Of the adults and children who have been hospitalized for H1N1 ( the swine flu), nearly one-third have asthma. That might be scary news if you or your children have this chronic lung condition. But there's no reason to panic. Here's what you can do instead...
According to Health.com, there are three precautions people with asthma can take to protect themselves from H1N1:
1. Take your asthma medicine—EVERY DAY! It's easy to skip a dose if you aren't having asthma symptoms. But taking your asthma medication as directed is important in protecting the lungs from triggers such as infections, especially now with the threat of H1N1.
2. Get vaccinated. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people with asthma get the H1N1 vaccine shot (when it become available) because they are high-risk. According to the CDC, the vaccine administered as a shot is safer for asthmatics than the nasal spray version.
3. Get treatment immediately if you become sick. If you do have asthma and get sick with H1N1 symptoms, call your health care provider. Get help sooner rather than later.
Do you have asthma? Are you taking any special precautions to protect against H1N1?
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Comments 7
A lot of people probably have asthma as a result of getting a vaccine in the first place, I hate that health.com is advocating ANOTHER vaccine as a solution. :(
My daughter has asthma as a result of having RSV as an infant. She WILL be getting the vaccine. However, at this rate, she's more likely to get H1N1 before we ever see the vaccine. H1N1 has already hit our schools in this area hard.. My nieghbor's son is 7 and has asthma....H1N1 and in spite of my neighbor's best efforts with breathing treatments, tamiflu, etc....he now has pneumonia & is just a step away from being hospitalized. Sometimes, it doesn't matter how careful & how many precautions you take....
My daughter has suspected h1n1. She is otherwise healthy, but our Dr wanted my asthmatic son to take the tamilfu just incase. We are doing all of the above, but it's a little late for the vaccine.
My son has a mild form of asthma. When we had the flu recently it was scarey. They recommended that he use his inhaler all the time and take mucinex.
The allergy website states that if someone in a family gets sick with the flu, the one with asthma needs to be closely monitored. If kids have asthma they should NOT get the mist but the shot. ( above) Our Dr. recommended that even though we were sick, we should still get the shot because we could get it again. YIKES! Our county has only 3000 shots available right now for high risk kids..but people are camping out over night to get it. I do not want to fight a crowd to get it!! They have police patroling the location. Im not going there.
I have given my little kids teachers bottles of hand sanitizers, water bottles for the children, my oldest his own hand sanitizer, making sure they are early to bed, washing hands...healthy food and vitamins..I don't know what else to do but just hope we dont get it again.
My daughter is 2 and has asthma and just got told she has the H1N1 flu the doctor didnt worn me about the affect it can have on her asthma at all.
I got pneumonia 2 years ago. The pneumonia left me with Adult Onset Asthma. I got the H1N1 shot. I'm glad I did. When I get congested, not only is it hard to breathe, but I am terrified of getting pneumonia again.
I'm go grateful to live in a country that has the CDC looking after us. If they tell us that there is a vaccine that we need to get, I'm apt to believe them. How many other countries have all of the different regulations that our country has when it comes to releasing medication to it's citizens?