If your child has a chronic condition like asthma, it’s not just enough to keep your child healthy. You owe it to yourself and the other members of your family to keep your family’s finances healthy as well.

Unfortunately, paying for the treatment your child’s chronic condition requires may be quite expensive, and can easily drain the family finances. Health insurance premiums, medications, doctor visits, co-pays/co-insurance… it all adds up quickly!

Don’t feel overwhelmed! Even though managing the healthcare maze can be tough, here are the 6 Crucial Steps to staying ahead of the game:

Read Your Health Insurance Plan. This sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s surprising how many Americans have no idea what is in their health insurance plan. Take an afternoon, sit down and read your health insurance plan from cover to cover. Even if your health insurance is decidedly skimpy, it’s better to know now than while you’re in an emergency room with your sick child.

Understand Your Formulary. If you understand what’s in your prescription drug formulary and how it works, you are way ahead of the game. The formulary is the list of medications covered by your health insurance plan and the co-pays for each one.

Bring Your Formulary to the Doctor. If your child’s condition requires regular medication, it’s a good idea to bring your formulary with you when you take your child to the doctor. That way, if the doctor needs to prescribe medications for your child, you can ask about cheaper medications and will know how much those medications will cost you. Speaking of…

Don’t Be Afraid of Generic Medications! Generic medications are lower-cost copies of more expensive brand name medications. If your child’s doctor is prescribing brand name drugs for your child’s treatment, ask if there are lower cost generic medications available.

Start a Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). If you have a high-deductible health insurance plan (and who doesn’t these days?), start a health savings account (HSA). HSAs allow you to put tax-free money away to help pay for your family’s healthcare expenses. Others like your employer or other family members can also contribute to your HSA.

Start an Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Too! If your employer offers FSAs, start one! With an FSA, money will be taken from your paycheck before taxes and put into an account for you to use for healthcare-related expenses throughout the calendar year. This allows you to pay for things like doctor copays, medications, test, hospitals stays, etc. with tax-free money.

Note: FSAs are a “use it or lose it” proposition. In other words, any money you don’t use by the end of the year is lost, so be careful with what you put away in an FSA!

All kids love playing outdoors with their friends, biking or playing sports, and Jack is no different. He loves being outside, playing with his friends. The only catch was how to help him be active without triggering his asthma symptoms.

We didn’t want to “baby” Jack just because he had asthma and keep him indoors while his buddies were out having fun. Finding physical activities that wouldn’t trigger the dreaded “exercise-induced asthma” and which he enjoyed turned out to be a challenge.

Jack wanted to keep up with his friends and be part of the gang, like any kid. But many of the activities his friends enjoyed- bike riding, football, playing tag- exacerbated his asthma. So we worked to find a sport that allowed him to play with his friends without triggering his asthma.

Fighting the Fear

At first, trying typical sports ended badly. Jack’s classmates love to run on the playground at recess, but too much running makes Jack wheeze which could send us into the yellow (caution) zone of his Asthma Action Plan.

What’s worse, running would start sending me into a panic. While I’ve been trying to help Jack get over his fear of running, as an asthmatic myself, I know when I run my breathing becomes choppy and I panic, breathing in short gulps of air that makes things worse. I’m trying to stop doing this and make sure Jack doesn’t make it a habit that he has to break as an adult like me.

After researching asthma for awhile and talking to Jack’s doctor, it’s become clear to me that Jack can participate in any sport that he enjoys as long as he paces himself. What’s more, I can too!

I’ve taken up jogging and I’ve encouraged Jack and his brother to join me. Having an adult by his side might boost his confidence and teach him how to run without panicking. Jack’s agreed to take up running with me. We’re looking forward to entering a kid’s marathon in August. I’ll keep you posted!

We Have a Winner!

After getting over my own overprotective Mom issues, I learned to let Jack experiment with different sports on his own. He played soccer for awhile and the fast pace knocked the wind out of him. He had to leave the field before the game ended, and that wasn’t good for his confidence. He tried tennis for awhile, but it didn’t work out, either – like soccer, it’s non-stop pace caused breathing problems.

