May 26, 2023 • 18 mins
The Power of Environment: Natural Solutions for Overcoming Childhood Asthma at Home
Join me as I share a personal journey from my son's asthma diagnosis, the changes I learned to make in our home environment, and stories of how he thrives today.
Our home environment is so important when it comes to the health of our children. Learn how to be proactive to keep your kids' lungs strong, even if they don't have asthma. And if they do, you don't want to miss these tips and tricks to keep triggers at bay!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jaime Snell (00:03):
Welcome back to the ECO Mama Podcast.
I'm Jaime Snell, your host, andI am excited for you to join me
today, friend, because I have apersonal story that I wanna
share with you.
This goes back to part of why Ifeel that it's so important to
share with other mamas what wecan do to safeguard our homes
and our family, improving theair quality.
(00:27):
That we breathe every single dayfor ourselves, for our children,
for our animals.
It also spills out into thenature around us.
So what we bring into our homealso affects what is outside of
our home.
The story that I wanna sharewith you today has to do with
asthma and my son's diagnosis,but I'm gonna give you a little
bit of background before he wasdiagnosed so that you can
(00:49):
understand that his lungsactually were already
compromised.
And it was out of everyone'scontrol.
When I was pregnant with him, hewas my third and I went into
labor three weeks early.
I had had two daughters beforehim.
Both were induced.
They didn't come out on theirown, but for my third pregnancy,
(01:09):
he was ready three weeks beforewe were told he would be here.
And trust me, I was ready to,but now that I know what I know,
I would never wish an earlydelivery for anyone.
So three weeks early I go intolabor.
He was born pretty quick and hecame out so fast and it was a
natural birth.
(01:30):
Thankfully I did not have tohave a C-section.
But he came out so fast at thebirth canal that his lungs did
not have the chance to fullysqueeze out all of the amniotic
fluid that had surrounded him.
So he had trouble breathing thefirst 24 hours.
He wouldn't latch on, hewouldn't eat.
(01:52):
They were really nervous thatthere was gonna be something
wrong long term with his lungs.
Thankfully, within 24 hours,they were able to suction out as
much fluid as possible where hefinally latched on.
And we were successful inbreastfeeding for 13 months, so
that was just a quick littleinitial scare, but I do believe
(02:15):
that it contributed to hisasthma diagnosis, which didn't
happen until the age of five.
One other thing that I'd like toshare that happened early on
when he was five months old, myhusband and I purchased our
first home and we bought thishouse.
Had a pretty good deal.
It had been a rental for awhile, and there were many, many
(02:36):
red flags that I did not know tolook for at the time, but we
were so excited.
We had three young children.
It was our first house.
It was something within our, youknow, affordability range, and
we jumped on it and we took itand we moved in.
One of the red flags is thatthey had dogs before.
Not a big deal, right?
Like you can air out the house.
(02:59):
Well, they had covered up thebad smell from the dogs and all
of the dander, the pet dander,by using plugins in every single
room of the house on bothfloors, top and bottom.
And so, of course, the firstthing I do when I move in is I
get rid of those because I hadalready learned at this point
that they're not good for us.
(03:19):
We don't wanna inhale those.
So I got rid of'em.
I aired out the house.
And then the smell came from thedogs and it ended up being the
carpet.
But within 48 hours of livingthere, my son and I both were
struggling to breathe.
I was breastfeeding him.
He had his own room.
There was carpet all in ourbedrooms down the hallway.
(03:41):
The whole house was carpetedexcept the kitchen and.
He just, he couldn't breathelike he and I were both hacking
a lump.
So we ended up moving oursleeping quarters downstairs and
we stayed there for a couple ofweeks until I had the time and
energy to start removing thecarpet.
And this was the nastiest thingI think I've ever touched in my
(04:02):
life.
I always equate the padding,which was rubber by the way, if
that tells you how old it was,it was rubber padding underneath
this soiled carpet.
