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Flu and Illness Archive
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Asthma Mom’s Rules for Enduring Flu Season
Possible alternate title for this post: My Influenza Prevention Tips, Plus Coping Tricks When Prevention Falls to the Petri Dish of Elementary School Here’s what I focus on in the Asthma Mom household: Getting Flu Shots http://www.flu.gov/widgets/vaccinelocator.html Washing Hands Always, always, always. And then again one more time. Eating and Sleeping Well Connections between nutrition [...] -
Tuesdays are Your Turn – How to Enjoy Fall
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 [...] -
Health Tips for the School Year
The First Day of School. My asthma kid’s starting sixth grade, her last year of elementary school, and her sister is a third grader this year. With school back in session and since Colorado sits poised on the verge of fall, this time of year my focus shifts conversations with the new teacher about my [...] -
Friday Links – Asthma and Pneumonia, Health Literacy, Images of Summer
Asthma Kids with the Flu More Likely to Develop Pneumonia Well, okay. You probably already know about the dangerous link between kids’ asthma and flu-related pneumonia, but apparently until this research, asthma was only a confirmed risk factor in adults, not children. In fact, asthma may up the chance of pneumonia as much as 40%. [...] -
Friday Links – Iceland Volcano Ash, COPD Risk, School Traffic
(Photo: NASA Goddard Photo and Video) Iceland Volcano Still Spewing Ash Into the Air Beware the Eyjafjallajokull. Especially if you live in northern Europe in the path of the ash cloud heading east (satellite photo above) and have respiratory problems. -
Asthma Mom’s Rules for Surviving and Containing a Stomach Bug
When my kids were little, I assumed if one of us started throwing up, it was inevitable that the rest of us would end up camping out in the bathroom ourselves within a couple of days. Until I decided to get smarter about stomach bugs and actively work to prevent their circulating through this family. [...] -
Tuesdays are Your Turn – Overprotection vs. Avoiding Contagion
The long, anxiety-ridden chain of events leading up to my daughter’s current-but-dwindling GI bug: 1. A boy my kid hangs out with at school had a birthday party scheduled for the day before Easter, right in the middle of Spring Break. 2. That’s why most of the kids he invited, mine included, couldn’t go. 3. [...] -
Tuesdays are Your Turn – Flare Entertainment
Today’s question comes from email: Any moms or dads with preschoolers have ideas to occupy my little one when she’s having a bad flare and I need to keep her from running around too much? (Besides movies and picture books?) Some Suggestions Craft supplies – crayons, stickers, glitter glue, etc. Puzzles White board with markers [...] -
Friday Links – Fish Oil, Peanut Allergy, Flu Vaccines
Asthma and Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Fish Discover reports on research of fish oil benefits that go beyond the cardiovascular system, including positive effects on inflammatory disease, diabetes and even intelligence. Basically, our bodies turn one of the oils into a compound that, prevents neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) from sticking to the [...] -
Tuesdays are Your Turn – How’s Your Winter?
The last few days it’s been me and the tissue box with a big bag of honey-lemon cough drops by my side. Dear God, I’ve spent more days blowing my nose and wrapped in a blanket on the couch this winter than I have in a long, long time. The girls, too, and especially the [...]
