Today I'm
participating in the Survive and Thrive Bloghop, hosted by Stephen Tremp, Michael Di Gesu, Diane Wolfe, and Alex Cavanaugh. Copied
from Alex's web site: The blogfest is meant to bring awareness of
disease prevention and early detection regarding medical conditions that may be
averted or treated if caught in the early stages. Our desire is to motivate
people to go in for early screening, and if a condition is caught early and
treated, then our world just became a little better place to live. The
topics are wide open. You can post about a particular cause you support. Or you
can share a personal or family experience that is near to your heart.
I’ve had asthma since childhood. Being a non-medical professional, I really
can’t say if there’s a surefire way for anyone to prevent scoring this
respiratory condition that offers wheezing, shortness of breath, and the
company of inhalers. But if I were to give a cocktail party response about how
someone can avoid getting asthma, I’d say that a good doctor listening
to your lungs when you’re miserably congested might be able to detect early wheezing,
and then they can offer immediate treatment to keep the wheezing from becoming
more serious.
Growing up with asthma wasn’t easy. I didn’t know many other kids, if any, with asthma. I remember sometimes getting up in the middle of the night
when I was in elementary school, middle school, and high school. I’d
sit in bed and just cough and cough and cough some more. My post-nasal drip,
either from general allergies or catching a bug, would tickle my throat and
trickle down to my lungs. My eyes would tear up and my back and neck would ache
from the physical exhaustion of coughing and inhaling heavily. The inhalers
helped some, but I still had many rough, unwanted all-nighters at home or in
the ER fighting my shortness of breath.
My asthma improved by the time I was a spring-semester high school
senior. And my symptoms continued to subside as I continued on to college. I am
pleased to say (knock on wood!) that as an adult, my condition is mostly much
more mild now than it was when I was younger.
While asthma might've deprived me of a good night's sleep on a number of occasions and it has given me some challenges, I'm not the fragile image of the suffering asthma patient you might've seen on TV or in a movie. Having asthma hasn't stopped me from pursuing what I want to do, whether it is working, writing, traveling, exploring, playing, or connecting with others.
I just need to remember to bring my inhaler with me.
Do you know anyone with asthma?
