Inspired by this thread
When we were young, my littlest and favorite sister suffered from asthma. At the time I was very worried about her, but my parents told me that people don’t die of such a disease. I see, however, that some people do. Which brings me to the point of the post: can you present & former asthma-sufferers share your experiences with the disease–not merely its physical effects, but the misinterpretations of people around you?
Thanks in advance.
I have exercise-induced asthma, which caused a lot more problems for me as a kid than it has as an adult.
I’ve only had a handful of major attacks - most were a combination of stressful situations and physical exertion. It’s incredibly frightening. I blacked out at a school dance in middle school after an attack and suffered a mild concussion and a huge knot on my head. I thought I was dying at the time. My throat became tight, and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get a deep breath. I kept trying to stay calm and breath in deep, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get enough air. Then my lungs started to burn and I started to panic and that’s the last thing I remember.
I didn’t have an inhaler with me because my school wouldn’t let me keep in on my person. It had to be held in the office where the nurse was, and because this was an after-hours event there was no one in the office. Needless to say my mother raised hell and from that point on no one had a problem with me keeping it in my backpack.
I had P.E. teachers over the years who thought I was just making it up to get out of running or cardio work. I took weight training because it was a physical activity I could actually do, so long as I did not push myself too hard. Forget anything cardiovascular, though. Aerobics? I’d be curled in a heap on the floor in a matter of minutes.
As an adult though, people don’t tend to care too much if you have to stop and take a breather after climbing stairs, or can’t run a mile in less than 5 minutes. I still keep an inhaler with me at all times, just in case, but have not had to use it in a long time. People do understimate the seriousness of the disease, and while my own wasn’t life-threatening I knew people who did suffer this seriously. The triggers are different for each individual, as well, which also leads to misunderstanding.
Fixed title.
I had it throughout childhood. Not enough to scare me, but enough to make sudden exercise difficult. I could run a half-mile no problem, but a sprint would hit me badly.
It all disappeared when I was about 16, and I thought nothing more of it. Then, a few months ago, I woke up at 2am with an attack. Ended up heading off to hospital. Completely out of the blue, and scary, because I’d never been in the situation of having an attack without medication and without anyone else there. The doctor who discharged me summed it up quite well: “we might see you again tomorrow, or in another ten years. There’s no way of knowing.”
And to add to the unfortunately-necessary ‘asthma can kill’ chorus, a friend of mine lost a younger sister to asthma, when she was nine.
My triggers seem to be tree pollen (spring) and ragweed (fall.) Dust will do it, too, and if I add exercise to any of those, I’ll be leaning against a wall, desperately breathing hard or coughing.
I take Advair twice a day, and on a bad day, I have to use albuterol. The trees are kicking me around in the last few days. Two days ago, I walked a mile with my dog, then mowed the lawn. I got part way through that, and I had a coughing fit on the edge of vomiting.
The blood center is short of my type of blood, and I had promised to come in. I decided I needed that blood worse than they did. Give me a few days. I’ll take some temporary pain to help the community, but I won’t make myself sick for them.
I had asthma as a child with occasional attacks (three years I went to summer camp at the coast, and each year I got the worst attack ever on the fourth day. It only took three times for me to figure out I shouldn’t go back there). My asthma combined with lots of allergies and eczema made my childhood a right mess.
But asthma kept me out of the army and Vietnam, even though my last attack was before puberty.
As an adult, it came back as I gained weight and got sleep apnea. The first suggested treatment for the sleeping problem was an asthma inhaler, which only caused my body to react, once the inhaler wore off, by making the asthma worse (in my opinion, sometimes I think doctors are not very bright in the way they throw medications at a problem before they fully understand it). Now I take Singulair once a day, and asthma and other incidental allergies are much better. Wish they’d had that when I was a kid, 40 to 50 years ago.
By the way, that other thread where some dingbat reportedly said that “no-one ever died from asthma” reminded me why I stopped using Serevent - when I heard in a TV commercial for a product that contained Serevent that occasionally death would result! I read up on it, and it seems that Serevent can suddenly stop working, with disastrous results.
I have mild, intermittant asthma strongly linked to allergic triggers.
What this means is that I can go months, even a year or more, between any sort of attack or asthmatic symptom. This gives the illusion of robust, good health. Actually, I am healthy … aside from a chronic issue that isn’t going away.