We then considered sports with plenty of downtime, including golf and baseball. He tried golf and loved it! Finally, a winner!

Jack enjoys using strategy and concentration to sink putts. The leisurely pace gives him time to relax after long walks on the green, so there’s no worry about shortness of breath or wheezing. And Jack’s actually a very good golfer for his age! Who knows, we may have a future PGA champ in the making!

Every asthmatic child reacts differently to gym class and physical activity. We’ve been lucky – Jack’s found a sport he loves at a young age. I’m wondering, how do you go about monitoring your child’s playtime and physical activity?

Well, that’s it for now.

Once we’d outlined Jack’s asthma action plan, eliminating the asthma triggers which would push him into the yellow “caution” zone and the red “danger” zone from our house was the next step. I’m a pretty thorough housekeeper, but de-triggering our house involved a lot more than run-of-the mill sweeping and scrubbing. We had to completely rethink how we keep our house clean.

First on the to-do list- pulling up the carpet and replacing it with hardwood floors. Carpets trap dust, pet dander and other allergens, so warm and comfy as it was, we had to remove it. Now we have beautiful, bare hardwood floors. They’re a lot easier to clean than carpeting. The company that makes Swiffers must LOVE us! (Note to self- consider buying stock!)

I’ve also changed to green, environmentally-safe cleaners and detergents. Most store-bought cleaners contain chemicals that can trigger asthma. That’s why it’s often better to make your own cleaners. Check out Pinterest or frugal cleaning sites on the internet for homemade cleaner “recipes”.

We make our own window cleaner using hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and water. It keeps windows clean and shiny without annoying streaks. We also wash towels and sheets a lot more now, too, using hot water to kill allergens. Dust and pet dander can find their way onto bedding and towels, even if you can’t see it.

Boy’s Best Friend

Then came the hardest part… Sammi. When we found out Jack had asthma, we knew that giving away our beloved dog, Sammi, wasn’t an option. Our boys loved her, and we didn’t want to break their hearts by taking away one of their best friends. Instead, we concentrated finding a way to both keep Jack healthy and keep Sammi a part of our family.

It turned out to be manageable, but I can’t say that it wasn’t work. We vacuumed several times a week to keep hair and dander under control. We used a vacuum with a HEPA filter to catch any tiny dust particles or dander a regular vacuum might miss. We even used all the weird-looking attachments on the back of the vacuum to clean out nooks, crannies and corners that hid dust.

Every week or two, we’d brush the dog and wash her to keep her clean and get rid of excess hair that could cause problems. She was a pug, so it turned out to kind of a losing battle. We managed to get through it, though. She always got a treat afterward and I think she enjoyed the attention!

Keeping the dog out of Jack’s bedroom was important to keep dander under control. This was one of the hardest de-triggering tasks- Jack wanted to hang out with his pet in his room, not just in certain areas of the house. But we talked to him and he understood why we had to do it. We made sure to keep Jack’s bedroom door closed, and let the boys play with her outside and in other rooms.

This allowed Jack to keep his pet and keep his asthma in check. Keeping a house clean enough for a child with asthma is a chore, and I’m always on the lookout for tips that will make it easier. At least I get lots of exercise from all the extra housework!

Until next time,

After the initial diagnosis, it became apparent that we had to figure out a way to control Jack’s asthma – at school, at home, at play – in other words, 24/7. What a tall order! It’s hard enough to raise an energetic child, let alone one with a chronic condition that has to be monitored constantly. But as we learned, with a little bit of dedication, it’s certainly do-able.

Doctor visits could only do so much, and what’s more, we (my husband and I) could only be with him so many hours in a day. We had to teach Jack how to recognize and control his own asthma triggers. After talking with doctors and learning to keep track of when Jack’s asthma flared up, we started being able to stop some asthma flare-ups and minimize the intensity of others.

As part of this, with the help of Jack’s doctor, we developed an Asthma Action plan to control his symptoms. The plan is divided into three zones – green (safety), yellow (caution) and red (danger).

When Jack’s peak flow meter readings are in the safety zone, he takes a small dosage of his medication. If Jack experiences wheezing, shortness of breath or has a hard time doing normal activities he’s in the cautionary yellow zone, and we use rescue medications indicated on the Asthma Action Plan along with his usual medication.

