My 2 year old nephew came home from daycare last week with a high fever. The pediatrician said she thought he had RSV.

RSV stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It’s the leading cause of respiratory infections in children. Almost all children have had it at least once before they’re 2 years old. It’s not an infection limited to children, adults can also be infected. In fact you’ve probably had RSV several times throughout your lifetime. In most cases it presents itself as a bad cold. It’s more severe in premature infants, children under 6 months or who have another health condition that that affects their heart, respiratory or immune system.

Inhalers or MDI’s are classified into two types. Rescue and Preventative

Preventative
The preventative medications are also called Inhaled Steroids. There are many different inhaled steroids used. They are usually used twice a day. One or two puffs in the morning and the same at night. These medications MUST be used as prescribed every day. Just because you think you’re doing well doesn’t mean you don’t need to use this medication anymore. This medication is the reason you’re doing better. With the inhaled steroid you are trying to prevent an asthma attack or exacerbation (flair up) of your COPD. You are decreasing the frequency of the attacks and hopefully making the attacks you do have less severe.

I’m going to continue a little more about Asthma before getting into the other lung diseases like COPD (Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis), Bronchitis, Pneumonia, Sinusitis and Flu.

If you have asthma you probably have allergies. Allergies trigger the release of histamines in the body which are what make you break out in hives, sneeze, cough and develop a stuffy or runny nose. They can also cause your airways to swell making it difficult to breath.

If you’ve been diagnosed with asthma there’s a good chance you’ve done a Peak Flow either in your doctor’s office or in the hospital. A peak flow measurement is an indication of how fast you can exhale in a very short amount of time. It’s the asthmatics equivalent of a glucometer used by diabetics to check their blood sugar.

If you have moderate to severe asthma your doctor may have prescribed one for you to use at home. Some hospitals use a disposable peak flow meter and you may be able to take those home with you. No matter how you got it you should use it. You don’t need to measure your peak flow every day but it’s a good tool to use if you start feeling tight or having other indications that your asthma is starting to act up.

When you are prescribed a new medication you are told how to use it. This is easy if it’s a pill or liquid. If you can count and measure you’ll be ok. Problem with inhalers is the instructions leave a lot to your interpretation. 2 puffs 4 times a day. 2 breaths daily. What does that really mean? You’ve been told HOW OFTEN to use the medication but you weren’t instructed on HOW to use it.

About 15 years ago a 14 year old neighbor of mine died from an asthma attack. When I told people that Harry died I got responses like “I didn’t know you could die from asthma.” “How did he die from asthma?” I thought everybody knew asthma was a serious condition. It was then that I realized that even people with asthma didn’t realize it was serious or could be life threatening.