You asked about misinterpretations. Here are some of the highlights:
Children shouldn’t be on powerful drugs This one doesn’t happen anymore since I’ve been adult, but it was a serious issue when I was younger. Particuarly at summer camp. First of all, there were folks who criticized my parents for allowing the “sickly” child to go to camp in the first place, but maybe it was before it was considered proper to give children with medical conditions as normal a life as possible. I had a variety of problems, ranging from camps that wanted me medicated on a strict and ridgid schedule (leading rapidly to OVER medication) to camps that insisted a family doctor had to phone in permission to medicate each and every time a dose was given. On one memorable occassion, during a particularly bad afternoon hike, I begged for literally hours for my medicine, only to be told I was exaggerating, that I was trying to get high, that I was too young to be trusted with it, that we needed the camp nurse’s opinion as to whether or not I was having an allergy attack (I was fountaining phlegm at that point - either it was allergies or some new and exotic plague), and so on and so forth. Finally, when my eyes swelled up so I could hardly see where I was walking, I could barely talk because my throat was so raw, and I was developing some interesting rashes one of the counselors decided that hey, may there IS a medical problem here. So they carried me back to the main camp building and called my parents to tell them they were going to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital. My parents were, needless to say, in a panic. They demanded to know what sort of horrific accident had occurred. Well, when the truth came out my parents yelled at the camp authorities for ignoring me, told them THEY were being hysterical, give me 50 mg of Benadryl and let me sleep it off and I’d be fine. Next time, medicate when the kid starts complaining, not after an entire day has gone by. Better yet, let me carry a dose with me and I could take care of the problem.
Well, I don’t know what all occurred, but they did give me 50 mg, I slept the rest of the day, felt much better when I woke up, and was allowed to carry 25 mg thereafter, camp policies be damned or something.
You’re too healthy to have asthma! Um, no… I’m healthy because I don’t play games with the condition. I avoid my triggers, I medicate when appropriate, and I get my butt to the doctor (or even ER) when needed. I should not be penalized for taking care of myself.
The real downside of this is that there is little sympathy or understanding for when I get an upper respiratory infection. For me, a cold IS a serious illness and can trigger a week of requiring medications to keep breathing properly, interfere with my sleep, and generally put me at risk for serious complications. What would be a minor infection in someone else can knock me down and knock me down hard. “Toughing it out” is not an option. Taking care of myself does not make me a wimp.
Truth is, since my asthma was not properly diagnosed or treated until my 20’s (although other allergies were attended to) and I’ve had pneumonia several times I have probably suffered some permanent lung damage. My lungs simply do not work as efficiently or as effectively as those of a non-asthmatic. Thus, when I have chest congestion it’s harder for my body to clean out the gunk, which makes it more likely bacteria will set up housekeeping and I wind up with a very nasty infection. I really do have to be careful about these things.
How can you be allowed to fly airplanes with asthma? Simple - the airplane doesn’t care if I can breathe or not. 
But seriously, folks, it’s not a huge issue.
I am occassionally accused of having lied to the FAA to get medical clearance. Not true. I made a full diclosure at my first medical. The FAA would much rather have someone with a chronic health problem properly treated than someone in denial and flying UNtreated. The former is much safer. Since I can go very long stretches without symptoms and without requiring medication I didn’t even require a special review. There are a couple (very few!) medications I can take for allergies and still fly. If those aren’t enough I simply don’t fly as pilot, solely as a passenger, or I just stay on the ground. Honestly, it doesn’t take a lot of brains to figure out that if you can’t draw a good breath on the ground it’s kind of stupid to go up where the air is thinner.
I am conversant with the FAA rules on this sort of thing, and obey them. If anything, I’m probably more anal about it than they are. Rather like their rule on alcohol - the FAA says 8 hours bottle to throttle but for myself I make it 24 because hey, it can’t hurt to be a little extra careful. I am doing that activity for fun, not to wind up at the center of a smoking crater.
You’re overreacting to that smoke/perfume/dust/whatever No, I’m not. Cigarette smoke really does cause me physical pain. Some perfumes can do that as well. My lungs go into spasm and I have a definite sense of slow suffocation, which is really, really, really unpleasent. It doesn’t matter that no one else in the room is affected - my lungs are much more easily irritated than normal. It’s like an albino sitting on a sunny beach with a bunch of black people. It doesn’t matter that no one else is getting sunburned, the albino is still having a problem. One of the ways I keep myself healthy is by avoiding lung irritants. I sorry you find that rude. Personally, I think it’s rude of people to expect me to put up with irritants that result in 2-3 days of wheezing, pain, and drug requirements for me. I don’t care that your sister/cousin/brother/whatever has asthma and smokes. He/she is an idiot.
A little bit of XYZ won’t hurt you Yes, it will. Food allergies are my most seroius trigger. It makes me sound a little paranoid around food. Well, I’ve got reason to be. I am not required to prove I’m allergic to something. I don’t care if you believe me or not, or consider me a psycho-picky eater. It’s not a matter of “not liking” a food (I actually like many foods I’m allergic to), it’s a matter that certain foods make me seriously ill. Do not shove them in my face, attempt to trick me, or argue with me. Trust me, having to call 911 mid-meal is very disruptive and not at all fun. Alright, it’s been about 14 years since that was required. That’s a good thing. I’m trying to aim for 50-60 years without further catrastrophic incident. Please support me in this marathon effort by not urging me to eat things I shouldn’t.