And I equate it to the scene in,along Came Poly where they're
playing basketball and he goesto shoot and his face goes up
(04:22):
against this man's chest who'snot wearing a shirt and it's all
slathered with sweat.
Yeah, it was just really, reallynasty getting my hands in the
air and doing it, but I wasalso, I should have worn a mask.
I didn't know better.
I couldn't breathe.
I could not breathe.
I got the hallway done, which Ithink was the worst part.
I don't know if they kept thedogs in the hallway and closed
(04:44):
the bedroom doors or what, butthe hallway was the worst.
But I got all of that up andthen I had to stop.
I had to get my husband to helpme the next couple of days to
get the rest out because Icouldn't do it on my own.
I wasn't breathing well.
I mean, it was just so much thatdisturbed my lungs, but it also
was hurting my son.
(05:04):
So we stayed downstairs for afew weeks until we got the
upstairs aired out, and then wesaved for a wood floor, which is
what we wanted to replace it in,because part of the deal with
the house is we wanted to fix itup and I, he learned to crawl on
some floors.
So yeah, I had a through fewthrow rugs that I could put
around, but no way was I puttingcarpet back in that house.
(05:27):
And by no means did I want himto ever suffer like that again.
Well, Fast forward until he isabout four and a half years old
and he started having coughingfits.
We're living in South Carolinanow it's allergy season, but
we'd never really had anyproblems.
(05:48):
In four years, really to knowabout, to even be curious or
wonder if he had any breathingproblems or lung issues.
Everything had always checkedout normal at the doctor's
office.
Well, he started getting hisbreathing fits and we ended up
going to the pediatrician andthey gave us a breathing
treatment because his oxygenlevels were low.
(06:11):
Then we came home, and then wewent again the next week.
And then we came home and theneventually they gave us a
nebulizer to start giving himbreathing treatments at home.
They said, we think he hasasthma.
We're gonna give you a inhalerto give him breathing treatments
so that if he has these coughingfits, you don't have to keep
(06:33):
breathing him in.
You can help regulate it athome.
They also gave us.
The steroids, which is themedicine that he had to drink
and poor kid's.
Five.
I was so trying to avoidmedication.
I was trying to avoid steroids.
I knew this wasn't good for him,but I also knew that he needed
to breathe.
Then my husband went to SouthFlorida or to North Florida
actually.
So a couple states south of usone weekend with the kids to
(06:56):
visit his family, and I was thelucky one.
I got to stay home and just havesome quiet time.
Unfortunately, while he was downthere that very first night,
something triggered my sons.
Asthma like we thought, but wedidn't know what was triggering
it.
We didn't know why he was havingthese coughing fits.
He could not breathe.
They didn't think to take, hehadn't had an attack in months.
(07:16):
They didn't think to take thenebulizer or the inhaler with
him.
So he ended up in the emergencyroom at midnight down in
Florida.
When he got back, we went backto our pediatrician, who then
suggested we see an allergist sothat we could learn what was
triggering his asthma.
And these coughing fits.
And then we could help deter theflare ups.
(07:39):
Help deter the triggers, get ridof these things.
Now, I thought that I wasalready living a pretty clean
life, that I was working onhaving indoor air quality, but
there was still so much morethat I could have been doing
that I did not know at the time.
My son, my poor son.
He was right at five years oldnow, and he sat on my lap and
(08:02):
I've heard that they've changedthe process of how they give
these allergy tests.
Now they give him in patchesthat you wear for a few days,
but at the time they said, oh,well, we're gonna have to prick
him to see what he is allergicto.
And I'm thinking, okay, like afinger prick.
I didn't know.
I didn't know what questions toask.
I sat there as my poor sonsqueezed my arms.
(08:23):
I had to hold him still.
And they put these I, I think ofthe, in the Adams family.
Where is it?
Uncle Fester likes to sleep onthe bed of nails.
They pricked my son like 45times in four different sections
on his back.
