Key Asthma Messages for Parents and Caretakers
- Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 12:27
- Asthma
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- Erin:
- I would like you to give us some key messages to convey to parents and others, some sort of golden nuggets for our listeners.
- Nancy:
- Well, the first sign that I would is that your instincts are better than you know. Always trust your instincts. That’s what God gave them to us for, and if you feel that something is not right with your child, whether you understand it or not, you take the child to your doctor. If you don’t get the answers you need from that doctor, you keep going until you find the answers because you’re right. Whatever it is that you know is wrong is wrong.
- Erin:
- Go for clinical trials I would imagine is on that list, if you can.
- Nancy:
- Well, participate in clinical trials whenever you qualify. Not only is the care usually free, but the medications are also free. And you have clinical investigators, people who act like little private eyes, who are focused on your child or your asthma symptoms, and it was a fantastic opportunity. Just make sure that these clinical trials are certified and that the certification information is provided to you, and check on that certification information before you participate. Talk to other doctors about it, too, to make sure that it is a good program.
- Erin:
- When your child goes to school, make sure your child has an asthma management plan, right?
- Nancy:
- Absolutely, and that you’ve gotten all the forms that you need to get from the school before the school year starts. Do not wait until after the school year starts. And a lot of parents also will say, “Oh, well, I’m just going to tell my child to hide his inhaler. I’m not going to tell the school about it because I don’t want them treating him any differently.” That actually sets your child up for a possible disaster at school, and children do die of asthma at school. Children do sit on the sidelines at school and get bad grades because no one has ever explained to anyone that they have asthma.
- Erin:
- And then a nugget that I liked a lot was when you talked about defining goals for your child with asthma or yourself, too, in terms of the recovery, right?
- Nancy:
- Start out with your asthma wish list. Before you go into the doctor’s office for an appointment, set up some goals. “These are things that I want to achieve. This is something I want to happen today. This is what I want to have happen for my life.” And tell the doctor about these things, and if your doctor seems like he or she is in a rush, ask when you can come back for an appointment that will address all of your needs, and they generally slow down. Joining our organization is very, very easy. Just make a donation of any amount. It doesn’t matter what size dollar, but your donation tells us that you’re as serious about controlling asthma and allergies and you want all the help that you can get. We’re an award-winning organization. Our materials are resourced by physicians around the country as well as by patients.
So when you contact us and join, you’ll get our newsletter or our magazine. You’ll get discounts on products that we try to arrange for you and all kinds of good help by just picking up the phone and calling us.
You can reach us at 800-878-4403 and you can also order our catalog through our Web site, aanma.org
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