out of the price by printing a coupon at the OcuFresh website: www.ocufresh.com.

We know that each person will come to their own conclusions about any of the products advertised in our magazine, but we hope you know that we give them an honest twice-over before including them in our advertising line-up and before we can blog about them. Of course, our “try it” approach isn't scientific and we don’t rely on or acknowledge any self-ordained or paid-for certification programs -- these may give the appearance of being unbiased and/or scientific, but they simply aren’t.

Do you know of a product or company or service that warrants inclusion in Allergy & Asthma Today magazine? Tell us at editor@aanma.org.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

NASN conference was a success -- and "Fit to Breathe" kit coming soon!

At Chicago O'Hare Airport and anxious to get home after hosting "Fit to Breathe Express Seminars on Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm (EIB) for School Nurses at the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) 42nd annual conference.

AANMA loves school nurses -- and according to their exit surveys, they appreciate us, too. "This was the best session I have attended so far at this meeting!" "Thank you for the AeroChamber holding chambers and TruZone peak flow meters and MDI training." "I could have spent the entire day learning from Dr. Michael Foggs and sports nutritionist Lisa Dorfman, and the workshops were great!"

So glad our friends at MBM Productions recorded the program. Soon you'll be able to watch a short segment and order the "Fit to Breathe" kit for use in your school. E-mail editor@aanma.org and we'll notify you in a couple of weeks when it's ready. Thank you to Teva Respiratory for sponsoring the "Fit to Breathe" seminars!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

New app for iPhone points you to the nearest ER

A new application for the iPhone -- the EMNet findER -- locates the nearest ER in the U.S., and gives you directions and other information you may need in an emergency. Our friends at the Emergency Medicine Network (EMNet) at Massachusetts General Hospital launched the free app this week.

Carlos A. Camargo Jr., MD, MPH, PhD, a prominent ER physician, asthma expert and director of EMNet, has worked closely with AANMA on a number of projects through the years. In an interview with Boston.com, he said:

"In talking with parents of children with asthma and allergies, it's clear that travel is a particularly stressful time for these families. One of the reasons is the uncertainty about how/where to get emergency care should they need it. It occurred to our team that we could use our research database to create a simple application that would quickly connect families with the nearest ER -- wherever they were in the United States."

The app pulls all of this information from a database of 5,000 ERs. It also makes it easy for users to dial 911 or the local ER.

Click here to download the app!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Greetings from the NASN conference in Chicago!

Just checked into my hotel on Miracle Mile in bustling Chicago. Walked through the lobby to the elevator amongst a sea swimming with school nurses attending the National Association of School Nurses conference. So energized, happy. Their laughter was contagious.

I’m the last to get off the elevator. As the doors parted, I was hit with that fragrance some hotels use to cover up musty odors. It was worse in my room. My eyes are burning and my lungs ache. Already puffed my inhaler and threw open the window to let the less polluted air in. Someday soon, I hope hotels get the message that travelers would rather have clean rooms than rooms that smell like there’s something bad to hide.

I have to go to the registration desk to pick up my badge now; we’re hosting Fit to Breathe Express Seminars on Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm for School Nurses. (Click here for great free resources related to asthma & exercise.) Thankful to partner with Teva Respiratory!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Thomas Platts-Mills, MD, PhD, AANMA medical advisor -- elected to the UK's Royal Society!

Hooray for Thomas Platts-Mills, MD, PhD! Dr. Platts-Mills, a member of AANMA's Medical Editorial Board and a professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, has achieved the rare honor of being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society for his research into the causes of asthma and allergies. He's the first allergist to ever be elected into the Society!

Read more here:

www.newswise.com/articles/uva-allergist-elected-as-a-fellow-to-the-royal-society

From the article:

"University of Virginia Professor of Medicine Thomas Platts-Mills, MD, PhD, has achieved the rare distinction of being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his research into the causes of asthma and allergic disease. The Royal Society is the United Kingdom’s National Academy of Science and the oldest scientific academy in the world.

Only a small number of Fellows are physicians, and Dr. Platts-Mills is the first-ever allergist to be elected. His election was based on more than 30 years of research on the role that dust mite, cat and cockroach allergens play in the development of allergic disease and asthma. His recent work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008, looked at patients who developed a life threatening allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, during treatment for cancer. In February 2009, he led a study on anaphylactic reactions that occurred several hours after eating beef, pork or lamb. Both of these discoveries are related to IgE antibodies to a complex mammalian sugar which appear to be induced by tick bites. This represents a paradigm shift in the understanding of allergic reactions, including those to food. (More information about this study is available at http://www.royalsociety.org/.)"

Friday, June 11, 2010

Cottonique: Love at first sight

Cottonique. It was love at first sight, but would it last a lifetime? As I slid the chemise over my head, I noticed its softness and sturdy construction. It made me feel cozy all under. But would it be the same after the spin cycle in my washing machine? Would it stand up to the heat of my dryer?