He swelled up in so manydifferent areas just from the
(08:44):
initial reaction.
The actual allergies they cameup with were based on what
stayed red over the next, like,I guess three hours or something
like that where the weltsremained, but everything swelled
up cuz at first it, you know,they basically just like,
Injected his body with all ofthese different samples to see
(09:05):
which ones were gonna make himsick or, you know, a flare up
and swollen.
He did always have a problemwith mosquito bites.
He would, it looked like thewelts on his skin when he'd get
bitten.
So here we were at checkout,he's crying.
He's got a little bit of bloodon his shirt.
I'm trying to hold it togetherand by myself.
(09:26):
My husband's at work, my othertwo girls are at school, and and
then I get the bill.
Why don't I think to ask thesequestions beforehand?
There was so much I could havedone.
To navigate without him goingthrough this pain or through all
of these expenses.
But it's the path that I was onand this is how I learned that
my son had asthma and what hewas allergic to at the time,
(09:48):
they said it was pet dander.
So couldn't have any cats,couldn't have any dogs.
They said, of course, likeallergies from outdoor
environmental such as pollen,which is kind of a given, A lot
of us can be easily triggered bythat.
And then the, and dust mites.
So it was really nothingunusual.
We don't even know still to thisday why he was triggered when he
(10:10):
was in Florida.
But I did learn some things thatI could start doing at home
right away, washing everythingin hot water.
I was already using a detergentthat was, did not have any
chemical irritants in it, so Ididn't have to change some of my
products.
Some of them I did have tochange because I realized that
(10:30):
they still had.
Some sensitivities that could,could trigger him, but the
dusting process and keepingthings clean, especially in his
bedroom was new for me.
I mean, I'm a mom of three.
We're one income family.
I wasn't able to clean everysingle day, but I did invest in
things like norac rags thatwould help collect the dust as
opposed to the swiffers we wereusing, which would just blow it
(10:52):
all around.
I eventually invested in areally good vacuum cleaner.
That not only has a HEPA filter,but it has a water filter, water
filtration system inside of it.
So whatever I'm dusting up orsucking up through that vacuum,
which is very powerful, it notonly pulls it in, but the.
(11:14):
Dust is trapped in the dirt anddebris and dust is trapped in
the water system.
And then it blows back out thefresh air, the clean air through
the hepa.
So it's also a vacuum that candouble as an air purifier, which
I learned at that time it heneeded his own air purifier in
his room.
So those are some things that Ilearned to start doing.
(11:35):
Wash everything in hot water.
Get an air purifier for him.
Start collecting the dust, notjust blowing it around so that
you can't see it anymore cuzthose particles are still in the
air.
You, I needed to learn tocapture it, but that, that, I
can't say it was a hundredpercent right away.
It took a while and we hadnights.
(11:55):
Where I was on the edge of hisbed, just praying for God to
take me instead, because hisfits would get so bad and he
couldn't sleep and he'd laythere wheezing and just, he
wanted to sleep and he was sotired and, and I was tired too,
and I wanted to sleep.
And I'm just holding him and I'mpraying with him.
I'm trying to calm down.
And if you've ever lost yourbreath, you know how difficult
and how scary it can be, andyou're panicking.
(12:19):
And the last thing that yourbody needs to do when you're
losing its breath is panic,because then you're just gonna
be gasping for air, likegrabbing a sip as fast as
possible.
But you have to calm the body.
You have to calm the mind andslowly take the air in.
That's not easy to do for a fiveyear old kid that doesn't know
what's happening.
He just knows that he can'tbreathe and it's very
uncomfortable.
(12:39):
And the mama who's holding himthat.
Just wants him to be better.
So in addition to that, I alsolearned that I could enca, I
needed to actually encapsulatethe pillows and the mattresses
and they sell.
Think of like a pillowcase.
They sell a pillowcase for themattress itself.
I thankfully knew a little bitabout some of the materials that
(13:03):
I did and did not want to use,so I did find a guts certified
and it, it zippered up.
