Belly Breathing of a RAD child!

There are many different ways to identify the signs, most are very similar to asthma. Wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath. However there are other signs such as "Belly Breathing." Breathing is usually associated with the raising and falling of ones chest, on the other hand, there is "Belly Breathing." Belly breathing is where the stomach (diaphragm muscles) raise and fall. This is fine as long as it is in time with the normal breaths and not contradicting the chest. Over time a child with RAD may cause a spread diaphragm, this happens with RAD children because they are overworking the muscle which is located between the lungs and the intestines.  In case you are unsure what to look for to determine whether your child is a belly breather, here is a video:

This is one of the hardest things to have to deal with. However if your child does have RAD, its better to find out sooner than later. Get your child the help they need before it becomes to severe and the damage cannot be reversed.

Every child is different. I can only speak of what I know. As of right now, my son uses a nebulizer machine. He is suppose to take two treatments of Budesonide (generic Pulmicort) and three treatments of Xopenex (Generic Albuteral) per day. In case of an episode I am to give him up to three treatments of Xopenex back to back. In other words one right after another (checking his status in between each). If the belly breathing does not subside I am then to give him one and half teaspoons of Prednisolone (steroid medication that aids in opening the airway). I know this sounds like alot, but my son is 5 years old and weighs 56 pounds as well as being 1 inch shy of four feet tall. Again each child is different and dosages vary according to height and weight. If this series of medication works, then we visit the doctor in the morning. If it does not. . . then off to the hospital we go.

**Call an ambulance! There is no equipment to help your child in your personal vehicle. **

Banning Toys in Fast Food Meals

In my recent post "Beauty Truth and Realization" I spoke about childhood obesity. Well a week ago today (Apr 28, 2010) HealthDay News released that "Officials in Santa Clara County, Calif., voted . . . to forbid fast-food restaurants from offering promotional toys with children's meals if those meals don't meet nutritional standards set by the federal Institute of Medicine."  I can understand this push but is this going a little too far as to say a child cannot have a toy unless they eat a salad and fruit?

They believe that "the new law would level 'the playing field by taking away the incentive to choose fatty, sugary foods over healthier options,' Ken Yeager, president of the board of supervisors in Santa Clara County, told The New York Times."

 

Officials are afraid that children associate the "fatty, sugary foods" with the toy they recieve in the meal. therefore "What [they are] trying to do is de-link the connection between unhealthy food and toys."

This new law is "the first of its kind in the United States, [and] was passed by the board in a 3-2 vote [which] will take effect this summer after [the] final vote in May, The Times reported."

So what I am asking is for my readers to give me their comments. . . Is this a good things or a bad? Is it just another way the government is trying to control its people. Dont forget fellow New Yorkers. . .we are next!! NY may soon have a new tax on soda and juice drinks to help lower the consumptions of these foods!!

**CLICK HERE** For those who are interested in reading the article, "Citing Obesity of Children, County Bans Fast-Food Toys" from the New York Times mentioned above.

Q & A With Christopher Cruz Cullari

Across the country college university's have programs for students with disabilities. I have recently visited the Office of Disabilities Services on my own campus to see what accommodations the CUNY College of Staten Island has to offer its students. The office was full of all kinds of students, some with clearly visible impairments and others with what I later learned are called "invisible disabilities." It was there where I spoke to Interim Director Christopher Cruz Cullari. He began our meeting by telling me a little bit of background information about their program.

C.C.- We have, over 500 students registered for services, which is approximately 5% of the undergraduate population. The vast majority of students who are registered in our office have what's called invisible disabilities or what's commonly referred to as an invisible disabilit[y]. The largest group of which are students with learning disabilities, which is approximately 70% of our total population. The other 15%, would be students with psychological or psychiatric disabilities. The remaining 15%, would include a range of other kinds of disabilities, invisible or not. It could be students who are blind or visually impaired - students who are deaf or hard of hearing, students with Aspergers Syndrome - students with chronic medical conditions - students who may be users of wheel chairs for a variety of reasons.

