Today's Fresh Blogs...

• The Friday List: Four Surprising Asthma Statistics

  Published: April 4, 2008, 10:03 am

  Tags: Asthma Causes Risk Factors, Asthma Facts, Asthma Girl, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, The Friday List, Asthma Death Rates, Asthma Hospitalizations, Asthma Numbers, Asthma Prevalence U S, Asthma Puerto Ricans, Asthma Rates States

  and Texas have the most asthma sufferers. 2. Puerto Ricans have the highest lifetime asthma rates of all ethnic groups. - 80% higher than non-Hispanic whites, in fact - Combine that number with Mr. Asthma Mom’s family history of allergies and my daughter’s premature birth. Even if you tried to conceive a child with spazzy lungs,

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• My Thoughts on Singulair and Suicide

  Published: April 2, 2008, 1:12 pm

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Asthma Meds, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Asthma Parents, Bio, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Fda Issues, Healthcare Issues, Fda Singulair, Medicine Anecdotal Evidence, Merck Side Effects, Merck Singulair, Singulair Anecdotes, Singulair Controversy

  American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: Leadership from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology released the following statement in response to the Thursday announcement of a Food and Drug

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• An Asthma Mom in the French Quarter

  Published: April 1, 2008, 1:22 pm

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Bio, Holidays, Off Topic, Andrew Jackson Statue, Asthma Mom Vacation, Beignets, Brad Pitt New Orleans, Cafe Au Lait, Cafe Du Monde, French Quarter, Hurricane Katrina, Jackson Square, Make It Right, Mississippi River, New Orleans, New Orleans Photos, Ninth War

  When I’m Granny Asthma Mom I think I’ll have to bring my grandkids, too, just to close the circle. The continuity means something to me. I don’t have much of that in my life as a military kid with two such culturally different parents (West Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico), married to another military kid with his own set of

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• An Asthma Mom at the Audubon Zoo

  Published: March 31, 2008, 5:38 pm

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Bio, Holidays, Off Topic, Audubon Zoo Landscape, Audubon Zoo Statues, Hygeia Statue Audubon, John Charles Olmstead, New Orleans, New Orleans Photos The Zoo Question, Olmstead Audubon Zoo, Traveling, Vacation

  I can’t lie: Mr. Asthma Mom took this one, not me. Remember those live oaks? They can get really big over time, a necessity since the entire Gulf Coast falls victim to hurricanes pretty much every summer. This is no redwood, but still. But mere toddler of a tree compared to this one, which is 200 years-old. Tomorrow, the other side

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• Earth Day, Climate Change, and Health

  Published: April 21, 2008, 10:38 am

  Tags: Air Quality, Airborne Irritants, Asthma Girl, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Environment, Global Warming, Health Risks Pollution

  ozone, which worsens asthma, COPD, and lung function. It’s not all bad news, though. Just like with the increased asthma prevalence of the past several decades, the critical climate change issue means money is pouring in and some of the best thinkers and most innovative businesses today are focusing on solutions, even if my

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• Have Asthma? Give Up the Dust Mite Fight

  Published: April 17, 2008, 10:48 am

  Tags: Allergens, Asthma Girl, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Asthma Parents, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Allergen Mattress Covers, Allergen Pillow Covers, Cochrane Collaboration, Dust Mite Trigger, Hepa Vacuum, Hypoallergenic Bedding, Nordic Cochra

  and B) I’m not the asthma expert, just the blogger who happens to be an expert on parenting a 9 year-old kid with asthma. I’m dying to see what groups like the AAFA and the ALA have to say, though, and I’m betting they’ll address the topic soon. As for my own feelings? They’re mixed. I’d hate to give up a

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• The Friday List: Why I Love and Hate Telecommuting

  Published: April 11, 2008, 12:03 pm

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Bio, Off Topic, The Friday List

  it Sucks 1. I suspect the girls don’t actually believe I work. 2. Freelancing is a Feast or Famine situation, awesome when it’s all feast, tough when you’re stuck in the drought. 3. Mornings like today, when I have a project due at 1:00 PM and my daughters have both managed to forget something they needed at school today.