I plucked it out of the pile of freshly laundered clothes and folded it. It felt softer and kinder. So I wore it again, this time as a tank top underneath a lightweight jacket. Just a simple little thing, but it looked great.

Next time I took it out of the dryer, I wore it as a pajama top. Yes, spending this much time together means this love has lasting power. I’m about to go to http://www.cottonique.com/ and order some more great cotton apparel.

I should mention that I have latex allergies and have seen my share of unmentionables that remain unmentioned because although they were latex-free, they also didn’t fit well or feel anything like Cottonique’s latex-free, formaldehyde-free, dye-free, chemical-free, Spandex-free, pH-balanced, 100 percent natural cotton apparel with inverted seams technology.

So yes, I’m in love and hope you’ll feel the same whether you have latex allergies or not.

Disclosure: Cottonique did not ask for or pay for this blog posting. Have you tried a product you simply love? Share it with me at editor@aanma.org.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Wheezing Babies: Is it Asthma or Something Else?

Not even the doctor knows the answer to this question until time, trial and error reveal the truth. But the secret to preventing severe symptoms is never allowing them to become severe in the first place. Alas, how do you know if you should treat the symptoms as if they're caused by asthma? Are you over- or under-medicating your baby? At what point do you say the treatment plan is or isn’t working?

Figuring out why a baby is wheezing is a little like trying to tango to a waltz. That’s why we were most interested to see new research published in the June 2010 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) demonstrating the virtues of measuring exhaled nitric oxide, a non-invasive marker of airway inflammation in babies. I thought you might want to share the article with your pediatrician or asthma specialist, so I’ve posted it below. We’re also posting it on the new website for AANMA’s Great American Asthma Challenge.

Aerocrine makes NioxMino, the small portable device that measures exhaled nitric oxide. If inflammation is detected, the physician can prescribe an inhaled corticosteroid to use while the cause of inflammation is sorted out. If inflammation is not present, the physician knows to look for other causes of symptoms.

The only downside: the test is not always reimbursed by insurance companies -- yet. Work with AANMA to let insurance companies know just how important it is to reimburse for diagnostic tests and monitoring that allow us and our children to zero in on the causes of asthma and treat them more specifically and strategically so we can move on with our lives. Sign up for the Great American Asthma Challenge, and e-mail editor@aanma.org to get added to our list of potential advocacy contacts on reimbursement issues.

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Highlights - June 2010

Exhaled nitric oxide, lung function, and exacerbations in wheezy infants

Clinicians generally cannot distinguish infants and toddlers with transient wheezing from those with early persistent asthma. Debley et al recruited 47 infants and toddlers with three or more prior episodes of physician diagnosed wheeze into a longitudinal study to determine whether exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) was associated with lung function, response to bronchodilators, changes in lung function over time, or subsequent exacerbations of wheezing.

They used a flow regulated (50 mL/sec) single-breath method to measure FENO, and the raised-volume thoracic compression method to measure lung function with assessment of albuterol responsiveness. The authors found that FENO was associated with bronchodilator responsiveness, and that higher levels of enrollment FENO were associated with subsequent decline in lung function and exacerbations of wheezing treated with systemic steroids over 6 months. Enrollment FENO was superior to both enrollment lung function and bronchodilator responsiveness in predicting subsequent exacerbations of wheezing.

Although follow-up into the school-age years with a larger cohort is needed to definitively evaluate the predictive value for asthma, these data suggest that FENO measurement in wheezy infants and toddlers is a promising objective biomarker that may prove useful clinically and improve our understanding of the evolution of asthma in young children.

--“Exhaled Nitric Oxide, Lung Function, and Exacerbations in Wheezy Infants and Toddlers” Remarks by Debley et al. (JACI June 2010 / Volume 125, No. 6

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) is the official scientific journal of the AAAAI, and is the most-cited journal in the field of allergy and clinical immunology.

PRECIOUS Breathers is AANMA’s special program to help you identify respiratory problems in children under 5. Everything about PRECIOUS Breathers is geared to little ones and the big people who love them! Here, you’ll find basic info about various reasons why your child might be having breathing problems—from common causes such as colds and teething, to more serious conditions such as asthma that require medical treatment. You’ll also find an online library of practical, family-friendly articles about some of the specific causes.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Breathing for Two: Expectant moms with asthma may not receive most appropriate medications when discharged from emergency departments

A friend of mine is newly pregnant with her second baby – perhaps only a week or so. She and her husband have been hoping this day would come for at least a year. She’s already started her prenatal vitamins, taking daily naps and daily walks, staying hydrated and eating healthy, fresh foods while trying to avoid preservatives and unnecessary chemicals.

But she doesn’t give much thought to breathing for two because “I haven’t had asthma problems in forever,” she said, “and I don’t expect I will.” She may be right, but many people don’t perceive the early stages of airway inflammation, and others aren't aware that the asthma they thought they “outgrew” is silently smoldering and subtly restricting airflow--a dangerous situation for a developing baby.