C.H.- Do you feel that people on campus are more or less aware of the other people with disabilities or do you feel that they kind of tend to fall more into the stereotypical type?

C.C.- People when they think of our office, I think tend to think of the visible disabilities that they themselves identify in people. So that may be a person who uses a wheel chair, or a person who is blind, or visually impaired, or a person who is deaf or hard of hearing. They can tell those things sometimes by the equipment they use or just you know through observation. People tend to identify us mostly with those kinds of disability issues, and although we do work with students with those issues. They're not by far our majority. There's a need there to educate the college community and the community at large more about these issues. So I guess the answer is yes if I remember your exact question.

C.H.- So you feel that the students here are more or less educated- they need to be more educated in your opinion or?

C.C.- The-General-College-Student body . . . I would say they would benefit from more education about the work that we do. Definitely. Yeah.

C.H.-  Here in CSI do you feel that the students are more understanding when they see someone with a disability. . . are they more inclined to help them or do you feel that they fall into the category of . . "You fear what you don't know," and so they tend to shy away from student with disabilities?

C.C.- Generally speaking I found the students at CSI, now I have been here three years and I have also been at other college's and universities but, I found the students at CSI pretty accepting of their peers with disabilities. Yea, I have encountered sometimes people avoiding, maybe a certain kind of disability issue or noted maybe a lack of understanding or even a fear [from] people who might not have a disability, but overall I felt that the students at CSI are pretty comfortable with it. Pretty cool with it. Pretty accepting in general. (Slightly smiles)

C.H. What type of programs or services do you offer?

C.C.- Our biggest function is to provide accommodations that are mandated by law for students with disabilities. So, I guess that's our first and biggest charge and those accommodations can range from extended time on a test to . . . possibly looking at a particular assignment in a class, or in a course and looking at how can we modify this assignment because of a disability related issue. [Yet] still maintain the key learning outcomes that the faculty member you know wants all students to be able to learn.

An example of one of those kinds of accommodations -- lets say a student has a very serious anxiety disorder. A diagnosed anxiety disorder and they're in a particular class that's asking students to do a class presentation. The student  generally is doing well in the class. Is testing well -- is attending class regularly and doing appropriate participation in the class. But that the idea of this, very formal presentation is a really difficult hurdle to jump -- we might suggest that the student . . .video tape his presentation and show it to the class; as opposed to doing the presentation in front of the whole class. . . in real time. So, that might be an example of an accommodation that we would use that might be a little more complicated, and involve some more deeper dialogue with the faculty member. To make sure that we are not compromising the key learning outcomes of that activity.

C.H.- In the past I had a professor who was not very understanding of a fellow disabled classmate. Do you feel that the Professors are more understanding and that this was just a glitch in the teacher faculty here in CSI?

C.C.- While issues come up related to sensitivity or faculty understanding, I would say the majority of faculty "are" understanding and we try to do a lot of education with the faculty; although it is very difficult to reach all of them at any given time. With so many here as adjuncts and just with everyone being really really busy. But we try to visit every department at least once per academic year to kind of talk with the faculty. . . about disability related issues as they relate to higher education in college students. We feel that this is helpful. Will there be examples of faculty who maybe are less sensitive, sure, but if a student brings that to our attention we would be happy to have a [talk] with the faculty and sometimes they do. Regarding this issue that you bring up, if the student felt the need he could have come to me or another professional staff person and talked about it and we could have tried to address it.

C.H.- Do you feel that the programs could be improved or are they good the way they are?

C.C.- Well you know jumping back to some of the things our office does for a second and that might include what you are asking now- the first big thing we do is provide accommodations. The second thing we do, is try to have support services available for students - that go beyond what the law requires. We try to have tutoring particularly for first and second year students in the general education classes which is mostly reading writing and math.  So, we have things like that.

