Dude #3 had his first asthma attack in his preschool class.
No one called me.
When I went to get him from school that day, he could barely push words out, and was coughing like a 75 year old life time smoker. He had spit around his mouth.
From lack of oxygen.
Yes, of course I punched people in the face for this had strong words with his school following this incident.
He was diagnosed with environmental asthma following this and a number of previously related incidents. He was eventually also determined to have a pretty significant allergy to dust which can trigger these attacks.
I lobbied hard to make having a cleaning company come in to de-dustify my crib weekly a deductible medical expense but the IRS wasn’t trying to hear that.
Something about me having to do it. I stopped listening when they said no.
Anyway, since me cleaning more is a highly unrealistic long term option, we’ve done a number of other things to help alleviate his symptoms. Here are some tips for how we prevent asthma attacks.
1. Clean. Agreed, cleaning is lame, but like every now and then you just have to break down and do it. In the nooks and crannies. Where the satanic dust bunnies like to hide out.
2. Chuck the stuffed animals. I know, they love their Lovies, but Lovie is dirty and riddled with dust mites. Unless you keep Lovie in a plastic bag, which is actually all kinds of unsafe. Don’t do that. Plastic bags+kids=no go. We didn’t ditch every one of his stuffed home boys, but we did insist that he can only keep two on his bed (Bully and Baby who’ve been keeping it real with him since he came out of the womb). The others we moved to a bin in a separate room where he can visit them at his leisure.
3. Use an air purifier. We have numerous models in different sections of our home including one we received from Luma Comfort in his bedroom. Here’s what you need to know about the Luma Comfort air purifiers…
- They use filters an UV light to remove 99% of indoor pollutants, including dust, mold, pet dander, and bacteria.
- They have a model that will filter the air in a room up to 400sq feet which means it can easily take care of most people’s bedrooms.
- The units are super easy to set up (seriously, slid it out of box, plugged it into wall, breathed deeply).
- The sleek design allows them to blend in nicely in a room.
- You can set the timer so that it doesn’t run during the night (it’s not super quiet) which is awesome. Our other unit runs continuously because there is no timer to turn it off and on without me remembering to do so.
Also, in case you’re curious about whether or not these things actually work (because I was, totally), lemme just show you something gag worthy…
Go ahead and judge me, I deserve it. Also, NEVER let your filter get this dirty. Never ever, ever never.
4. Take your meds. When it comes to asthma rescue medication, those are fast acting, emergency type responses to an acute breathing issue. They start to work as soon as you suck them into your tightened lungs. But, other meds, that are designed for maintenance, generally take time to work. You may spend days, or weeks using them before you really start to see improvement. So take your medication consistently. You will get a better long term response if you do.*
5. Love on your doctor. We see one of those high class, takes months to get an appointment, allergist. He does major testing and probably doesn’t know my son’s name unless he sneaks a peek at the chart first. More importantly, we have a close working relationship with our regular pediatrician. We ditched the big box version of pediatrics when #3 came along and proved that his time in a medical office would likely rival his time in the classroom. I was sick of seeing a new doctor, who was too busy to read the chart and had no idea who I or my child even were, every time we went into the practice. Sure we could get an appointment any time we wanted, literally, they even had walk-ins. I was sort of fearful about losing that convenience, but since switching to a single practitioner office (he does have a nurse practitioner to help out) we have been so, so well served. When you have a child with chronic medical concerns it’s important to have a physician who knows you and your family well. Someone who trusts that you’re not just doing the mom freak out when you go in and say, “SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MY BABY, I JUST KNOW IT!” Someone who is familiar with your case and your allergies and your fears and choices. It has made our life with an asthma-and-a-bunch-of-other-things patient so much easier.
Now, let me make your life easier!
I am giving away Luma Comfort AP400W Air Purifier (ARV $270) to one lucky reader so you and your family can breathe easier!
Enter now!
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