By the time symptoms become noticeable or wheezing is audible, there is as much as a 15 to 20 percent decrease in lung function. Additionally, an expectant mom may attribute mild breathing problems to the extra weight she is carrying and not think about asthma.

Many expectant mothers are wary of taking any medications -- however, treating asthma correctly through avoidance of known allergens, irritants and respiratory viruses as well as using inhaled medications is extremely important. Yet a new study conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center showed that expectant moms treated in the emergency department are less likely to leave the hospital with a prescription for an inhaled corticosteroid than other patients, despite national treatment guidelines advising their use.

Expectant mothers with a history of asthma should be evaluated by an asthma specialist such as a board-certified allergist, measure exhaled nitric oxide (an indicator of airway inflammation) using NioxMino, and monitor lung function using a peak flow meter at home.

Learn more:
Breathing for Two -- Expectant moms with asthma face special challenges. This 17-page booklet gives you straightforward, dependable answers from reliable experts. Available through the online AANMA Store.

PRECIOUS Breathers is AANMA’s special program to help you identify respiratory problems in children under 5. Everything about PRECIOUS Breathers is geared to little ones and the big people who love them! Here, you’ll find basic info about various reasons why your child might be having breathing problems—from common causes such as colds and teething, to more serious conditions such as asthma that require medical treatment. You’ll also find an online library of practical, family-friendly articles about some of the specific causes.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Former NFL Player Jarvis Williams Dies of Asthma Attack at 45

Today, we learned that Jarvis Williams, a former defensive back for the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants, died of an asthma attack at 45 on Tuesday night.

Williams had been a volunteer football coach at Interlachen High School in Putnam County, Florida, since early this year and his friends and colleagues said he appeared to be in good health, according to an article by the Associated Press. Williams leaves behind his son, who followed in his dad’s footsteps and currently plays football for Jacksonville University.

We know the statistics: Ten people die of asthma every day.

But statistics are cold – they don’t tell the stories of the lives that were suddenly lost or what went wrong when everything seemed so right. Williams was devoted to his family and the young people he coached. According to the Interlachen High School principal, Williams, a professional athlete, had seemed to be in good shape and perfectly healthy, shattering the myth that only people with severe, debilitating asthma are at risk of death.

NFL linebacker Chris Draft, who was recently signed with the Washington Redskins, knows firsthand what it’s like to have asthma suddenly take your breath away on and off the playing field. In college, his symptoms nearly sidelined his hopes of playing professional football until he found the right medical care and treatment plan. Determined to help others overcome asthma and lead active, healthy lives, Chris founded The Chris Draft Family Foundation in 1996 to inform and inspire people and families with asthma.

Earlier this month, Chris Draft and I launched the Great American Asthma Challenge, the first-ever grassroots movement to eliminate asthma death and suffering. I contacted Chris earlier today to tell him about Jarvis Williams. We agreed that the news multiplies our resolve to enroll every family affected by asthma in the Great American Asthma Challenge.

A mom whose son died of asthma at age 6 once said: “I thought asthma was a way of life. I never knew it could be a way of death until it happened to my son.” A 2-year-old died in her father’s arms while he gave her a breathing treatment – only two hours prior, she’d been released from the emergency department across the street from their home. She died without a struggle.

Help change the future of asthma by taking steps today to eliminate needless asthma death and suffering. It’s easier than you think. Look, Learn, Act:







Monday, May 10, 2010

AANMA ♥s Nurses!

May 6-12 is Nurses’ Week. Do you have a nurse you’d like to thank? Someone special who helped you or your family? 

I have a favorite nurse: Carol Jones, RN AE-C She joined AANMA more than 20 years ago and volunteered many times throughout the years. Carol understands asthma from a personal perspective as well -- she has asthma, as do her husband and grown children. Carol now answers your medical questions through AANMA’s Patient Support Center at (800) 878-4403 ext. 117 or aanmahelpline@aanma.org.

We'd love to hear about nurses who touched your life -- send us an e-mail to editor@aanma.org and we'll share results here!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

We're in the home stretch!

We’re in the home stretch for Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill 2010 (May 5) and I just finished a live televised segment with Chris Draft, NFL Linebacker, on WJLA TV. From there I dropped Chris at his next meeting and drove to my hotel. Room’s not ready so I’m sitting at the corner table of the restaurant facing Dupont Circle. It’s a perfect sunny day and the first chance I’ve had to notice all day.

You’d think after 13 years of hosting this annual event in which Congress listens and responds to issues affecting people with asthma and allergies that it would all be rather routine by now. And you’d be right --except that every single year something pops up that's unexpected.

Like the first year when we expected only one member of Congress to speak and 16 showed up! All of them spoke about their personal experience with asthma and allergies, and promised to help us address each of our issues. And they’ve proven faithful.

With their help, students with asthma can now carry inhalers at school, and in 46 states, they can carry their auto-injectable epinephrine if prescribed for anaphylaxis. With their help, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) no longer reimburses for illegally mass-manufactured nebulizer medications.