We have a program particularly for our freshman where we try to teach them about who they are as college students. Who they are as college students with disabilities. What the differences are between high school and college and what are some specific skills that . . . all college students should have to be successful. We do some technology training and we have a student organization that we sponsor that is open to students with, and without disabilities that's related to community service. We think that's good for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons why we think it is particularly good -- is to kind of challenge the stereotypical thinking that students with disabilities or people with disabilities are going to accomplish less -- than people without. So, we have some really good key things regarding our program.

Do I think things can be better regarding our program? I mean yea, I do, and most of it would be related to resources. You know there is a limited number of resources so once we fulfill our mandated accommodation requirements that are essentially mandated by state and federal law. . .and also college policy-- certainly we have ideas for a more robust programing if we had the resources.

C.H.- When you talk about resources, what type of resources? Is it getting the authority to do it? or is it something the student body would be able to help aid in these programs?

C.C.- Probably not. I mean in a general way I would always say that I would be interested in working with students. Inside and out side the office, to see how we could collaborate to make life better on campus. Most of the issues really come down to funding and that's an issue that public colleges and universities across the state and really the country are limited by. So I would say even a fund raiser wouldn't necessarily be a fix to some of the systemic budget issues that colleges and universities have.

C.H.- In the time you have been here, has there been an increase of students with disabilities or an decrease?

C.C.- There has been an increase actually.

C.H.- There has been an increase?

C.C.- Yeah there has been an increase. We were in the mid 4's in 2007 and now we are in the mid 5's in 2010. So we have gone up considerably.

C.H.- Do you have any opinions on why that might be?

C.C.- There are a couple of things. I think one is that the K-12 system is probably doing a better job this generation of helping students with disabilities, be eligible for college. So there are more college ready students with disabilities in their senior year of high school, than maybe there was a generation ago. I also think that because of some programing changes that we've made through the years. I think, has helped us retain some of our students at higher numbers and increase student achievement . . . it's a combination of things.

C.H.- Do you think that people here (with the rate of disabilities rising,) do you feel it is coming out more because people are not afraid to allow everyone to know, that they have a disability. Do you feel they are more comfortable? allowing people to know they have a disability and getting the help that they need.?

C.C.- I think overall people are becoming more and more comfortable with those kinds of issues within themselves. I think some of it goes back to society getting more comfortable with those kinds of issues. Families addressing the . . . needs of their children more comprehensively and holistically including as it relates to self acceptance. So we are seeing a shift in that regard. Also the K-12 system is helping with that. There are still I think a critical mass of students with invisible disabilities though, who won't self identify with the office and will miss out on the accommodations that they could get.

C.H.- Do you feel some people with disabilities, some with less severe disabilities tend to abuse their privileges? (ex. parking and transportation)

C.C.- That is not the majority by far I mean are their instances where there are students abusing some of their rights and privileges? Yeah.  But, that is true in our office and that's true outside of the office. I would not say that happens at a higher rate here. But it does happen and when it does happen and we are made aware of it, we will confront the student on what we perceive is an appropriate use of the rights that come with having a diagnosed disability at the college level. So we will address it when we are aware of it.

**Remember a disabled person has feelings just like a non-disabled. If they need help they will ask. If you want to help them. . .ask. Sometimes being too over helpful may make them feel as though others do not believe they can do it themselves.**

**A special thanks to Christopher Cruz Cullari and the Office of Disability Services for being so kind and helping.**

Office of Disability Services

Christopher Cruz Cullari, Director (Interim)

Joanne D’Onofrio, LEADS Counselor

Gloria Alfano, Office Assistant

Location: Center for the Arts (1P), Room 101

Phone: (718) 982.2510

Fax: (718) 982.2117

Email: ODS@csi.cuny.edu

Graco Crib Recall

Parents purchase products for their children believing they are safe. People rely on well known companies to test the products and know what is being released. I am not speaking about someone lighting their shirt on fire and suing the place they purchased it. Adults should know a child left unsupervised in a swing that they did not buckle- IS GOING TO GET HURT. However, this morning walletpop.com's writer Mitch Lipka posted an article titled: Graco, Simplicity recall cribs after babies get trapped.

