Children with asthma

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Anastacia

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I'm doing a story on children with asthma. Does anyone have a child with this illness or know another parent who does?
 

Tish Davidson

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Try to get an interview with Nancy Sander, President and Founder of Asthma and Allergy Network Mothers of Asthmatics. I've found her to be very accessible for phone interviews. She not only had an severely asthmatic child, she can tell you lots of stories about other kids and put you in touch with as many parents of kids with asthma as you need.
http://www.aanma.org/
 

aadams73

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I *was* the child with severe asthma. From the time I was 2 until I turned 14, I had as many as 6 hospital stays each year. I would go to sleep at home and wake up in intensive care--not fun for me or my parents.

If you have questions, please feel free to shoot me a message, I'd be happy to answer them.
 

pconsidine

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If you're looking for another first-person perspective, you can e-mail me, too. I started off nearly as bad as aadams, but managed to grow out of the worst of it before I was school age. Of course, I wound up in the hospital for a week at 18 because of a wood-burning stove, so maybe that's not quite true. ;)
 

WhoMeWrite?

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Don't know if you're still looking, but my oldest (11) child has asthma. It's a banner season around here if we can manage to keep him out of the hospital. Seriously, we throw a party and everything. :Clap:

Anyway, feel free to contact me if you like. Good luck with your story!
 

Sunrise2Fantasy

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children with asthma

I actually have asthma.
It is a hereditary disease, and my family has had it in the past, so unfortunatly for me, I ended up with it too. I only started getting the symptoms of it in 7th grade, so I was about 12 or 13. I was on the basketball team, and all of a sudden I collapsed and couldn't breathe. That was only a small attack.
Once we found out from the doctors that I had it, they prescribed me Singular to take everyday, and an inhaler called Maxair. Currently though my inhaler isn't working and I am looking into changing it to advair.
I only had excersize induced asthma they said, which basically means if I overexert myself with excersize, I can get an attack. Although asthma is a disease, most people are lucky enough to outgrow it. Most of my family has.
I also have smoke induced asthma, and can't be around people with cigarettes. Asthma can also be triggered by birth control pills, and certain pills prescribed by doctors. {Trust me you don't want to have that kind of experience.}
When I get an attack, I get dizzy and lightheaded in my head and chest {if that makes sense}, and my chest feels like its caving in on itself. I get weird breathing patterns, and then all of a sudden I can't get any air into my lungs. My airway basically gets blocked. I get the pins and needles feeling throughout my body sometimes if its bad, and my hands and legs and arms cramp up from the lack of oxygen. I sometimes get hot and cold flashes, and I get really shaky. One time I started coughing during an attack, and my boyfriend said that meant I was having a really bad attack. Asthma can kill people if it gets too serious. When I get an attack they tell me to take my inhaler 3 times at first, and hold in each spray for a few seconds.
Like any fatal attack to a person {seizers and the such} you are supposed to keep the person laying down, and with a blanket, but so their not too hot. My parents try cold washclothes on my forehead and wrists, but that doesnt exactly help me, it might help others though.
The person who is having the attack should try to slow down their breathing and take deep breaths, as much as they can. I dont know if this works for others, but sometimes it helps when my boyfriend tries talking to me and telling me to think about random things to take my mind off of the attack.

I think that's basically it, if I can think of anything else I will post more, and if you have any other questions for me just ask.
 

Anastacia

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Hi,

I've emailed several of the people who responded to my request. Can you please email me back? In case you misplaced it, my email address is [email protected].

Thanks!

:)
 

Anastacia

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Sunrise2Fantasy said:
did you email me? I dont see any emails from you in my delete or inbox folders, just making sure cuz my email sometimes screws up.

I may have forgotten.

Can you please email me your story with your name to the above mentioned email address?

Thanks. :)
 
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