Each year is an advocacy success story that took a year or more of hard work prior to and following each event. I remember the year after September 11 and the anthrax attacks on Congress created a security snafu in which our event materials, signs, booth etc. didn’t arrive until after the Congressional briefing began. No matter -- our staff set up a fire bucket brigade line and silently loaded the room unnoticed by the audience. At the end of presentations, we invited them to the screening and fair, and as people turned around to look, there was an audible gasp of surprise: the room was transformed.

And so were the issues of access to specialty care, diagnostic testing and appropriate therapies as deemed by the patient/family and medical care provider.

Tomorrow we’re expecting 10 members of Congress to join us, most of whom have already signed up for the Great American Asthma Challenge pledging to do their part to eliminate asthma death and suffering in the United States. You can sign up, too! Just go to www.aanma.org and follow the Great American Asthma Challenge logo.

The Great American Asthma Challenge needs you! Right now, we have sections for families, medical care providers and legislators, but we’ll be adding sections for coalitions, working groups, volunteers – because this, as Chris Draft says, is a TEAM effort: Together for Effective Asthma Management.

Hope you can join us for the Congressional and Press Breakfast Briefing tomorrow morning! But if not, stop by the Allergy and Asthma Health Fair and Screening in Rayburn Foyer. It’s very easy to get to (just one block from the Capitol South stop on the Metro blue and orange lines) and you’ll get a FREE pulmonary functions test, exhaled nitric oxide test and consultation with an allergist – a $500 value, and you can take the test results with you! (Click here for more details.)

Okay, time to get ready – come what may, it will be another great Asthma Awareness Day on Capitol Hill!

Nancy

Monday, May 3, 2010

Hear “Dr. Jackie” talk about AANMA’s free asthma screenings – tonight on NBC4 in DC, 4-5 pm!

Tune in to NBC4 in Washington, DC, tonight, between 4 and 5 pm ET, to hear Jacqueline Eghrari-Sabet, MD – a.k.a. “Dr. Jackie,” a board-certified allergist with Family Allergy & Asthma Care – talk about the free asthma screenings that will be offered at AANMA’s Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill on May 5!

Eghrari-Sabet is a medical expert and regular contributor to health segments for NBC4. She’s also contributed her expertise to articles that have appeared in The Washington Post, Parenting, Self and Ladies Home Journal. She has spoken at national and international conferences on allergy and asthma.

Asthma & Allergy Health Fair and Free Asthma Screenings
11 am - 1:30 pm
Wed. May 5, 2010
Rayburn House Office Building, Rayburn Foyer (2nd floor)
50 Independence Ave. SW

(Just one block from the Capitol South station on the Metro orange and blue lines.)

Friday, April 30, 2010

See You at Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill on May 5!

We’re in the home stretch preparing for our 13th annual Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill event and the launch of the Great American Asthma Challenge, the first-ever grassroots movement to eliminate asthma death and suffering.

It’s crazy good at the office. Yes, we’d all like a few more hours to our days and a few of us would like to dream about something other than work in our sleep, but a year’s worth of advocacy efforts is going to pay off on May 5, when 10 members of Congress and NFL Linebacker Chris Draft announce plans to tackle asthma death and suffering once and for all!

It's all happening on Capitol Hill on May 5, starting with a Congressional & Media Breakfast Briefing (8:30-10:30 am, Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room, 2nd floor) followed by the Asthma & Allergy Health Fair and Free Asthma Screenings (11-1:30 pm, Rayburn Foyer, 2nd floor) -- Click here for more details and directions.

For the 13th year, Talal Nsouli, MD, board-certified allergist, and a team of allergists, nurses and respiratory therapists provide free asthma screenings and consultations. Free pulmonary function tests, NioxMino exhaled nitric oxide tests, TruZone peak flow meters, AeroChamber Plus holding chambers, Allergy Control® Pristine® pillow encasings -- all are available while supplies last at the Asthma and Allergy Health Fair.

Be there if you can! It’s just one block from the Capitol South Metro station (on the blue and orange lines) to the Rayburn House Office Building at 50 Independence Ave. SW. Bring the kids --- the screening is for people of all ages!

And please pass this link  -- www.aanma.org/advocacy/aadch -- to your members of Congress:

Click here for members of the Senate.
Click here for members of the House of Representatives.

Many thanks to ExxonMobil, Teva Respiratory, Novartis, American College of Allergy, Asthma &Immunology (ACAAI), Aerocrine, Phadia, Pharmaxis.

OK, I’ve got to run. Have to finish up the agenda and prep for media interviews… need to… SEE YOU THERE!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sunshine on My Shoulder

Extolling the virtues of vitamin D is easy. Plentiful as supplied by Mother Nature, it is often found wanting in children and adults with asthma. A growing cadre of evidence suggests a link between vitamin D levels and asthma severity: the lower the level, the more severe the asthma. Patients with more severe or chronic asthma problems tend to require more inhaled corticosteroid as well. When vitamin D levels are raised, the corticosteroid appears to be more effective.

