Asthma Won’t Get Him Down: Proactive Solutions on the Go

Learning to live with chronic health issues like severe food allergies and asthma is like adapting to a new cultural environment; Becoming accustomed to new habits and even new languages. Neither my husband nor I have dealt with asthma or severe food allergies, so when our oldest son, Jack, was diagnosed with both as a toddler we all had a crash course in prevention and adaptation.

For Jack, the last ten or so years have been spent learning to understand his body and the different signals he receives about his physical health. The change in seasons always brings a new level of environmental triggers that inevitably set off his asthma, and we work closely and regularly with his allergist to build a treatment plan. Jack is twelve years old and newly in middle school, which has brought new independence and a busier schedule filled with sports and other outdoor activities. We are thankful for devices that help Jack self-monitor and self-treat, like the Philips Personal Best peak flow meter and the InnoSpire Go portable nebulizer.

The Philips PersonalBest is a lightweight, portable peak flow monitor that is an important part of Jack’s self-management and understanding his lung capacity + need for medication. The colour-coded indicators can be set by a healthcare professional to represent the following percentages of your personal best peak flow meter: Green zone (100-80%), Yellow zone (80%-50%), Red zone (50% of less).

Jack regularly brings his Philips InnoSpire Go, a portable mesh nebulizer that quickly and easily provides Jack with a decent dose of albuterol (his rescue medication) before his football, baseball and basketball games and before P.E. during school hours. The InnoSpire Go reduces treatment time by 25%* so medication can be delivered in as little as 4 minutes**. For me as a parent who isn’t always around him anymore, knowing that he’s receiving enough medication to treat his symptoms is such a relief to both of us.

I’ve recently begun to appreciate all that Jack has had to adapt to with his various health traits. In many ways, he has learned quicker than most kids his age about self-awareness and autonomy, and how to be his own best advocate. These are things I couldn’t teach him, and I am incredibly grateful for devices like the Philips InnoSpire Go and the Philips PersonalBest that make his job and mine so much easier.

*versus predecessor Aeroneb Go

**Using 2.5ml Salbutamol