It used to be that our whole family would dread the winter months. I want to share Our Story: Preparing for Flu & Cold Season with Asthma in hopes that you can feel prepared & have fewer flare-ups. Over the years, we all learned how to take preventive measures, know specific triggers and how to relieve symptoms when they do appear.
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Families that have auto-immune issues are always trying to teach their kids healthy eating habits. It’s essential to keeping inflammation and symptoms at bay. I shared how we did just that in Cultivating Health Conscious Kids.
This is our personal story……. two girls with severe asthma from age 8 months and on. One girl was on a steroid inhaler and bronchodilators from age 2 to 14.. She needed additional oral steroids several times a year to open her airways. The other girl had a milder reaction with a low dose steroid inhaler and bronchodilators during a flare-up.
Our Personal Experience
I’m writing from our families personal experience. Please remember I’m not your doctor and don’t want to “prescribe” anything for you or your family member. Friends often ask me what I do for prevention and what prescription drugs I keep on had in an emergency.
My desire has always been to be prepared should my child get sick this season or begin to experience an asthma flare-up. It’s been a growing and learning experience over the last eighteen years.
Preparations – Long Term
Take care of your body – year round. Feed it nutrient dense food, avoid refined sugar and flours, and put away bad habits.
- Eat fresh vegetables and fruit every single day.
- Drink plenty of purified water.
- Exercise 4-5x a week.
- Make time for stress management.
Stock your Medicine Cabinet. Include conventional and natural medicine.
- Rescue Inhalers
- Bronchodilator medicine for nebulizers
- Hoses & applicators for nebulizers
- Steroid Inhalers
- Predinisone – if your doctor allows
- Herbal teas (keep reading for the best herbal teas to relieve symptoms.)
- Raw honey
- Elderberry syrup or chews. Garden of Life Organics Elderberry Plant Based Immune Gummy – 120 Real Fruit Gummies for Kids & Adults – Echinacea, Zinc & Vitamin C, No Added Sugar Herbal Supplements
- Chest rubs & essential oils (Raven Blend is the best for asthmatics.)
- Nose sprays (both preventative and prescription sprays) All-Natural Saline and Xylitol Moisturizing Sinus Care – Immediate and Drug Free Relief From Congestion, Allergies, and Dry Sinuses
- Peppermint oil
- Oil diffuser: Essential Oil Diffuser, Aromatherapy Diffuser Cool Mist Humidifier with 7 Colors Lights 2 Mist Mode Waterless Auto off.
- Colloidal Silver (Spray & liquid)
- Supplements – keep reading for the list
I recommend printing off this list. If you’re like me you might forget an time or two. We all want to be confident & prepared!
Importance of Health Record Keeping
*** It’s important to remember to record the date and time of your flare-up. Include what you did to relieve your symptoms and how your body responded.
Write down how long the flare up lasted and the events surrounding it.
Record keeping helps with knowing how to prevent and treat future flare-ups. You’ll know what worked well to relieve your symptoms and open your airways. It also can track triggers and times of year you have the most trouble.
We Use Three Approaches for Asthma
How to Prepare for Cold and Flu Season Our Story: three approaches worked for us when dealing with asthma during cold and flu season.
- Prevention.
- Lowering Overall Inflammatory Response.
- Prepared – in case of a flare-up.
Prevention
Gut Health. Be kind to your gut. Taking a daily probiotic does wonders for a healthy digestion and your overall health. My daughters took a powdered probiotic when they were younger. Today as teens they prefer to drink 4-8oz. of fermented tea (homemade Kombucha).
- Garden of Life Whole Food Probiotic for Kids – Primal Defense HSO Probiotic Formula Kids Dietary Supplement, 2.9oz
- Preparing Homemade Kombucha at Home
- Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes
Supplements. Quercitin, Turmeric, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D3 are wonderful supplements to add to your diet. They support your immune system and lower your body’s inflammatory response.
This is what we have in our pantry:
- Gaia Herbs. Turmeric Supreme. Allergy. 60 Ct. (2 Bottles)
- Biotics Research Bio ADEK Mulsion – Emulsified Formula, Improved Bioavailability, Tween Free, Supports Healthy Immune Responses, Bone Health, Eye Health, Cardiovascular Health
- Garden of Life Vitamin C with Amla – mykind Organic C Vitamin Whole Food Supplement for Skin Health, Cherry Tangerine Spray, 2oz Liquid
- Quercetin with Bromelain Now Foods 240 VCaps
Lowering Overall Inflammatory Response
You can chose to what degree your body needs to reduce inflammation. Every person is different and their asthma response can be mild to severe.