Makes you think a little about the whole chain of events that take place. If vitamin D levels are low, so is calcium absorption. Calcium builds strong bones, and bones house the marrow where our immune system is fed. Corticosteroids -- oral forms in particular -- deplete calcium, and over time can cause the bones to crumble.

Now, I realize this description is vastly oversimplified, but which came first -- vitamin D depletion or a wayward immune system? While researchers figure it out, eat healthy wholesome vitamin-rich foods, play outside (do not overexpose skin to the sun – 15 minutes is enough) and keep moving! If being outside means inhaling dangerous levels of pollen and fumes, ask your medical care provider to test blood levels of vitamin D. Prescription-strength vitamin D is now available in once-weekly small gel caps.

Come to Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill on May 5, 2010 and take the Great American Asthma Challenge pledge to do your part to eliminate asthma death and suffering in the United States. Learn more at www.aanma.org/thegaac.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

An Update from our Friends in Haiti

We received the following update from Caleb and Debbie Lucien at Hosean International Ministries (HIM) in Pignon, Haiti. AANMA members and friends generously donated supplies to HIM, a nonprofit organization that has a large school campus and an orphanage -- HIM has taken in about 300 adults, teens and childrens since the earthquake. Caleb, director of HIM, and his wife, Debbie, are friends of AANMA and have children with asthma and respiratory issues. (Click here to see our original call to AANMA members to help.) Here is Debbie's note:

Thanks to all there at AANMA for all the hard work on our behalf here in Haiti. Just this past Thursday, a large cargo plane brought about two dozen boxes of supplies from AANMA contacts across the U.S. It was so amazing to me that people have responded so generously. These medications and clothing supplies were taken to our camp, categorized and are being distributed.

Currently, there are about 330 long-term residents at the camp. Some people come and go, but these 300 plus have settled in to at least finish the school year. About two-thirds of the residents are children and teens who have been sent by their families so they can complete school and find food. While it's been challenging taking on so many "foster kids," especially this group that has experienced its fair share of trauma, things are going reasonably well.

We've had a lot of volunteers come and give of their time and love to coordinate activities for them as well as invest in improving the camp facilities. Right now we are building better shower facilities etc. for them.

The majority of supplies we are receiving continue to go to the capital city area where the needs are extreme. Enclosed is a picture sent to me today by an American nurse volunteering in Port au Prince last week -- authorities are reporting there are over 400 "tent cities" like this now throughout the country.

It's humbling when I see how people are forced to live, and that even as rough as our camp facilities are, they are nice compared to the conditions most are living in. Please just encourage your members that the supplies they are sending are getting through and helping those in need.

We really appreciate you all!

Blessings, Debbie Lucien in Haiti

To ship items to Haiti, use this address:
Caleb Lucien/Hosean International (Relief Supplies)
3170 Airmans Drive, Unit 1076 HIM
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

To pay for shipping from the U.S. to Haiti, it’s helpful if you also send a check for $1.75/pound to the same address but in a separate envelope (the check could get lost if it’s shipped with the box).

Thursday, February 18, 2010

AANMA Shoeboxes for Haiti

Chances are there’s an empty shoebox in your closet. You could stow receipts in it, store art supplies for the kids, stash emergency cash or stuff it with old cell phones -- but no use would be more important than filling it with love and sending it to Haiti’s earthquake-fragmented families.

Each survivor has an unfathomable story. We cannot comprehend how they and the volunteers and caregivers are coping – we’ve never walked a day in their shoes.

But your empty shoebox collecting dust can fill a heart with hope and smiles. Packed with crayons, stickers, granola bars, pocket-sized rain ponchos, duct tape, batteries, beads, thread and fabric, bandages, soap, small toys or bubbles or anything else you place inside will transform a life.

As you gather treasures to place inside, envision the face of the person you would like to receive it. A mom? An elderly man? A baby girl or boy? A student? A volunteer? A physician or nurse? Draw a picture or write a note directly on the inside of the shoebox lid. On the outside, clearly write, “AANMA SHOEBOXES FOR HAITI” and the designee(s) such as “for a new mother,” “for a boy/girl.” You get the idea.

By the time you tape the lid shut and drop it in the mail, you’ll have had so much fun, you’ll probably go shoe shopping just so you can fill more boxes!

-Here’s how to ship your shoebox to Haiti securely:
Make sure that the lid is taped securely onto the box. You can simply write the address onto the shoebox or a label placed on the shoebox, or you can put the shoebox in a separate box from the post office. You can buy boxes at the post office or order them from http://www.usps.com/.

-Here’s the address:

AANMA Shoeboxes for Haiti, C/O Caleb Lucien,Hosean International
3170 Airmans Drive, Unit 1076 HIM
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

-To pay for shipping from the U.S. to Haiti, it’s helpful if you also send a check for $1.75/pound to the same address but in a separate envelope (the check could get lost if it’s shipped with the box).