"About 217,000 Graco brand drop side cribs made by LaJobi Inc. are being recalled after nearly 100 reports of hardware failure that allowed the drop side of the crib to detack[sic]. Six children reportedly fell through the resulting opening and two others became trapped, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) said." These are not the first "side drop cribs" to be recalled. There were also reports in 2008 when "a Massachusetts toddler suffocated after getting stuck between the mattress and the frame," and again when "the tubular metal framed cribs [were reported for] bending or coming apart." These malfunctions are not the parents fault, but I do feel that some of these incidents could have been prevented. As a parent any small noise an infant makes while sleeping, is a good enough reason to check on them. If as a parent you know there is something wrong with equipment, do not put your child in something you do not think is safe.

A child should be moved from their crib into a toddler bed as soon as they are too physically active or has outgrown the weight limits. It is understandable that some try to keep their children in the crib as long as they can to try to save, but it is not worth the safety of your child.

What Vitamin? In What Fruit/Vegetable?

Once Upon a Time. . . I had no idea which vitamins were in what foods. After being diagnosed with Pernicious Anemia, (a form of anemia mainly caused by the lack of vitamin B12) I had to teach myself which foods were high in which vitamins in an attempt to boost my immune system. This only worked slightly due to the fact that "Pernicious Anemia" is usually brought on because the stomach is failing to absorb the vitamins necessary for a balanced well being. The following "Color Coded Fruit and Vegetable Information and Examples" are provided by  http://www.disabled-world.com/.

** Click Here ** To link directly to the chart website for more information on "the nutrients found in the [below] fruits and vegetables," and to see which "have a significant impact on our health."

Red Fruits and Vegetables-

Contain nutrients such as Lycopene, Ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin. These nutrients reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth and LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support join tissue in arthritis cases.

Examples: Beets, Blood Oranges, Cherries, Cranberries, Guava, Papaya, Pink/Red grapefruit, Pomegranates, Radicchio, Radishes, Raspberries, Red Apples, Red Grapes, Red Onions, Red Pears, Red Peppers (including bell and chili), Red Potatoes, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Tomatoes, and Watermelon

Orange and Yellow fruits and vegetables-

Contain Beta-Carotene, Zeaxanthin, Flavonoids, Lycopene, Potassium, and Vitamin C. These nutrients reduce age-related macula degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, fight harmful free radicals, encourage alkaline balance, and work with magnesium and calcium to build [strong] healthy bones.

Examples: Apricots, Butternut squash, Cantaloupe, Cape Gooseberries, Carrots, Golden Kiwifruit, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mangoes, Nectarines, Oranges, Papayas, Peaches, Persimmons, Pineapples, Pumpkin, Rutabagas, Sweet Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Tangerines, Yellow Apples, Yellow Beets, Yellow Figs, Yellow Pears, Yellow Peppers, Yellow Potatoes, Yellow tomatoes, Yellow Watermelon, and Yellow winter/summer squash

Green vegetables and Fruit-

Green vegetables contain Chlorophyll, Fiber, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Calcium, Folate, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Beta-Carotene. The nutrients found in these vegetables reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity.

Examples: Artichokes, Arugula, Asparagus, Avocados, Broccoflower, Broccoli, Broccoli Rabe, Brussel Sprouts, Celery, Chayote Squash, Chinese Cabbage, Cucumbers, Endive, Green Apples, Green Beans, Green Cabbage, Green Grapes, Green Onion, Green Pears, Green Peppers, Honeydew, Kiwifruit, Leafy Greens, Leeks, Lettuce, Limes, Okra, Peas, Sno Peas, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Watercress, and Zucchini

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables-

Contain nutrients which include Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Resveratrol, Vitamin C, Fiber, Flavonoids, Ellagic Acid, and Quercetin. Similar to the previous nutrients, these nutrients support retinal health, lower LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, act as an anticarcinogens in the digestive tract, and limit the activity of cancer cells.

