I finally broke down and bought a new humidifier today. It’s nothing spectacular. Actually, it was the cheapest one at Wal-Mart. Now it’s running, humidifying.

What happened was that I had been having a scratchy throat. At first I thought it was a cold. But it got better and worse on various days. That was when I realized the heat had been on in the house and that the air was probably dry. The other thing I noticed was that I was having some difficulty breathing from time to time. Dry air can exacerbate asthma, among other things. It can also make the inside of your nose dry (ouch!) and your skin itchy. Your hair can get brittle (oh, yes!) and your scalp can get dry and itchy.

The other thing with the heat being on is that, at the start of the heating season, it seems to kick up a lot of dust. Maybe a better way to describe it is burning off dust. That’s what was really bothering my asthma a couple of weeks ago. The dry air itself isn’t good for people with asthma either. If you find that your asthma seems to act up a bit at this time of year, you might consider getting a humidifier to see if it helps to have moisture in the air.

So now I have a humidifier and it’s whirring away, putting moisture into the air. I’d say it was worth the $20.

Unfortunately, my throat is scratchier than ever. Now I think I really do have a cold, thanks to a couple of sniffling nieces and nephews who were visiting for Thanksgiving.

It figures.

–Mary

It’s only 9:30-ish on Wednesday night and I’m ready to go to sleep.

One of my biggest concerns when I have a cold is that it can trigger an asthma attack. The only time in the last few years that I’ve had a bad asthma attack was as a “complication” of a cold. Not even the flu, mind you. Whenever I start coming down with a cold, I monitor my peak flow and I start myself on albuterol every 6 hours. Sometimes (like today, actually) I start on inhaled steroids, too. I’ll go to every 4 hours if every 6 doesn’t do it for me. If I start having problems maintaining a decent peak flow between albuterol puffs, it’s time for the doctor and a course of prednisone (which I hate to take).

The other key in keeping my breathing normal is drinking lots of water. Lots. Water helps to keep chest congestion from getting too thick. (Not a nice thing to talk about, but it’s relevant.) Forget that 8 glasses a day thing — drink much more than that. I also take expectorant (guaifenesin syrup) pretty early on in the cold. That also helps keep things “fluid.” I take the plain Robitussin stuff. No cough suppressant. Just guaifenesin.

Obviously, if you have asthma you need to run all this past your doctor. But this is what I’ve found helps keep me out of the ER with an asthma attack when I have a cold.

About a year ago my health insurance company sent me a form to fill out about my asthma symptoms. They then sent me a package of neat things: A peak flow meter, an inhaler spacer, a carry pouch, a video, a magnet for my refrigerator with important numbers on it, and a booklet about keeping my asthma under control. (more…)