(HIM is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the U.S. and a recognized NGO in Haiti. For more information: http://www.hosean.org/.)

This project does not specifically address AANMA’s mission to eliminate asthma- and allergy-related suffering and death—but it has everything to do with helping people in dire need.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Mr. Whiskers Feels Your Pain, Simba

Mr. Whiskers, a disgruntled feline who grudgingly acquiesces to bathtime for the sake of his family's respiratory health (with no shortage of growls and hisses), was a hit among readers when his column recently appeared in the Holiday Issue of Allergy & Asthma Today magazine. AAT reader Brenda Cruse has a cat who can relate--and she sends us the following tale.
Also be sure to check out my recent post featuring photos of my daughter-in-law, Kristin, administering a cat bath with a sensitivity that even Mr. Whiskers might admire. (Click here to read the post.)

Here's Brenda's cat-washing story:

"I have asthma, and our cat Simba is my constant irritator. He takes a nap on my pillow, and I spend the night coughing, wheezing and puffing albuterol. We've made lots of other comfy spots for him to rest, but he does seem to enjoy our bed!

We've found that if Simba gets a bath every two to three weeks, my symptoms are much better. My husband is usually the bather. Simba is a LARGE cat. He's about 25 pounds of well-fed, spoiled kitty-with-an-attitude.

One day last summer, I had asked hubby to give Sim his bath. He choose to do this while I was out somewhere. I came home and parked my car in front of the house, as I usually do. I hear this terrible screaming noise coming from a cat. I thought I had hit the neighbor's cat, it was so terrible and painful! I jumped out, got on my knees and started looking for an injured kitty. No kitty anywhere.

I hear more painful screams from a cat. I go in the house and start looking for my cats to make sure they're all OK. Devil Cat and KC are in the front window, Simba is nowhere around.


I go upstairs, still hearing screams from a cat. I see the bathroom door is closed--and I hear curses coming from my husband. I open the door to find Simba in the tub with my husband just about lying on him to keep him in the tub. The shower is running and the screams and curses are getting louder. The cat is doing his best to get out of the tub, and my husband is doing his best to keep cat in the tub. Curses are flying, claws are out and kitty is not happy.


At this point I'm laughing like a loon and my husband is screaming to close the door. I pull the door to close it--and clean kitty shoots out of the tub straight into the litter box and proceeds to lie down and roll! Simba has no idea what's coming next. Another bath! We pick him up and attempt to put him back in the tub for Round Two. It takes both of us to keep the cat contained and claws away from our skin. The painful screaming from the cat resumes, the curses resume and bath day has just gotten funnier. Trying to get clumping litter off a long-haired cat who's already fighting mad is not an easy task!"


We loved this story and some of the other “cat bath tales” we’ve received. However, we noticed a theme: When it comes to our beloved pets, some of us can be pushovers to a fault. Here are some tips for behavior modification – for pets and the humans who love them:

First, if your cat has made himself at home on your pillow -- donate your pillow to your kitty. Put it on a chair next to your bed. Buy yourself a new pillow, slip on dustmite-proof encasings for the pillow and your mattress, and when you make up your bed each morning, put your pillow in the closet and don’t bring it back out until you climb into bed. Little by little, inch the chair with your old/pet’s new pillow closer and closer to the door. Eventually, move the pillow outside your door and make your bedroom a cat-free zone. (PureZone has options for allergen-proofing your sleep space.)

Second, having to use albuterol every night is not a good sign at all. According to national asthma guidelines, this falls into the category of high risk of death or other serious encounter and long-term damage to your airways. Have you talked to your allergist about immunotherapy (allergy shots) or other medications that can help?

Third, try washing your bedding two and three times a week in an allergen-neutralizing laundry detergent such as those from Ecology Works. No special washing machine or dryer needed. And consider using a HEPA vacuum cleaner. I’ve had my Miele for 12 years and it works as great as the first day I bought it. In the same period of time, most people spend more than I did on multiple vacuums.

Listen, it’s been a while since we surveyed our entire readership population, but the last time we did, more than 50 percent of AANMA members fessed up to being hopelessly in love with their pets. The good news is there are things you can do that may give you the best of all worlds. Check out the Indoor AIRepair kit developed by AANMA with EPA for tips on making the air in your home more breathable .

Stay warm!

(By way of disclosure, any companies featured above did not and were not asked to pay for mention on this blog. AANMA does not endorse products, and if we mention them on this blog, it is purely informational.)

Nancy Sander
President and founder
Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA)
2751 Prosperity Ave. Suite 150
Fairfax, VA 22031
703-641-9595
http://www.aanma.org/
http://twitter.com/AANMA
www.facebook.com/AANMA

Monday, February 1, 2010

How Precious Is Your Little Wheezer?

I can’t help but show you this picture of my wonderful daughter-in-law, Kristin, giving a nebulizer treatment to my youngest grandson, Trey. A month ago he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis while I was visiting them in Sugar Hill, Ga., for Christmas, and the poor little guy is still wheezing.