Think of like, I put themattress in a sleeping bag, but
you have to have help.
He had a queen size mattress atthe time, so we had to.
Get someone to help us put thatin there.
And then that had to be washedonce a week in hot water.
His pillows.
I've since learned that a pillowshould be replaced every six
(13:23):
months to one year.
I had no idea I was hand me downpillow girl.
my parents would have like extrapillows in their guest room and
then they would go and get newones.
I'm like, Hey, do you want thesepillows?
I'm like, sure.
I've bought throw pillows fromgarage sales before.
No more.
I've learned how much a pillowcan store inside of it.
The best thing that you can doif you don't want to get rid of
(13:45):
your throw pillows, especiallyif they're hand-me-downs, is to
regularly put them in the dryeron high heat because that will
kill any dust mites that try tosurvive inside of them.
But it is suggested that youencapsulate them inside a case
that you can wash often, or acover.
And then replace them everyyear.
And the pillow that you sleepon, definitely replace every
(14:08):
single year.
Put it in the dryer once a monthto kill any dander or mics that
might be living inside of thatpillow as well as anything, you
know, obviously your sheets.
Your pillowcases and stuff, youprobably wash already on a
weekly basis or twice a month.
And if not, I do suggest that.
But it's highly suggested toreplace it once a year.
(14:28):
And if you love to travel, whichwe do, we love to travel, we go
camping, we go visit fins andfamily, we get Airbnb when we
can.
Take your own pillow.
Always take your own pillowswith you, and if you are on
blanket if you can, but pillowsespecially because that's what
you're breathing in all nightlong, if you sleep with a
pillow.
And I suggest sleeping with apillow mainly because you can
(14:49):
control that more than you cancontrol the mattress if you're
traveling.
So sleep with the pillow thatyou have replaced often.
There's a lot of differentpillows that are made out there,
but if you can afford it, Isuggest to get a good quality
organic grade pillow that iseither stuffed with or covered
with bamboo or linen pillowcaseare also great.
(15:12):
They're, they're.
Wicking and they help youbreathe at night.
They help your skin breathe sothey're healthy for you.
So yeah, so that is my journeyof when my son got diagnosed at
the age of five.
And those are a lot of thethings that I learned all in
that short amount of time.
It was overwhelming and itrequired a lot of changes.
He has a asthma attacker flareup.
(15:35):
Probably once a year at most.
So I have been very, veryblessed.
He has outgrown the things thatthey said that he would have the
most troubles with.
We now have an indoor outdoorcat.
He has had no problems with thecat.
We do have a Hyperallergenic dogbut he's had no problems with
the dog.
(15:55):
We try to keep his room dusted,he'll be nine in two weeks and
it's very difficult to get tothe surface of his dresser and
his bookshelves and his desk.
He just has stuff stacked up.
He's not really like the tidiestneatest person, but we do vacuum
his room regularly.
We change his sheets regularly.
We keep the ceiling fan clean.
(16:17):
We keep it as dust free aspossible, as well as the rest of
the house.
But in particularly, it's hisroom.
And then he always has that airpurifier in there.
And on, there's quite a fewdifferent air purifiers out
there.
Again, I like the ones that havewater because they capture all
of the dirt and debris thatcomes through, and then they
blow out the clean air.
But HEPA filter is great too.
(16:39):
Well, that is what I have foryou today.
I wanna thank you so much,friend, for listening to my
story.
It's just a little bit of why Ido what I do.
I already have the heart for acleaner environment for my
family, but then put under thecircumstances of my son's
diagnosis with asthma.
It took it up.
To the nth degree, and if you oryour children have ever suffered
(17:02):
with any breathing issues, Iwanna be there for you.
If you have any questions,please feel free to message me
at any time.
Comment down below, or you canalways email me directly at
Jamie dot Snell ECO, CRATES ofAmerica, and I'll answer your
questions.