Examples: Black currants, Black salsify, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dried plums, Eggplant, Elderberries, Plums, Pomegranates, Prunes, Purple Belgian endive, Purple Potatoes, Purple Asparagus, Purple Cabbage, Purple Carrots, Purple Figs, Purple Grapes, Purple peppers, Raisins

White fruits and vegetables-

Contain nutrients such as Beta-Glucans, EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) , SDG, and lignans that provide powerful immune boosting activity. These nutrients also activate natural killer B and T cells, reduce the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and balance hormone levels, reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers.

Examples: Bananas, Brown pears, Cauliflower, Dates, Garlic, Ginger, Jerusalem Artichoke, Jicama, Kohlrabi, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnips, Potatoes, Shallots, Turnips, White Corn, White Nectarines, and White Peaches

***Remember these are only vegetable and fruits! You still need to eat other foods such as meats and dairy to fulfill a healthy diet. Consult a food pyramid if you are unsure. At http://www.mypyramid.gov/ they will help you create your own personal pyramid, see the differences between fats and oils, the contrast in the amount and products children should eat "vs." what adults should eat.***

Beauty Truth and Realization

Parents- no matter who they are or their background, feels their child is beautiful, and they are inside and out. It does not matter if their child is overweight. However the question I need to ask my readers is when do parents realize they are hurting their child and not aiding the situation?

I have recently noticed the growing rate of obese children. Yes they are loved! Yes they are beautiful and kind in every way shape and form there is, but being obese at such young ages causes many health issues. When do parents realize that they need to help their children? Overweight children, if they do not already have medical issues will develop them either in the near future or later on in life. Some illnesses are and not limited to: "heart attack and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, bowel cancer, and high blood pressure."

The website http://www.weighlossobesity.com/ has an article called "Childhood Obesity: It’s a Serious Issue." Here they state facts about how indeed it is a growing issue and how "being overweight as a child can also cause psychological distress. Children and adolescence [that] are teased or discriminated against as a result of their appearance tend to have less confidence and lower self-esteem. This can lead to isolation and depression, which in turn may further aggravate weight gain issues." Parents of overweight children need to take a stand for the children that they love.

My advice to these parents is: Spend time with them, take them for walks. Make a schedule and stick to it! Make it your main priority to get your child into a healthier lifestyle. DO NOT PURCHASE CHIPS!! If you know your child eats too many fatty greasy foods, try replacing them (SLOWLY) with fruits and grains. This is a gradual process . . . you cannot just change your child’s or your own diet and exercise drastically, however if you do this in continuous degrees you will have better results for the whole family.

H1N1 making a come-back? Part 2

The Director of Operations at "The National Vaccine Information Center," Mr. Paul Arthur stated "Hi Christine I have found nothing of interest on a 'return' of H1N1 in southern states. There was an LA Times article on this referencing some cases from Feb that I posted to our NVIC Facebook page."


Here is the Article:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-flu30-2010mar30,0,2212261.

"Even this story points out '...A CDC team was sent March 6 to assist state officials investigating the outbreak, but its members have found nothing unusual.' Hope this elps [sic]."


"Because every child and every family is important. No forced vaccination. Not in America!"


**Anything in quotes came from a direct email from Mr. Arthur.**

H1N1 making a come-back?

A post by Katie Drummond, a contributor to Aolnews.com brings us the latest about H1N1 better known as the Swine Flu. She states, "An outbreak of H1N1 cases in Georgia and mini-surges in other Southeastern states have federal health officials urging vaccinations and vigilance to thwart the threat of a third wave of the flu." However, these same health officials are also saying that, " . . .there's no evidence that the illness has undergone any mutations." Although Drummond says the "H1N1 [virus] has been largely contained across most of the country," the Georgia Center for Disease Control and Prevention is concerned with the higher rate of infection than it was in October. 