He’s was only four months old months old when all this started (see my post from Jan. 4 for the whole story), so when the doctor prescribed nebulizer treatments, we had to find a place in town to buy the nebulizer in a hurry. Not impressed with the compressor options available or the nebulizer set-up (medicine cup, mask and tubing) that came with it. The machine is noisy, and more medication streamed into the air than into his little airways.

Being the grandma that I am, I ordered Monaghan AeroEclipse®II Breath Activated Nebulizers and baby masks sent to their house (the nebulizer is the part that the medicine goes into; click here to read an AANMA article for parents of very young children about using nebulizers). What a difference! No more escaping mist, and Dan and Kristin love that they can see that the baby is actually getting the medication, thanks to a little green ball on the cap of the medication cup that moves down when the baby is inhaling-- and as soon as the baby stops inhaling, it pops back up.

That little green ball does more than just reassure grandparents like me and parents like Dan and Kristin. It’s the mechanism that allows the flow of medication only during inhalation.

Trey is five months old now, but he’s officially one of AANMA’s PRECIOUS Breathers! While he hasn’t been diagnosed with asthma as yet, with our family history, Dan and Kristin are taking no chances. They already had him blood tested (Immunocap) for allergens they knew were already in the home (a cat, a dog, dust mites, etc.)--and so far, so good.

Trey’s pediatrician is treating both the bronchospasm (with a nebulized bronchodilator) and airway inflammation (with a nebulized corticosteroid) in hopes of staving off the development of long-term symptoms. Trey was too young to get an H1N1 flu shot, but the rest of the family got theirs when the vaccines first came out.

What does all this have to do with AANMA’s PRECIOUS Breathers program? PRECIOUS Breathers is a growing group of families of babies, toddlers and preschoolers who, like Trey, wheeze, cough and exhibit other symptoms of asthma but may or may not yet have a diagnosis. It’s important to treat symptoms and use as many preventive options as possible to give these little ones a great start. And that’s what PRECIOUS Breathers is all about.

Babies grow at an amazing rate, and their little brains, muscles and organs need plenty of clean air to grow to the fullest potential. You would never allow someone to place a plastic bag over your child’s face for even a moment. While that example may seem drastic, that’s what asthma and other respiratory conditions do during those coughing and gagging and wheezing episodes--they restrict breathing!

PRECIOUS Breathers is for parents--even those who think they're asthma and allergy experts because of personal history. My son, Dan, grew up with exercise- and virally induced asthma, and his sister Brooke’s asthma was very severe. But his perspective as a parent is very different, and he’s now reading AANMA’s website, our magazine, Allergy & Asthma Today, and all our e-mail updates and blogs with new appreciation. Kristin, a physician’s assistant, recently remarked, “Why didn’t they teach us this stuff when I was in medical training!”

The nuances of raising wee ones who may or may not have asthma can be perplexing, and that’s why we created PRECIOUS Breathers; start-up funding was made possible in 2009 by AstraZeneca.

Sign up for PRECIOUS Breathers today and we’ll send you a little PRECIOUS Breathers iron-on logo! Put it on a onesie or a toddler T-shirt. Tell us your story. Send us a picture and we’ll post it (first name and age only) on AANMA’s PRECIOUS Breathers web page!

Be part of the first generation of parents utilizing never-before-available resources to minimize the progression of asthma.

By way of disclosure, Monaghan Medical, AeroEclipse II, Immunocap (Phadia) did not and were not asked to pay for mention in this blog. Start-up funding for PRECIOUS Breathers was provided during 2009 but is now an unfunded project supported by your donations and AANMA membership fees. Thank you!

Nancy Sander
President and founder
Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA)
2751 Prosperity Ave. Suite 150
Fairfax, VA 22031
703-641-9595

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

American Idol Turns A Paige Onto Hollywood

I love watching American Idol. Last week it was Larry Platt’s “Pants on the Ground” that became an overnight sensation, but tonight, I think all of us with asthma or kids with asthma are cheering for Paige Dechausse.


What an inspiration! However, did anyone else notice that she used her inhaler incorrectly on the show? She did a “press and breathe” maneuver, rather than the correct “breathe/press” technique.

What’s the difference? Pressing the inhaler first leaves most of the medication in your mouth--where it's swallowed and winds up in your stomach. Instead, begin a slow, deep breath while pressing the inhaler. This carries the medication deep into the airways.

Better yet, use a valved holding chamber and the timing of the inhalation becomes less important. Why a valved holding chamber? The valve allows medication to flow only one way--into your airway--when you're ready to take a full, deep breath.

Valved holding chambers come in a variety of sizes for people of all ages, with and without masks. The PARI Vortex comes with a duck mask for young children, but having used one recently with my 4-month-old grandson, I discovered it wasn't possible to tell if he was actually inhaling the medication. Twenty-four hours later we were back at the pediatrician’s office giving Trey a breathing treatment. This time when he went home, it was with a prescription for a nebulizer machine and medication.