And if I don't have thoseanswers, I will find them out
for you because if I can helpjust one more family, breathe
(17:24):
easier at night.
I will feel as if I've served mypurpose.
So thank you so much.
Have a wonderful week, andthanks again for joining me.
Take care.
Welcome back to the ECO Mama Podcast.
I'm Jaime Snell, your host, andI am excited for you to join me
today, friend, because I have apersonal story that I wanna
share with you.
This goes back to part of why Ifeel that it's so important to
share with other mamas what wecan do to safeguard our homes
and our family, improving theair quality.
(00:27):
That we breathe every single dayfor ourselves, for our children,
for our animals.
It also spills out into thenature around us.
So what we bring into our homealso affects what is outside of
our home.
The story that I wanna sharewith you today has to do with
asthma and my son's diagnosis,but I'm gonna give you a little
bit of background before he wasdiagnosed so that you can
(00:49):
understand that his lungsactually were already
compromised.
And it was out of everyone'scontrol.
When I was pregnant with him, hewas my third and I went into
labor three weeks early.
I had had two daughters beforehim.
Both were induced.
They didn't come out on theirown, but for my third pregnancy,
(01:09):
he was ready three weeks beforewe were told he would be here.
And trust me, I was ready to,but now that I know what I know,
I would never wish an earlydelivery for anyone.
So three weeks early I go intolabor.
He was born pretty quick and hecame out so fast and it was a
natural birth.
(01:30):
Thankfully I did not have tohave a C-section.
But he came out so fast at thebirth canal that his lungs did
not have the chance to fullysqueeze out all of the amniotic
fluid that had surrounded him.
So he had trouble breathing thefirst 24 hours.
He wouldn't latch on, hewouldn't eat.
(01:52):
They were really nervous thatthere was gonna be something
wrong long term with his lungs.
Thankfully, within 24 hours,they were able to suction out as
much fluid as possible where hefinally latched on.
And we were successful inbreastfeeding for 13 months, so
that was just a quick littleinitial scare, but I do believe
(02:15):
that it contributed to hisasthma diagnosis, which didn't
happen until the age of five.
One other thing that I'd like toshare that happened early on
when he was five months old, myhusband and I purchased our
first home and we bought thishouse.
Had a pretty good deal.
It had been a rental for awhile, and there were many, many
(02:36):
red flags that I did not know tolook for at the time, but we
were so excited.
We had three young children.
It was our first house.
It was something within our, youknow, affordability range, and
we jumped on it and we took itand we moved in.
One of the red flags is thatthey had dogs before.
Not a big deal, right?
Like you can air out the house.
(02:59):
Well, they had covered up thebad smell from the dogs and all
of the dander, the pet dander,by using plugins in every single
room of the house on bothfloors, top and bottom.
And so, of course, the firstthing I do when I move in is I
get rid of those because I hadalready learned at this point
that they're not good for us.
(03:19):
We don't wanna inhale those.
So I got rid of'em.
I aired out the house.
And then the smell came from thedogs and it ended up being the
carpet.
But within 48 hours of livingthere, my son and I both were
struggling to breathe.
I was breastfeeding him.
He had his own room.
There was carpet all in ourbedrooms down the hallway.
(03:41):
The whole house was carpetedexcept the kitchen and.
He just, he couldn't breathelike he and I were both hacking
a lump.
So we ended up moving oursleeping quarters downstairs and
we stayed there for a couple ofweeks until I had the time and
energy to start removing thecarpet.
And this was the nastiest thingI think I've ever touched in my
(04:02):
life.
I always equate the padding,which was rubber by the way, if
that tells you how old it was,it was rubber padding underneath
this soiled carpet.
And I equate it to the scene in,along Came Poly where they're
playing basketball and he goesto shoot and his face goes up
(04:22):
against this man's chest who'snot wearing a shirt and it's all
slathered with sweat.
Yeah, it was just really, reallynasty getting my hands in the
air and doing it, but I wasalso, I should have worn a mask.
