Happy New Year -- and Reality Check

How many of you spent the holidays hacking, honking, sniffling, sneezing, wheezing, feverish, nauseated or dashing to the bathroom? Or taking care of kids doing any of the above?

I spent part of the holidays in Atlanta with my oldest sons, Mike and Dan, Dan’s wife Kristin and my two littlest grandsons. Mike and Dan met me at the airport shortly after midnight. On the ride home, Dan said that J.D., his 2-year-old, had been diagnosed with croup earlier in the day. He was hoping that the baby, who's four months old, wouldn’t get it. The baby was cutting two bottom teeth but otherwise happy.

Then, the next day, the baby started wheezing. Kristin, a physician’s assistant said, “It’s just a little wheeze.”

“But it doesn’t belong there,” I said.

“He’s teething; babies get congested when they're teething,” she replied. I had to agree, but something about the wheeze seemed eerily familiar to me--it reminded me of when my daughter, Brooke, was a baby, before she was diagnosed with asthma. But Trey was happy, alert and cooing. All seemed fine.

By nightfall, however, Trey took a turn for the worst. The next morning, Dan took the baby to the pediatrician. Diagnosis: Broncholitis or RSV. Either way, Trey was producing more mucus than his little body could get rid of. He had his first breathing treatment and was sent home with a Xopenex metered-dose inhaler and a valved holding chamber with a little duck mask on it.

For the next two days, we gave Trey his medication on schedule but he grew worse. We were never quite sure if the baby was inhaling the medication. Three puffs every four hours should have done the trick, but we could see no improvement.

The next morning, Kristin had to drop J.D. off at day care and go to work, so Dan and I took Trey back to the pediatrician. This time we saw Dr. Furr. She listened to his chest and explained that while people love to debate the merits of holding chambers vs. nebulizers, there were times when a nebulizer was the best route because the medicine is wet and you know the baby is getting the medication. She gave the baby a breathing treatment at the office--and sure enough, he fired out a huge mucus plug splat onto the floor. His cheeks regained color and he smiled.

Dr. Furr explained that RSV is viral bronchiolitis, but that not all bronchiolitis is caused by RSV. Whatever the cause, she expected Trey to be really sick for a few weeks. She asked about the family history of asthma – Dan and I both have it, as do his sister and youngest brother, Joe. Dan and I don’t have allergies but Brooke and Joe do. She said to wait and see what develops, but that it would be no surprise to her if the baby develops asthma. If that's the case, it would be time to talk about pets, dust mites and other known allergens and how to avoid them.

It was a little odd standing in this room watching this conversation take place between my son and the pediatrician about my grandson, in contrast to when Brooke, the daughter who taught me everything about asthma and allergies I didn’t want to know, was a baby. This physician works in a busy office seeing patients with all kinds of ailments--the largest pediatric practice in the area--and yet she efficiently and effectively explained the diagnosis, answered all of Dan’s questions, told him what to expect after giving Trey his medication and how to know when to bring him back for additional treatment.

Wow. All in 15 minutes. With a smile on her face and a caring touch of her hands

Despite the coughing and hacking (in addition to sick animals and a few sleepless nights), the seven days spent with the family were precious and humbling. They were a reminder that just because you raised children once, doesn’t mean it would be any easier to do it again! A reminder that the never-ending work is offset by the unexpected leaps of joy over the smallest of things. A reminder that being a parent teaches you more about yourself than you could imagine, no matter how young or old your children are.

And how were your holidays?

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/.