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Real Life Stories

I had worked in asthma research for over 5 years when my husband and I were told that our 3-year-old daughter had asthma. This began her long struggle with sleepless nights awakened with coughing, play interrupted with coughing until she vomited, continuos wheezing, and many tears over "being sick."

Initially, we sought the help of our pediatrician, as I did not want to burden my boss, who is an allergist and has conducted research in this area for over 10 years. Finally after 6 weeks of feeling out of control, I discussed with my boss that the asthma medications were not working. He suggested a peakflow meter and some new medications. He showed us how much and which medication to give her based on how well she could breathe in the peakflow meter. This gave my family a feeling of control, eliminated many phone calls to the doctor, decreased her medication needs, and soon she was feeling well and sleeping through the night!

Over the course of many years with now 2 asthmatic children, we have learned of many things to improve our health and quality of life.

Real Life Story #2

Over the years of taking care of asthmatics, I have come into contact with many patients who try not to use their reliever (bronchodilator, albuterol) inhaler. I had been trying without avail to understand why these patients would not use an inhaler when it clearly made them feel so much better. Finally, one day I overheard a group of asthmatic patients talking to each other in the waiting area. "I heard these inhalers are addictive" one man said. "Is that right, I had never heard that before?" said a lady sitting next to him. "Yes, and I think it is true, when I start using mine it feels like I need it more." This is where I jumped in. "These types of inhalers are not addictive," I told them. "When you do not use your reliever medication you become accustomed to not being able to breathe. You then start to change your life around your symptoms, like not taking the stairs, or staying inside on a cold day, or stopping exercise. When you do use your inhaler you start to realize how it feels to breathe and then start to notice when you become tight and use your inhaler, whereas before you would suffer through your symptoms." This response seemed to make sense for them and I felt I had finally hit gold. Who says eavesdropping doesn't pay.

Real Life Story #3

My daughter was having a very hard time coordinating the use of her new reliever inhaler and said she did not like the taste of it. Dr. Murray suggested we try Ventolin Rotocaps. This was easy because she could get the medicine ready to take, "crack the pill" herself, and inhale when she was ready. The best part was that she said it tasted good! A wonderful breakthrough if you have ever tried to give a 3-year-old medicine they don't like.

Real Life Story #4

Recently, I had a patient come to our office for an asthma research study that Dr. Murray was conducting. The patient was a moderate asthmatic who was having difficulty with his asthma medicine making him feel anxious. He was also trying to begin an exercise program but his asthma kept interfering with his workout. We discussed that his medications could be adjusted to eliminate some of his anxiety and that we could help him with a plan to control his asthma so that an exercise program would be possible. He had a regular physician he had been seeing for the past year. I told him to discuss this with his physician and see if he would be willing to refer him to our clinic. He said he would talk with his physician and let us know when he could see us. A few days later the patient called, he explained that his physician would not refer him and had prescribed anxiety medicine for him to try. I asked if he knew why his physician would not refer him. He said that his physician felt that he could manage his disease. His health plan was through an HMO. Referrals to specialists can be difficult to obtain under some insurance plans. Some weeks later the patient called and said he was still having problems and wanted to change physicians so that he could be referred to our clinic. I gave him a list of physicians who referred patients to us on occasion and he switched physicians. The patient was referred to our clinic and we met again. Dr. Murray changed his medication and gave him a new asthma plan. I am happy to report that he is a non-anxious, exercising asthmatic and one of four best advertisements as well. A primary care physician in many cases can manage the care of an asthmatic quite well. It is however; absolutely impossible for a primary care physician to keep up with all the advances for every chronic disease. I feel that having a primary care physician who knows their limitations and refers appropriately is an absolute must. When selecting a physician ask friends, family, and other physicians and make sure you find a physician that is board certified. My rule for a referring physician is: If it were your mother, son, wife, etc. would you take them to a specialist?

When my daughter was diagnosed with allergies and asthma, my husband and I were determined to decrease her exposure to any offending allergen. Initially, we considered a rigorous process of tearing down all curtains, throwing out all stuffed animals and giving away the dog. Just as we were ready to begin tearing out the carpets, we realized we must look like raving lunatics and that we were stressing our bank accounts and ourselves. We then began a slow process of planned changes that would be most effective for her and that also met our financial needs. This was not a moment too soon. It is important to remember that when we make changes to create a healthy environment, that we proceed in a healthy way.

Last summer a stray dog adopted my family. The children loved him and he was a very sweet dog. We had a family meeting and laid out the rules for keeping a dog in a family where asthma and allergies were present:

He must stay outside
Hands must be washed after touching him
The dog would not be able to sleep with anyone

Over the past year, the dog began spending more and more time in the house. Soon, our child started experiencing asthma symptoms. The inventor in the family (my husband) came up with an idea to purchase a large plastic box with a lid that would be kept in the kitchen. When the dog wanted to come inside the lid would be taken off and he would stay in in the box. I thought, "...sure the dog will stay in the box." We all agreed to try it. It worked; the dog loves the box! When we let him inside he goes right into his box, we wash the box out weekly and everyone's happy -- especially the dog! Now the dog's dander and hair is not spread around the house.

We had just brought my daughter's asthma under control. She was no longer waking up at night, her coughing had subsided and her wheezing was gone. Suddenly these symptoms reappeared. We could not figure out what was different. One night while lying awake trying to figure out what to change, it hit me. She had started sleeping with a doll, which I had as a child. I removed the doll from her bed. I thought surely that this would not be the answer. IT WAS! The symptoms stopped the next night! The doctor told me that stuffed animals cause problems because they are a perfect home for dust mites. I thought he was probably exaggerating (mother denial). I learned the hard way that he knew what he was talking about. The kids are now allowed to have two stuffed animals in bed with them. They must be washable, and we wash them with the bed linens at 135 degrees F at least every two weeks.

Source: Diseasenet, Inc.