Asthma Parent

Well, after sixteen months, twelve of which spent in the privileged company of my two most favorite little people, (the first four having spent way too much time in hospital with a pretty tricky pregnancy), I have this week darkened the doorstep of my place of work again and with a mixture of sadness and genuine positivity started the new 'normal' routine, working three days a week. It's gone pretty well, the kids have settled into the new childcare arrangements brilliantly and my welcome back has been really quite lovely. I feel though, that the phrase 'work/life balance' is hanging over me ominously. I think this is pretty normal for any parent returning after a significant period of maternity or paternity leave. There's an adjustment period and there are weeks where it all runs smoothly and then there are the weeks where you're holding it all together with a diarrhea filled nappy and a Calpol syringe in one hand and a laptop, mobile and cannula pumping ...

I was very pleased to have been asked to write a guest blog for asthma UK about the very real benefits of the Personal Asthma Action Plans as part of their 'Keeping Children out of Hospital' campaign. Please do consider donating to this very worthy charity, they make a whopping difference.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by two lovely researchers the other week from the Health Experiences Research Group (HERG) at the University of Oxford. They are behind the Youth health talk and Health talk online websites which allow you to share the experiences of thousands of people through audio, video or written accounts of health related conditions and illnesses. Very worthwhile and well worth a look. As part of the interview they were interested in the things that we do when we feel A is at risk of an asthma attack, and, as we found ourselves in that position again last week I thought it might be useful to share those things, things that I realise we do quite automatically now, but which we've learned to do over time. It's very specific to A and her asthma triggers of course, but I thought it might illustrate how over a period of time you get quite used to the routine of what to do and when and although you never lose that feeling of worry and panic when carin...

So we've taken the plunge, fully supported by A's consultant, to stop the Clenil (brown) inhaler over the summer and just continue with the Montelukast. A is often a lot better during the summer and had a number of colds last year which didn't result in a flare up of her asthma symptoms. The idea is that a break from the steroids can only be a good thing and that the Montelukast with far less side effects and a good track record in treating asthma in children [ Knorr, Barbara, et al. "Montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, for the treatment of persistent asthma in children aged 2 to 5 years." Pediatrics 108.3 (2001): e48-e48 ] would keep any exacerbations at bay. Feeling a teensy bit concerned today though I must admit, as she has come down with a cold and who knows how effective the Clenil was in preventing any potential attacks during the summer last year. She's sleeping now and we've just been in and given her the blue inhaler as her breathin...

I've come across a couple of great programmes lately which help children understand their asthma better and make them realise that they're not different or unusual for having to use their inhaler when needed. Get Well Soon 'Easy Wheezy' Get Well Soon is a lovely CBeebies show about all kinds of childhood illnesses and how their bodies are affected. The 'Easy Wheezy' episode isn't on on iPlayer at the moment, though the Easy Wheezy song is on YouTube . Dr Ranj Singh is a real-life paediatrician and his programmes really captivate 'A' and get her asking really good and useful questions about all manner of illnesses, including her asthma. Sesame Street 'A is for Asthma' The other one is the old favourite, Sesame Street. You've got to love Elmo and A is for Asthma is great. I love the angle the video clip takes, showing the child's friend what to do when he starts to get wheezy and as always the educational tone of ...

While A has gone into the spring seemingly able to fight the nightmare wheezing of winter, last week our little Baby L ended up in hospital with fast laboured breathing, low oxygen, a high temperature and the dreaded  'Post viral wheeze'. We are certainly not the first to find that our second child might be vulnerable to the same respiratory problems as our eldest, however we really do feel pretty gutted. On the positive side, if he does continue to wheeze, at least we know what we're doing. We don't have the same learning curve as the first time round and in a funny kind of way inhalers, A&E and everything related to viral induced asthma is fairly 'normal' to us as parents (albeit worrying), but still, for him as much as for us, gutted. For now we'll have to wait and see if his tendency to wheeze continues. The last two times that he's had a cold I've had him down the doctors as we thought we'd heard a wheeze at nightime, so I think it d...

I've just stumbled across Medicines for Children for parents/carers to find information about medications prescribed to their child. I was looking up Prednisolone and found this leaflet to be both accurate and clear. Medicines for Children's vision is 'that any parent, wherever they are, have information on their child’s medicines that they need and can trust'. The leaflets are written by healthcare professionals and checked by parents and carers.  A great idea and very worthwhile.

A somewhat rocky few weeks with stupid unseasonal weather have seen both our two go down with awful colds and we've spent a great deal of time stuck indoors. A was back on her prednisolone at the weekend due to worsening symptoms after her second cold in two weeks and Baby L has been down for weeks drowning in snot and struggling with a crackly, wheezy chest (which of course is always clear when a doctor gets to listen to it). To be honest I think that I am paranoid that he'll develop asthma and as such I think that the fear of missing symptoms in him and going through anything like what we've been through with A drives a mild hysteria in me which I know that I must fight. But then the tiredness of being up at night so much with him for three weeks solid doesn't really lend itself to rational thought! A's behaviour while taking the steroids this time round was quite something and a really tangible reminder of the wonder (asthma symptoms under control within 24...

The Starlings are back and I can't tell you how happy this small sign of spring makes me feel. Spring means less coughs and colds which means less chance of an asthma attack and that's got to be good. Also, more daylight and sunshine mean more vitamin D which I personally believe really helps. I know there is little solid evidence when it comes to Vitamin D and asthma [ Paul, Grace, et al. "Vitamin D and asthma." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 185.2 (2012): 124-132 ] however I've got to say that 'A' has taken a supplement which includes vitamins D and C since September. She had a number of nasty flare ups between October and early December and mercifully nothing since, which really does make me wonder if the vitamins helped once they had time to get into her system as it was a very different story last winter. During the summer months she had a number of colds, but nothing that  escalated to the point of needing Prednisol...

Well, it seems that we were wrong about the Atrovent. The consultant was really quite down on it for use in one so young and seemed to think that the potential short term side effects were not worth it. I think perhaps that the reason that we've been disillusioned with the consultant appointments in the past is that he's extremely blunt about the fact that there really isn't anything they can do for viral induced asthma, and that's really not what worried parents want to hear. We can throw preventative drugs at it, or not, and the likely outcome will be the same. He cited a couple of research papers both of which looked at giving prednisolone to children with acute respiratory distress, one paper focused on parents administering it at home and the other in hospital. Half of the children in each study were given a placebo. Imagine that!? You think that you're pumping evil steroids into your child because it's your last resort, you're worried to death and you ...

Happy New Year! I very much hope that Christmas and the New Year finds you well and asthma free. Tomorrow we are back at the respiratory outpatients clinic at the hospital. Not entirely sure what we're hoping for, but perhaps at least some clarity on the issue of when to give Prednisolone and some insight into whether A's daily preventer medication is likely to be doing anything at all given that she only has asthma attacks after colds and no symptoms whatsoever in between. In the past these appointments haven't been entirely helpful, we'll see. We've had a fairly good run since the last cluster of attacks. No colds for just over a month and as such life without asthma for a bit. I know I'm speaking too soon, it always happens that way, but you've got to enjoy the good bits however short they are. Just after Christmas A started on one puff twice a day of Atrovent   to see if it might be useful. I am concerned about throwing another drug randomly at the...