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• The Problem with Asthma, and Looking Sick

  Published: April 29, 2008, 12:15 pm

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Asthma Parents, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Healthcare Issues, Asthma Misconceptions, Bay City Walker, Chronic Health Problems, Cnn Empowered Patient, Doctor Assumptions Internet Health Research, Doctor Patient Relationships, Invisible Disease

  of a chronic issue like asthma? The other day, Steve wrote something that made me think and helped me clarify why I think the doctor-patient relationship falters sometimes when it comes to persistent asthma. I hate to use the word inspirational, which stopped meaning much when people started overusing it, so let’s just say Steve

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• Friday Links: Singulair Effectiveness, Suicide and Asthma, Medical Texting

  Published: May 16, 2008, 9:46 am

  Tags: Asthma Girl, Asthma Meds, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Asthma Parents, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Environment, Friday Links, Healthcare Issues, Self Pimpage, Cincinnati Research, Eco Cities, Eco Friendly Rebuilding, Make It Right, National Jewish Research

  Helps Girls, Kids Exposed to Secondhand Smoke More Okay, I know Singulair is a touchy subject right now. My own kid doesn’t take it because of several side effects, but this is good news for asthma patients who can tolerate it. National Jewish researchers have noted how well girls and children exposed to nicotine smoke respond to

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• Summer Brings Swimming, Chlorine May Bring Asthma

  Published: May 12, 2008, 1:10 pm

  Tags: Airborne Irritants, Asthma Girl, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Practical Tips, Asthma Beach, Asthma Exercise, Chlorinated Pools Asthma, Chlorine Gas Asthma, Indoor Pools, Outdoor Pools, Swimming Asthma

  pools mean to AG’s asthma. Swimming requires taking deep breaths and holding them at regular intervals, increasing lung capacity and training lungs into good breathing patterns for regular people. So it makes sense that swimming may actually help asthma. No, you can’t run, bike, walk, or swim your way out of this disease that

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• Friday Links: Mother’s Day - Sierra Club Style, Inhaler Abuse

  Published: May 9, 2008, 9:30 am

  Tags: Air Quality, Airborne Irritants, Asthma Girl, Asthma Meds, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Environment, Friday Links, Edf, Environmental Defense Fund, Ozone And Asthma, World Asthma Day

  Says Stop Idling for World Asthma Day That’s “idle” as in your car, not your personal habits. Ozone’s bad for asthma so no news there, but in the face of everything we can’t change on our own as average citizens, this is a good, easy-to-implement contribution towards better air quality. Sierra Club Taking on Toxic

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• A Story of Two Pregnancies, Stress, and Childhood Asthma

  Published: May 20, 2008, 12:09 pm

  Tags: Asthma Causes Risk Factors, Asthma Girl, Asthma News Amp Amp Research, Asthma Parents, Bio, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Healthcare Issues, Maternal Stress, Pregnancy Stress, Stress And Asthma, Universal Health Care

  AG is a two year-old asthmatic, and we all have health insurance. We have actually managed to buy our first home, and Mr. Asthma Mom’s work is steady enough that I’ve just left my full-time job to stay home with AG for a few years. We still don’t have much money and never, for example, get to go on vacation, but we do

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• Debunking the Childhood Asthma Myths

  Published: May 22, 2008, 10:38 am

  Tags: Asthma Causes Risk Factors, Asthma Facts, Asthma Girl, Asthma Meds, Asthma Parents, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Asthma Assumptions, Asthma Cure, Asthma Exercise Myths, Asthma Symptom Myths, Coughing Symptom, False Asthma Facts, Outgrow Asthma, Steroid Myths

  people, though, child-onset asthma is much worse during the younger years than any other time. Some temporary conditions, like respiratory syntactical virus (RSV), carry long-term effects that mimic asthma for a few years before disappearing forever. True asthma never disappears. MYTH: Yoga/The Buteyko Method/Swimming/Herbs/Etc. will cure

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• The Rocky Mountain High, or Altitude and Asthma

  Published: May 29, 2008, 10:33 am

  Tags: Air Quality, Asthma Girl, Asthma Parents, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Asthma Travel, Denver, Elevation Asthma, Rocky Mountain Park, Rocky Mountains

  of the U.S. Actually, the girls and I will be visiting Denver in particular, and while I’ve traveled or lived all over eastern North America, from Canada all the way down to coastal Mexico and even down into the Caribbean, I’ve never gone farther west than Texas. I have to admit I’m a teeny bit nervous. Because of the asthma,

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• The Summer, The Smog, The Breathing Problems

  Published: June 10, 2008, 9:39 am

  Tags: Air Quality, Airborne Irritants, Asthma Girl, Asthma Triggers, Children S Asthma, Children S Health, Environment, Practical Tips, Airnow Ozone Alerts, Asthma And Smog, Health Effects Smog, Ozone Asthma Flares, Smog Alerts, Weather Channel Pollution

  Summer Weather Can Aggravate Asthma, Doctors Say, not because I find heat-triggered asthma particularly amusing but because summer means nothing but relief around these parts. We’ve headed into a Flovent-free three months during this, AG’s easiest season, and she doesn’t usually need her bronchodilator much during this time of

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