Living With Asthma

The spring after we moved to New York City proved to be the first in several major parental learning curves. Jack started coughing one day and eventually it got so bad (up all night, vomiting, etc.) that we needed a nebulizer at home for daily treatments. At the time, the doctor called his “illness” Reactive Airway Disease.

We took him for allergy testing and it came up positive for, basically, pollen- which is something that is incredibly rampant during Spring in New York City.

He ended up in the hospital more than once, and eventually we started looking to other options for helping him cope through the high pollen days.

We were told to take the following precautions every single day during spring, not counting the medication and albuteral treatments he needed daily.

1. Shower every night, or every day when he gets home to get the pollen off.
2. Remove any bedding that isn’t hypo-allergenic.
3. Remove stuffed animals from sleeping area.
4. Restrict dairy intake.
5. No smoking in the house (obviously not an issue, although we had a problem with our neighbor).
6. Wash everything, including the walls, frequently.
7. Don’t allow pets if they are known allergens.
8. Turn the air conditioning during the day, don’t open the windows.
9. Invest in an air purifier.

We’ve learned a lot in the three years since we embarked on this awful journey. It took until last year for them to finally call his Reactive Airway Disease actually Asthma, and what to look out for in an initial attack. I still don’t know the triggers sometimes, especially during the months when the pollen count is low. I sense that it can be his food allergies, or other health issues like colds and viruses, as well as stress. I’m learning more and more every day how to manage Jack’s asthma, and how to curb and treat it ultimately.

I’ve joined up with Sharp Air Purifier‘s campaign, Room to Breathe, to help promote the product and their new social media channels-and of course because it is so relevant in my life and managing Jack’s asthma. I’m always looking for solutions to ease Jack’s suffering and ways to combat it before anything even starts.

I’ll be posting twice about this campaign and our life, including a giveaway of one of Sharp’s Air Purifier. Feel free to join the #RoomToBreathe #gno Twitter party Mom It Forward is hosting and Sharp PCI is sponsoring on May 14, 2013 from 9:00 – 10:00pm EST.

This post was sponsored by Sharp Air Purifiers and Mom It Forward. All opinions are my own.