Within this article it is stated that, "H1N1 worries health experts because it tends to strike young children, pregnant women and adults with underlying health problems." Nonetheless "the CDC reported that 86 million Americans [have] been vaccinated against H1N1," and still others have been sick and recovered. After fighting off the virus, a patient is very unlikely to contract it again.  Since there were epidemic in both 1957 and 1968 of a similar flu originating in Mexico, some older Americans have already developed antibodies to the disease.  According to Barbara Loe Fisher, "Those of us born prior to 1957 may be naturally protected and at LOWER risk of being infected."  This is why Drummond maintains that the CDC believes that several people already have enough "immunity to help prevent a third outbreak."

I have not been vaccinated and neither has my son. I have read a post by the vaccine information center on their blog "Vaccine Awakening" titled "H1N1: Fact or Fiction?" written by Ms. Barbara Loe Fisher. Her post contains information about how fearful the general public is of the vaccine. First we were shocked and scared when "the Department of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security followed the World Health Organization and declared a very scary pandemic influenza public health emergency in the United States." Then our fear was fed with information about how "people [were] being quarantined in hotels and detained on airplanes by HazMat teams," and how everywhere we turned, people in "grocery stores . . . fellow Americans [like ourselves] were wearing face masks." It did not even soothe our minds to sit down and watch our favorite television shows because they would be interrupted time and time again by "reports about schools closing so desks and lockers could be scrubbed down." But this did was not the end of the alarming news.

Soon after the hysteria began to spread rapidly across the United States, untamed, It was stated that "Congress [gave] drug companies more than a billion dollars of our taxes to quickly create H1N1 swine flu vaccines . . . [and] shielded everyone who has anything to do with making, promoting and giving swine flu vaccines from all liability in civil court whenever somebody gets hurt or dies after getting vaccinated." The post goes on to speak about how some state legislators wanted to and a few even went as far as to mandate that people either get the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine or get fired from their jobs. Here in Staten Island they were giving H1N1 vaccines to children in schools. When the children started becoming ill from the vaccine, and ambulances had to be called for collapsed children, then the policies begin to change. Then all of a sudden it was the parents' responsibility to bring the children in to their local school on Saturdays.  These parents were told that they needed to sign a release form to allow the school permission to protect them in case of any repercussions. Several children were also mistakenly vaccinated against their parents' wishes.

And let's not forget how "Drug companies . . . started complaining that they couldn’t grow the H1N1 virus fast enough," and how they should be allowed to ". . . use insects and e-coli bacteria and fungus or virus like [sic] protein particles and dog kidney cells and . . " other unmentionable things to grow the virus. Manufacturers did not like being restrained to using chicken eggs to breed the virus because they were so-called safe.  These companies thought that in a crisis situation they should be allowed to create the vaccine by whatever means necessary, and still not be held liable if anyone should die or become seriously ill from their vaccine. 

I can go on forever and post quote after quote for you, but you need to read the whole post and form your own decisions like I did. I have also written to the NVIC (National Vaccine Information Center), and will post more on this topic as soon as current information is available.

There are many other posts on "Vaccine Awakening" about the swine flu. Here are some of their titles and links:

Mild Swine Flu & Over-Hyped Vaccine

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2009/10/mild-swine-flu-over-hyped-vaccine.html
Brief Summary:
This post gives us information on the H1N1 vaccine itself. Facts that help you weigh your options about the vaccination.

Gardasil & Swine Flu Vaccines: Inconvenient Truths

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2009/08/gardasil-swine-flu-vaccines.html
Brief Summary:
Approx. 1/3 of the way into the post is the information on the "Swine Flu." Subjects about whether or not the risks of the vaccine will be hidden from the public, and how there is no way to determine the health risks of the vaccine being given in schools.

Swine Flu Vaccine Should Not Be Given to Children in Schools

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2009/07/swine-flu-vaccine-should-not-be-given.html
Brief Summary:
Includes information such as the "safety provisions in the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act."

Swine Flu Vaccine: Will We Have A Choice?

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2009/06/swine-flu-vaccine-will-we-have-choice.html

Brief Summary:
Contains information about the immunity to the swine flu if you were born before 1957 and who and why they declared a health alert.