I didn't know better.
I couldn't breathe.
I could not breathe.
I got the hallway done, which Ithink was the worst part.
I don't know if they kept thedogs in the hallway and closed
(04:44):
the bedroom doors or what, butthe hallway was the worst.
But I got all of that up andthen I had to stop.
I had to get my husband to helpme the next couple of days to
get the rest out because Icouldn't do it on my own.
I wasn't breathing well.
I mean, it was just so much thatdisturbed my lungs, but it also
was hurting my son.
(05:04):
So we stayed downstairs for afew weeks until we got the
upstairs aired out, and then wesaved for a wood floor, which is
what we wanted to replace it in,because part of the deal with
the house is we wanted to fix itup and I, he learned to crawl on
some floors.
So yeah, I had a through fewthrow rugs that I could put
around, but no way was I puttingcarpet back in that house.
(05:27):
And by no means did I want himto ever suffer like that again.
Well, Fast forward until he isabout four and a half years old
and he started having coughingfits.
We're living in South Carolinanow it's allergy season, but
we'd never really had anyproblems.
(05:48):
In four years, really to knowabout, to even be curious or
wonder if he had any breathingproblems or lung issues.
Everything had always checkedout normal at the doctor's
office.
Well, he started getting hisbreathing fits and we ended up
going to the pediatrician andthey gave us a breathing
treatment because his oxygenlevels were low.
(06:11):
Then we came home, and then wewent again the next week.
And then we came home and theneventually they gave us a
nebulizer to start giving himbreathing treatments at home.
They said, we think he hasasthma.
We're gonna give you a inhalerto give him breathing treatments
so that if he has these coughingfits, you don't have to keep
(06:33):
breathing him in.
You can help regulate it athome.
They also gave us.
The steroids, which is themedicine that he had to drink
and poor kid's.
Five.
I was so trying to avoidmedication.
I was trying to avoid steroids.
I knew this wasn't good for him,but I also knew that he needed
to breathe.
Then my husband went to SouthFlorida or to North Florida
actually.
So a couple states south of usone weekend with the kids to
(06:56):
visit his family, and I was thelucky one.
I got to stay home and just havesome quiet time.
Unfortunately, while he was downthere that very first night,
something triggered my sons.
Asthma like we thought, but wedidn't know what was triggering
it.
We didn't know why he was havingthese coughing fits.
He could not breathe.
They didn't think to take, hehadn't had an attack in months.
(07:16):
They didn't think to take thenebulizer or the inhaler with
him.
So he ended up in the emergencyroom at midnight down in
Florida.
When he got back, we went backto our pediatrician, who then
suggested we see an allergist sothat we could learn what was
triggering his asthma.
And these coughing fits.
And then we could help deter theflare ups.
(07:39):
Help deter the triggers, get ridof these things.
Now, I thought that I wasalready living a pretty clean
life, that I was working onhaving indoor air quality, but
there was still so much morethat I could have been doing
that I did not know at the time.
My son, my poor son.
He was right at five years oldnow, and he sat on my lap and
(08:02):
I've heard that they've changedthe process of how they give
these allergy tests.
Now they give him in patchesthat you wear for a few days,
but at the time they said, oh,well, we're gonna have to prick
him to see what he is allergicto.
And I'm thinking, okay, like afinger prick.
I didn't know.
I didn't know what questions toask.
I sat there as my poor sonsqueezed my arms.
(08:23):
I had to hold him still.
And they put these I, I think ofthe, in the Adams family.
Where is it?
Uncle Fester likes to sleep onthe bed of nails.
They pricked my son like 45times in four different sections
on his back.
He swelled up in so manydifferent areas just from the
(08:44):
initial reaction.
The actual allergies they cameup with were based on what
stayed red over the next, like,I guess three hours or something
like that where the weltsremained, but everything swelled
up cuz at first it, you know,they basically just like,
Injected his body with all ofthese different samples to see
(09:05):
which ones were gonna make himsick or, you know, a flare up
and swollen.