The new AeroChamber MAX with Flow-Vu has a distinct advantage, particularly for giving inhaler medications to children. There's a small flap or valve that's so sensitive that it shows you when the baby is inhaling the medication.

I don’t know about you, but I hope Paige makes it in Hollywood. It’s going to be fun to watch. A key to her success will be to keep her lungs healthy, exercise and inhale that medication deep into her airways. Remember: “breathe/press”!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Good to the Last Drop

The prescription label says: "Take one teaspoon of medicine every 12 hours." Not the teaspoon used to stir tea, but one you use to measure salt or baking soda in a recipe. At tea spoon is not a teaspoon by any measure!

But getting the teaspoon of medicine out of the spoon into your tum (or trickier yet, your baby’s mouth) is not always easy. Sure, you can use one of those tiny plastic cups packaged with the medicine, but the residual medicine slides back down into the cup and you wind up not giving or getting the full dose. You could try adding a few drops of water, giving it a swirl and downing the rest, but that really makes a mess. (Trust me; I tried it.)

My son uses a syringe shooter (that’s what I call it) to squirt medicine into baby Trey’s mouth. Most of it goes down his throat before he has a chance to think about spitting it back out. The benefit of this tactic is that there's no medicine left in the syringe. I think that’s the best way to make sure the full dose is given every time no matter how old you are.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Mr. Whiskers Meets His Match

After reading the Holiday issue of Allergy and Asthma Today in which Mr. Whiskers lamented getting dunked and bathed regularly by his allergy-prone family, my daughter-in-law, Kristin said she’d been bathing her cat every two weeks for years, ever since he was eight weeks old. Her reasons had nothing to do with allergies or asthma and everything to do with completing microbiology courses in medical school. Just because cats spend a lot of their leisure time preening doesn't mean that they're clean, she told me.

After Kristin and my son married, their combined menagerie consisted of a cat and two dogs, and before long, they added two precious boys to the family. So during the Christmas holidays when she offered to show me how to bathe a cat, I grabbed my camera and headed up the stairs behind her. Also pictured in the photos are JD, my 2-year-old grandson, and the family cat, Cat.



First you have to catch the cat!



Important: Clip the cat's claws!



Firmly and calmly hold the cat in place while drenching his fur. Be careful to keep water out of his eyes and ears.



Apply cat shampoo from head to tail.



Gently massage the face and tear ducts.



Rinse cat thoroughly.



These are the faces of a clean cat and a happy Kristin!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Post-Holiday Bug, and the Magic Italian Garlic Cure

All the traipsing through airports, day-after-Christmas shopping, shoveling snow without a muffler around my face, hugging my sick little grandsons and visiting pediaticians has landed me in bed honking and hacking. I'm cuddled up with a nebulizer, box of tissues, Ricola cough drops, Vicks VapoRub and both a nasal and inhaled corticosteroid. Oh, and my laptop and iPod Touch (a Christmas present from my husband).

Nothing like a dose of reality. It’s been eons since I’ve had a respiratory infection or asthma symptoms that I couldn’t nip at the first sign. As I retrieved my Aeroneb from the top shelf of the linen closet, I wondered if I had all the parts needed, if it would start and if I’d saved the instruction booklet. I unzipped the small case to find everything intact; the palm-sized, battery-operated base powered up on the first try. I plugged the power connector into the back of the nebulizer cup, poured the medicine in and instantly a fine mist silently streamed into my burning airways. I must remember to store it that way when this episode is over.

My husband has already been exposed to whatever I have, but I insisted that he sleep in the other room last night. Even so, while I was coughing up a lung, he was at the door asking if I was OK (no)--and in the rare moments of silence when I had stopped coughing, he was checking to make sure I was still alive.

It’s always worse at night, although the daytime version is no picnic either. John is taking me to the internist at 3:00 to find out if this really is bronchitis or if it's pneumonia or a sinus infection. I don’t feel like crawling out of my blankets, brushing my hair or changing out of my sweatshirt hoodie, flannel jammies and knee socks and climbing into uncontaminated clothing to go to the doctor’s office or anywhere at all. Maybe I could just roll the blankets around me and go in dressed as is. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen.

What I really want is Sandra Fusco-Walker’s (AANMA’s Director of Patient Advocacy) magic Italian garlic cure. Rather, I want someone to make it for me, since John’s specialty is pouring cereal. Here's her recipe: Boil two heads of garlic until fork-tender. Slice in half, separating the top from the bottom. Heat olive oil in cast-iron skillet, season the garlic halves and cook until golden on both sides. Smear onto French bread, and watch out! Talk about pulling the plug on mucus!

It seems this crud is everywhere but it has no name--no epidemic or pandemic status in the news. Despite pumps of hand sanitizers at every cash register and in my purse, this bug needs no handshake to multiply. Just the holidays.

Commiserate at editor@aanma.org.

(By way of disclosure, Aeroneb, Ricola, Vicks and Sandra’s Magic Italian Garlic Cure did not pay for mentions in this blog.)