As quoted on the Vaccine Awakening blog". . . If the State can tag, track down and force citizens against their will to be injected with biologicals of unknown toxicity today, there will be no limit on which individual freedoms the State can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow." Read up; get informed . . . we are the "Next Generation."

 

Exergen Temporal Thermometer

Every new parent shops around for the perfect thermometer. I love this one. It is easy and very accurate. It can be used whether your child is sleeping or awake (always a plus). I had tried ear, oral and rectal thermometers as my son was growing up and none of them compare to how simple this temporal thermometer can be.

Upon our first visit to a new pediatrician, I was very confused when the nurse came in and swiped my sons forhead, then just walked away. This was not what I was used to. At that moment in time, it was just plain odd! When the doctor had entered the room, I asked him about the "forhead swiping." He laughed and explained how easy the temporal thermometers were, especially with fussy children. Immediately I went to the nearest pharmacy and bought myself one. Wouldn't you know later that day when I had called my sister to recommend my new discovery, she already had one!

Exergen Termporal Thermometers can be found in stores such as:

Toysrus/Babiesrus:  http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2267477 For $49.99

Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Exergen-Temporal-Thermometer/3936091  For $29.88

RAD or NOT

Often as parents we find ourselves asking “Well, what is it?” Mine is one of those situations. My son has what is called “Reactive Airway Disease.” When he was first diagnosed with this disorder I found myself asking everyone what exactly it was. His pediatrician sent us to an asthma and allergy specialist who also did not explain it to my satisfaction. As a concerned parent I have done extensive research about RAD and according to MAYOCLINIC.com, James T. Li, M.D., 1 “Sometimes the terms ‘reactive airway disease’ and ‘asthma’ are used interchangeably. However, they're not necessarily the same thing.” He goes on to explain that Reactive airway is a term used when there is no medical explanation for chronic or reoccurring ailments such as “coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath of unknown cause[s],” and that these symptoms “. . .may or may not be caused by asthma.”

James T. Li discusses “the difficulty in establishing a diagnosis of asthma.” This is especially more complicated “in certain situations — such as during early childhood.” It is definitely possible for a child to have asthma and be diagnosed before the age of six. However, doctors are not very likely to jump to a diagnosis without evidence of the appropriate pathology. Documentation is key here, and for asthmatics or RAD children, there are so many other diseases with similar symptoms, that it can make arriving at a diagnosis much more complicated.

Aimee “The angry Asthma mama”2 believes “the diagnosis of ‘Reactive Airways Disease’ is a load of bologna with a capital ‘BS’." She is very opinionated and her blog is very informative about this disease. She also shares her own personal beliefs on asthma. However I came to the understanding after many questions to specialists and research based on RAD, that unlike asthma attacks, an episode of RAD is brought on by a trigger. For example, if my son goes into a friends’ home with a pet he is more likely to have an attack. Whether he is allergic to the animal or not is completely irrelevant. It is very similar to a form of asthma called “allergic asthma,” in this respect. Both types of episodes are induced by an allergy or trigger. If pollen is a trigger for your child, he/she may not necessarily be allergic to it, however a picnic in the park may cost you a trip to the local emergency room.

1 Http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/reactive-airway-disease/AN01420

2 The Angry Asthma Mama

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      I am Christine, and I am looking forward to helping all of my readers and learning as much as I can from you in return. There is not one person who can not learn something from another. We are only Human! Learn it now . . . we do not know everything and we make mistakes. Do not fear, this is normal. Its O.K!

     This Blog is intended to help everyone no matter your situation. If you have a question, please do not hesitate to ask! I will do my best to get an answer to you as quickly as possible. Being a mother and a writer myself, I know how very difficult it is to go about your daily responsibilities trying to fit everything in . . . there is just not enough hours in a day. Therefore Next Generation was born. I have created this blog to help people gain the information they need to be informed about vaccines, allergies, bottles, formula, anything you can possibly think of medically or parentally.

                                                                                            Sincerely,
                                                                                                  Christine A. Hafele