Asthma On My Mind

Prednisolone::Singulair::Pulmicort::Albuterol::Dexamethasone::Corticosteroids::Steroids

What language is this?

It is the language that we speak when dealing with Spencer's asthma.

Did you know that approximately 1 in every 10 kids in the U.S.A. have asthma?

That is roughly 7 million kids (one site said 9 million) in our country alone.

Did you know that the number of children with asthma has doubled since the early 1980s, and that it is the number 1 cause for school absences and like the 3rd reason for ER visits?
What is wrong here?
Seriously.

Spencer started having asthma attacks when he was 3.  He has had a lot of meds since then.  The medications treat the symptons, but not the disease.  The doctors always want to keep him on a preventative medicine, Singulair.  I feel like it is a double-edged sword.  Don't take it and take the chance of having to take the other stuff to fix the possible asthma attack, vs. take it and have that medicine in your body all the time.  And then you always have the possible side effects.  Have you ever paid attention to those?  The following possible side effects are from 5 or 6 different asthma medications, some of which Spencer has used/still uses when needed:

cough, sore throat, nosebleed, nausea, headache, vomiting, runny nose, diarrhea, stuffy nose, stomach pain and sores inside the mouth, heartburn, joint pain, back pain, muscle pain, loss of appetite, dry throat, difficult or painful urination, nose irritation, and painful menstrual periods, unpleasant taste, hoarseness, itching, skin rash, dry mouth, mouth irritation, sweating, throat irritation, lightheadedness, dizziness, insomnia, sleep problems, muscle cramps, itching, voice changes, anxiety, aggressive behavior, depression, sleep walking, tremors, agitation,  pain in the face, fullness in the face, and suicidal thoughts (that last one is one of the possible side effects of Singulair...hmmm)

Did you read them all? 

CRAZY!

And those are just the immediate ones.  Who knows what the long term effects are.

I'm not anti-medication, medicine definitely has it's time and place, but I just don't like having to depend on it or give it to my son so much!   

Mainly I want to ask,

1. Isn't there a better way?

2. The medicine treats his symptons, but what can treat the disease? 

(And if you are wondering if asthma is really a disease, it is.  It is a chronic lung disease.)

After last night, another night of worrying and listening to Spencer's struggled breathing, and issuing albuterol and pulmicort through a nebulizer, and eventually giving him the prednisolone (steroid), I came to the computer today to ask those questions. 

I have been thinking a lot about the role that food plays in one's health and took my search in that direction.  We definitely already have our fill on medicinal options.  What are some other options? 

Somehow I came across Dr. Kenneth Bock M.D. and his books

Click on the link below, not the picture, to see the book on Amazon.

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies

Again, click on the link below, not the picture to "look inside" the book on Amazon.

Natural Relief for Your Child's Asthma: A Guide to Controlling Symptoms & Reducing Your Child's Dependence on Drugs

I took the invitation to "click to look inside" on both books and spent at least a couple hours (with some interruptions) reading through them and also finding out more about Dr. Bock himself through youtube video lectures and other sites.  I'm thinking about ordering the books so that I can read them in their entirety and then form a more educated opinion about it all.
Has anyone reading this post ever heard of Dr. Bock?  

I also came across this.  I haven't read the entire thing yet (it's long), but what I have read has been very good and inspiring.  


These sources talk a lot about taking control of, and healing, our body through the food we eat (as well as other things).  What I have read of them makes so much sense to me.  Reading through them my thoughts were, Well, duh!  Of course if you eat crap then crappy things are going to happen to your body.  Of course we can help our bodies by eating better.  We are what we eat, after all.
I think that and then grab a handful of chocolate chips and down them.
Hypocritical?  I'm not trying to be.  I just need a little lot more self-discipline and self-mastery.
James E. Faust said that self-mastery is the ultimate test of our character.  I believe that includes our diet and nutrition.   Think of the blessings promised us if we follow the Word of Wisdom.

In a waiting room in the hospital last Tuesday.  We were there for an orthopedic surgeon to look at how Spencer's finger has healed, not for an asthma problem.  His finger has healed fine, thank goodness.

So what does all of this - diet and nutrition, and self-discipline and self-mastery - have to do with Spencer and his asthma?   
 Well I've been thinking about putting him on a gluten (the protein in wheat)-free and casein (the protein in dairy)-free diet to see if that will help him.  I have read about cases that this diet has helped asthmatics.  It just sounds so involved and hard and all-consuming to think of meals and snack ideas and to stick with it.  It would take a lot of self-discipline for me and Spencer.  I think that it would be so much easier if the whole family did it too (for the most part), not just him.  If it will help him and have him be not so dependent on meds, then it is worth however hard it may be, right?  I'm just afraid that beginning a diet like that would just set me, and therefore Spencer, up for failure.  General cooking is not my favorite thing as it is, yet alone a special type of it.  I feel like I need to learn more before I start anything.  But I don't want to wait forever to do something about it either.  So another question for you.  
Does anyone follow this GFCF diet?  If so, how is it for you and your family?  Know of any good cookbooks?  Any other advice on the topic?


These thoughts have been on mind a lot these days.