The biggest key to reducing inflammation in your body is chosing food that doesn’t increase inflammation. Food is one of the easiest areas to control when it comes to asthma. (Our environment is much harder to control.) You can make dietary changes based on your severity and your bodies response level.
It’s crucial that you avoid foods that give you an allergic reaction or foods that body doesn’t tolerate well. Examples: wheat, gluten, milk, corn, tree nuts, soy, and eggs.
Recommended Dietary Changes to Reduce Inflammation:
You chose which one fits you. If you use steroid inhalers year round, you have chronic inflammation and would want to chose the “best change”.
If you have occasional asthma flare-ups due to cold and flu symptoms you could chose any of the diet changes to see improvement.
Mild Flare-ups Diet: no refined sugar, no refined flour, no fried food, no additives, free of food colors, and restrict dairy consumption.
Moderate Flare-ups: All the above and add in refraining from consuming gluten, and corn. Make an effort to consume healthy oils (like coconut oil and olive oil).
Chronic Flare-ups: Include the changes from above and extend it to no grains, limiting healthy sugars (honey, maple syrup) and limit fruit consumption for a 4 weeks. You’ll see the quickest response with these diet choices.
Commit to change for 12 weeks! Focus on eating a variety of vegetables, a variety of meat (preferable free-range and/or organic), nutrient dense food, and taking higher doses of quality vitamin C every single day.
Include Herbal Teas
Warm herbal tea is a wonder ageless remedy. It keeps your mucous membranes warm and allows mucous to drain naturally from your throat and airways.
- Traditional Medicinal Throat Coat Lemon Echinacea Tea – boosts your immune system, soothes your throat, helps fight infection.
- Yogi Tea – Breathe Deep (4 Pack) – Supports Respiratory Health – 64 Tea Bags – this herbal combination assists in opening the airways and reduces inflammation.
- Traditional Medicinal Echinacea & Elderberry Tea – allows your body to fight infection and both reduce inflammation in the airways.
- Organic Peppermint Tea – natural anti-inflammatory properties and decongestant.
- Chamomile Lavender Tea – soothes and calms. Works as a natural anti-histamine for allergy induced flare-ups.
- Yogi Tea Egyptian Licorice Tea – naturally anti-inflammatory and soothes the airways.
Be Prepared – in case of a Flare-Up
Drugs & Supplements. Be vigilant to stock the pantry and cabinets with the above mentioned asthma drugs and natural medicine. Mark your calendars to renew inhalers, prescription nose sprays and medicine for your nebulizer.
Nutritious Low-Inflammatory Food. Although a diet change might seem scary, it’s well worth the effort! Be ready to shop at your local health food store and online health food stores. I’ve found significant savings by shopping at Thrive Market. Keep grain free flours on hand and basic baking ingredients like spices, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, baking soda, etc.
Stock your pantry with snacks that are nutrient dense, low in sugar and less likely to trigger inflammation. Be prepared and have Gluten Free Nutritious Snack Ideas on hand for you and your family.
Plan to Exercise. Move your body all year long. Pick an exercise you can enjoy and stick to in the long run. Yoga stretches, strength training, walking, biking, swimming, kettlebells, running, or hiking. Again it’s a commitment to your health and we found the results are less asthma flare-ups.
How to Prepare for Cold and Flu Season with Asthma Our Story
I could write a book on the ups and downs we had with learning how to deal and prevent asthma flare-ups. In this brief post we learned the first steps are Take Care of Our Bodies (Prevention), Stock Your Medicine Cabinet and Keep a Health/Medical Journal.
Our approach to dealing with Asthma. Prevention, Lowering Our Bodies Overall Inflammatory Response (diet change), and being Prepared – in case of a flare-up.
I hope that this post brings your encouragement, ideas and hope that you can not just survive another “cold and flu season” but rather thrive during it too. I’d love to hear from you on what approaches your family has taken to reduce the amount of asthma flare-ups.
Pursing Better Health Together,