Today, the girls finished getting ready for school early, so the three of us hung out on the front porch together until it was time for them to head to the bus stop. While the Sidekick took pictures of the foothills with my phone and AG sang a little Lady GaGa, as she has been doing, obsessively, for the past 3 or 4 weeks now, I drank my hot coffee in the cool morning air.
I can feel fall coming, and although the high today will hit 80 degrees or so, the weather in Colorado has finally turned away from the heat of high summer. Soon the aspens will turn gold, the air will smell of pine and blue spruce, and the snow will start falling around Halloween.
Who doesn’t love fall? It’s the best season, even if it brings challenges like allergies, transitional weather, and the flu. While I’ve got plenty of seasonal posts coming your way soon, today I want to know,
What’s your best tip for good autumn health?
I’ve been in touch with a few first-time readers who are also new to your favorite lung disease and mine, so let’s help ‘em out. Share your fall advice in the comments below.
Holla obsessive back-to-school hand-washing!
See also: stashing rescue inhalers in various school backpacks/messenger bags, lockers and pockets.
My Fall tip: There is nothing shameful about stacking an entire box of kleenex in your backpack so that you know you won’t run out if/when your allergies act up (I’ve done it). Ragweed season tends to hit me hard in mid-September, and even if it’s not ragweed, there’s fall colds and flu season. If you use your own, you don’t get germs from other people’s sneezes on your kleenex, plus you don’t have to worry about sneezing all over yourself and then being embarrassed as you slink away to the bathroom to clean up (done that too – bad allergies suck, and not just because they make you feel like crap)…
Also, definitely agree about keeping hand sanitizer on hand at all times. Would like to add: bring a bottle of hand moisturizer as well, if you’re like me and get dry skin super easily.
You guys are funny.
My tip for asthma kids (and all kids, really): with back-to-school, Halloween and everything else, make sure your children get to sleep at a decent hour when you don’t have anything going on, to make up for the times when they won’t get enough sleep & keep their immune systems functioning.
I’ve been known to send even my 11 yo to bed with a book at 7:30 on nights after volleyball practice. B/c volleyball nights, she doesn’t even get home until 10:15 pm. And that’s a school night.
We’re big on bedtime here too, and routine. Its a lot easier to keep her on her meds, and to notice changes in her if she’s on her normal routine/schedule.
Flu Shots and handwashing can really help out. I was the only one not to get H1N1 on my floor in the ResHall last year(and I shared a communal bathroom with the whole wing)… A little preventive isolation can go a long way. Bed times are also very important even into college
. As is staying hydrated to make up for all the mucus that is coming out of you.
Here in Vermont, Sept & Oct are everyone’s favorite months. BUT, they are also the worst time for my asthma boy. Back to school germs combined with the molds we get this time of year always get him. My big tip is to hit any hint of a flare hard. Take no prisoners. We go back to Advair twice a day in August, give ventolin at bedtime or before school at the first hint of a cough. And this time of the year, we give in to prednisone early. We’ve learned to bite that bullet in order to avoid the ER. We’ve used the net pot a lot this summer — seemed to be an extra long grass pollen season here. But we usually use it in the fall at the first sign of a cold. And I make sure the albuterol for his nebulizer hasn’t expired!
Lots of Autumn Tips but they’re all pretty usual! With the onset of September…
Get the school meds sorted
Purchase new wet wipes/hand gels
Make sure coats etc are drycleaned and ready to wear, and never be embarrassed about being the first person back in scarves, gloves, and in a typically English way, tights (hose)!
Make sure you’re prepared-stock up on seasonal sniffle stuffs-((however I tend not to get colds etc, my Flu shot is always in October, and I get called automatically for it-))
But my hardest thing in Autumn here is leaf mould. It starts to get me as soon as those leaves start falling. Nothing I can do-just grin and bear it until the leaves and the mould is all gone.
Do you know, I think more about preparing for the Fall in the garden than in my lungs-I’ve already bought the lawn dressing, rose feed and various organic winter type fertilisers! And I still have a massive bunch of vegetables out there waiting to ripen-long may Summer continue here!
Samantha & Kat–I’ll tell AG she’s not the only one. She views the random early bedtime as a punishment, no matter how much I talk up the benefits!
Allison–Take no prisoners! That should be the motto for like, everyone with asthma.
Susannah–I’m the first one in winter gear here, but then–I am from Florida, more or less. Your garden sounds fabulous.
Susannah, you mentioned stocking up on hand wipes/hand sanitizer. This can be a great idea… as long as they don’t trigger you. I learned this the hard way last week when a friend cleaned something in the car with hand sanitizer.
Amy, the early bed time is one of my favorite things to do.
I actually appreciate when people send me to be early, probably because I know they care for me and know that I especially need sleep at that time.
Ooh, that’s a good way to sell it to AG: “I’m sending you to bed BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, DAMMIT.” (Maybe I’ll leave out that last word.)
Oh, and if you sucuumb to flu/cold/etc. Remember to clean your spacer/inhaler mouth piece/peak flow meter. You can ask my friend who got strep from his inhaler twice before he took my advice and took some rubbing alcohol to it. Also tossing the tooth brush after getting sick helps with re-infection.
Awesome tip, Kat. Thank you! I do the toothbrush thing, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned cleaning spacers & PFMs before. It’s so important.