He did always have a problemwith mosquito bites.
He would, it looked like thewelts on his skin when he'd get
bitten.
So here we were at checkout,he's crying.
He's got a little bit of bloodon his shirt.
I'm trying to hold it togetherand by myself.
(09:26):
My husband's at work, my othertwo girls are at school, and and
then I get the bill.
Why don't I think to ask thesequestions beforehand?
There was so much I could havedone.
To navigate without him goingthrough this pain or through all
of these expenses.
But it's the path that I was onand this is how I learned that
my son had asthma and what hewas allergic to at the time,
(09:48):
they said it was pet dander.
So couldn't have any cats,couldn't have any dogs.
They said, of course, likeallergies from outdoor
environmental such as pollen,which is kind of a given, A lot
of us can be easily triggered bythat.
And then the, and dust mites.
So it was really nothingunusual.
We don't even know still to thisday why he was triggered when he
(10:10):
was in Florida.
But I did learn some things thatI could start doing at home
right away, washing everythingin hot water.
I was already using a detergentthat was, did not have any
chemical irritants in it, so Ididn't have to change some of my
products.
Some of them I did have tochange because I realized that
(10:30):
they still had.
Some sensitivities that could,could trigger him, but the
dusting process and keepingthings clean, especially in his
bedroom was new for me.
I mean, I'm a mom of three.
We're one income family.
I wasn't able to clean everysingle day, but I did invest in
things like norac rags thatwould help collect the dust as
opposed to the swiffers we wereusing, which would just blow it
(10:52):
all around.
I eventually invested in areally good vacuum cleaner.
That not only has a HEPA filter,but it has a water filter, water
filtration system inside of it.
So whatever I'm dusting up orsucking up through that vacuum,
which is very powerful, it notonly pulls it in, but the.
(11:14):
Dust is trapped in the dirt anddebris and dust is trapped in
the water system.
And then it blows back out thefresh air, the clean air through
the hepa.
So it's also a vacuum that candouble as an air purifier, which
I learned at that time it heneeded his own air purifier in
his room.
So those are some things that Ilearned to start doing.
(11:35):
Wash everything in hot water.
Get an air purifier for him.
Start collecting the dust, notjust blowing it around so that
you can't see it anymore cuzthose particles are still in the
air.
You, I needed to learn tocapture it, but that, that, I
can't say it was a hundredpercent right away.
It took a while and we hadnights.
(11:55):
Where I was on the edge of hisbed, just praying for God to
take me instead, because hisfits would get so bad and he
couldn't sleep and he'd laythere wheezing and just, he
wanted to sleep and he was sotired and, and I was tired too,
and I wanted to sleep.
And I'm just holding him and I'mpraying with him.
I'm trying to calm down.
And if you've ever lost yourbreath, you know how difficult
and how scary it can be, andyou're panicking.
(12:19):
And the last thing that yourbody needs to do when you're
losing its breath is panic,because then you're just gonna
be gasping for air, likegrabbing a sip as fast as
possible.
But you have to calm the body.
You have to calm the mind andslowly take the air in.
That's not easy to do for a fiveyear old kid that doesn't know
what's happening.
He just knows that he can'tbreathe and it's very
uncomfortable.
(12:39):
And the mama who's holding himthat.
Just wants him to be better.
So in addition to that, I alsolearned that I could enca, I
needed to actually encapsulatethe pillows and the mattresses
and they sell.
Think of like a pillowcase.
They sell a pillowcase for themattress itself.
I thankfully knew a little bitabout some of the materials that
(13:03):
I did and did not want to use,so I did find a guts certified
and it, it zippered up.
Think of like, I put themattress in a sleeping bag, but
you have to have help.
He had a queen size mattress atthe time, so we had to.
Get someone to help us put thatin there.
And then that had to be washedonce a week in hot water.