The good news is that over time, we’ve been able to identify Jack’s asthma triggers – exercise and climate – to avoid entering the red or danger zone. That’s an all-out asthma attack (severe breathing problems, difficulty walking and talking) that could send him to the emergency room.

Jack knows when he’s going from green (normal, breathing well, no coughing or wheezing) on the scale to yellow (wheezing, coughing chest tightness), he stops running or playing ball – this usually nips the attack in the bud or gives him time to rest or use his inhaler. We keep track of the readings on Jack’s peak flow meter when he has symptoms and discuss them with his doctor. We sometimes make adjustments in his asthma medication or action plan based on these readings.

Dry and cold air are the worst weather triggers for him, so we monitor Jack’s time outdoors in the winter. We’ve developed a safe exercise routine that includes his favorite sport, golf and other activities that won’t cause flare-ups. Jack stays active and doesn’t miss out on fun time with friends and we minimize on the chance of an unplanned trip to the doctor.

The American Lung Association has an Asthma Action Plan that’s easy to follow. They even have cards you can print off their website. We give copies of Jack’s Asthma Action plan to babysitters and his teachers. Knowing what to look for and how to control it gives Jack confidence and makes us feel better. We keep a card with Jack’s AAP in the kitchen, bathroom, and other places around the house.

Asthma Action Plans are pretty straightforward, so it’s not hard to figure out what to do in case of a flare-up. Getting into the swing of things and teaching your child to follow an AAP consistently and correctly can be a challenge. What are some of your experiences using- and maintaining- an Asthma Action Plan?

Until next time,

Asthma became a part of our lives early, and has never left.

Jack is our oldest son, and my husband and I were overjoyed when he arrived. Unfortunately, our joy was tempered with worry almost right away. Jack first experienced breathing problems as an infant.

And not just little breathing problems. Before the six month mark, Jack was already having asthma flare-ups that were so severe we had to take him to the ER.

Every time we went the doctors would tell us Jack had some unpronounceable condition, like broncolitios. It was frustrating not understanding what was going on, but we did the best we could.

Eventually, we received a proper diagnosis- Jack had asthma primarily due to allergies and our city’s dry climate. Doctors prescribed three medications- Prelone, (a glucocorticoid), Albuterol and Flovent.

That’s a lot of meds for an older child, much less a six month old. When I first picked up all the drugs from the pharmacy, I was a bit taken aback by all the drugs Jack needed. Not only did I have to worry about asthma, I now had to worry about medication side effects and keeping track of three different dosages.

A Crash Course in Asthma

I had to learn about childhood asthma and fast. Although I have asthma, I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult. I only use Albuterol during allergy season and before exercise. I didn’t have other children with asthma or friends with asthmatic children, so my husband I had to do a lot of research.

We learned all about allergy triggers, asthma attack warning signs and how to administer the inhaler using a chamber. This education came in handy because we could only take Jack to our pediatric pulmonologist every 6-8 weeks.

Becoming an Asthma Superhero!

We had to become asthma-savvy because we usually couldn’t get all of our questions answered at our doctor’s office. At appointments with the pulmonologist, I would watch him as he conducted the exam and listen to him talk about Jack’s progress, but felt uncomfortable asking him questions about medication or triggers.

Maybe I felt embarrassed about asking stupid questions at the doctor’s office, figuring that I should already know about certain things. Of course, once we got home I would come up with a ton of questions! I soon realized that there were no stupid questions where Jack’s health is concerned, and became more vocal during my son’s doctor’s visits.

So that’s how we began to deal with Jack’s asthma. As time went on, I learned more about treating asthma from first-hand experience. No matter what a doctor says, nothing can really prepare you to deal flawlessly with your child’s asthma attacks.

You learn as you go along, reading your child’s reactions to food, exercise and other triggers. After all a doctor only saw Jack for a few minutes in the office. I was with him 24/7. It’s always a shock to discover your child has a chronic health condition, even if it’s a common, easily treatable one. How did you find out your child had asthma?

See you next time,