His pillows.
I've since learned that a pillowshould be replaced every six
(13:23):
months to one year.
I had no idea I was hand me downpillow girl.
my parents would have like extrapillows in their guest room and
then they would go and get newones.
I'm like, Hey, do you want thesepillows?
I'm like, sure.
I've bought throw pillows fromgarage sales before.
No more.
I've learned how much a pillowcan store inside of it.
The best thing that you can doif you don't want to get rid of
(13:45):
your throw pillows, especiallyif they're hand-me-downs, is to
regularly put them in the dryeron high heat because that will
kill any dust mites that try tosurvive inside of them.
But it is suggested that youencapsulate them inside a case
that you can wash often, or acover.
And then replace them everyyear.
And the pillow that you sleepon, definitely replace every
(14:08):
single year.
Put it in the dryer once a monthto kill any dander or mics that
might be living inside of thatpillow as well as anything, you
know, obviously your sheets.
Your pillowcases and stuff, youprobably wash already on a
weekly basis or twice a month.
And if not, I do suggest that.
But it's highly suggested toreplace it once a year.
(14:28):
And if you love to travel, whichwe do, we love to travel, we go
camping, we go visit fins andfamily, we get Airbnb when we
can.
Take your own pillow.
Always take your own pillowswith you, and if you are on
blanket if you can, but pillowsespecially because that's what
you're breathing in all nightlong, if you sleep with a
pillow.
And I suggest sleeping with apillow mainly because you can
(14:49):
control that more than you cancontrol the mattress if you're
traveling.
So sleep with the pillow thatyou have replaced often.
There's a lot of differentpillows that are made out there,
but if you can afford it, Isuggest to get a good quality
organic grade pillow that iseither stuffed with or covered
with bamboo or linen pillowcaseare also great.
(15:12):
They're, they're.
Wicking and they help youbreathe at night.
They help your skin breathe sothey're healthy for you.
So yeah, so that is my journeyof when my son got diagnosed at
the age of five.
And those are a lot of thethings that I learned all in
that short amount of time.
It was overwhelming and itrequired a lot of changes.
He has a asthma attacker flareup.
(15:35):
Probably once a year at most.
So I have been very, veryblessed.
He has outgrown the things thatthey said that he would have the
most troubles with.
We now have an indoor outdoorcat.
He has had no problems with thecat.
We do have a Hyperallergenic dogbut he's had no problems with
the dog.
(15:55):
We try to keep his room dusted,he'll be nine in two weeks and
it's very difficult to get tothe surface of his dresser and
his bookshelves and his desk.
He just has stuff stacked up.
He's not really like the tidiestneatest person, but we do vacuum
his room regularly.
We change his sheets regularly.
We keep the ceiling fan clean.
(16:17):
We keep it as dust free aspossible, as well as the rest of
the house.
But in particularly, it's hisroom.
And then he always has that airpurifier in there.
And on, there's quite a fewdifferent air purifiers out
there.
Again, I like the ones that havewater because they capture all
of the dirt and debris thatcomes through, and then they
blow out the clean air.
But HEPA filter is great too.
(16:39):
Well, that is what I have foryou today.
I wanna thank you so much,friend, for listening to my
story.
It's just a little bit of why Ido what I do.
I already have the heart for acleaner environment for my
family, but then put under thecircumstances of my son's
diagnosis with asthma.
It took it up.
To the nth degree, and if you oryour children have ever suffered
(17:02):
with any breathing issues, Iwanna be there for you.
If you have any questions,please feel free to message me
at any time.
Comment down below, or you canalways email me directly at
Jamie dot Snell ECO, CRATES ofAmerica, and I'll answer your
questions.
And if I don't have thoseanswers, I will find them out
for you because if I can helpjust one more family, breathe
(17:24):
easier at night.
I will feel as if I've served mypurpose.
So thank you so much.
Have a wonderful week, andthanks again for joining me.
Take care.
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