If I am having an attack, please do not push me down flat Granted, serious attacks are pretty rare for me. But if I want to sit up, let me sit up. Pushing me to lie flat will only make it harder for me to breather. Really. Ignore what you’ve seen on TV. Please, stop pushing me. It is already a struggle to breathe, I do not want to have to add a street brawl on top of it.
Please do not push any miracle cures on me First, I’ve probably heard of more allergy/asthma cures than you have. Second, my medical care is between my doctor(s) and me and is none of your damn business.
More water/megavitamins/vegetarian diet/dairy-free diet/herbs/yoga/magical incantations will not “cure” this problem. Neither will praying to Jesus. Please do not lecture me on my immune system being “weak”. It’s not weak, it’s actually a hittle hyperactive and overpowered which is why I have this problem in the first place. Do not push echanecea on me - it does not help, it actually makes my allergies worse Do not push herbal teas on me - I’m allergic to too many of them.
I actually love cats - I just can’t handle being around them Really, I used to own cats. I like cats. Probablem is, being around cats makes my eyes swell shut, my nose and ears run and itch, and my lungs spasm so I’m back to that slow suffocation thing again. I can visit your home where cats live, but I can’t safely sleep there overnight and I should not touch or pet your darlings. Please do not take this as a personal rejection of either you or your pets. I will happily marvel at their antics, sing praises for their feline beauty and maybe stratch their heads and chin (followed by a quick dash to the sink to thoroughly wash my hands) but I cannot have them climbing on me, sitting on me, or rubbing themselves on my face. Dusting/vacuuming will not take care of the problem.
Do not blame my parents It’s not their fault, either. Never in a million years would they have wished this on their kids. Except mom would rather die than quit smoking - literally. That probably was not good for me growing up, but addiction is an ugly thing. At least I didn’t have to worry about my parents burning down the house while freebasing cocaine or cooking up methamphetamine. Anyhow, you can’t blame the cigarettes, at least not entirely - I have a niece and a nephew who grew up in smoke-free homes who both have allergies/asthma significantly worse than mine. Not that anyone believes that - both of them are “too healthy” to have such a chronic health problem! Of course, they’re healthy for the same reason I am - they don’t screw around playing games with their health. They take care of themselves, medicate as ordered, and when things start to flare up seek help before it erupts into a crisis.
I’m not having a problem because I was careless I don’t care how good you are at managing a chronic health problem - every once in awhile it will flare up.
I’m not malingering or doing this for attention, a.k.a. some days are better than others Seriously, I’ve been accused of this many times. I hate being sick. I hate missing stuff because I’m feeling sick. I know my body. It’s a feature of many chronic problems that while one particular day I may be up to a certain activity, the day before or the day after I may not. Toughing it out, pushing myself, etc. is not wise because it can lead to extended periods of lying in bed feeling quite ill and weak.
Likewise, some days I’m more adventurous than others. If I’m already having allergy problems, or getting over some upper respiratory illness, I will be more cautious in diet, activity, and environment. Fortunately, the people where I currently work are very supportive (mostly) about this. When I’ve been sniffling and coughing for a couple days they understand when I decline the most recent office goody and say I’m not feeling adventurous in food today, or decline a walk somewhere on a very cold day (even though normally I’m a winter sports enthusiast). My system is already under stress, it doesn’t need more.
Don’t limit me unnecessarially There are Olympic athletes who have asthma, obviously this doesn’t HAVE to be a crippling disease. I exercise, I go camping, I worked on a horse farm, I enjoy gardening, I like walks in the woods, I fly airplanes, I play wind instruments including the bagpipe… Please do not assume any activity is off limits. In some instances it’s no problem at all. In other situations I must take some precautions - gardening, for example, requires gloves and sometimes a dustmask. Sometimes there are seasonal considerations - I don’t go for walks outside when particular plants I’m allergic to are blooming. However, I can certainly enjoy blooming plants I’m NOT allergic to, and intend to do so. Once in a very great while I find something truly incompatible. Trust me, I have the sense not to continue such activities.
You know, the above actually makes for a somewhat satisfying vent. Thank you for the opportunity.
I have a much milder case of asthma. Mine is allergy related and as long as I take my meds and since we gave away the cats, I have no problem. I understand that other people are much more susecptible to triggers and allergens and such, but that does not make those people “weak”. Asthma in TV and movies is usually given to the knock-kneed little dweeb with the thick glasses and braces who doesn’t play sports. Which is, of course, complete crap. Like that stupid program Doogie Howser was in with Monk, “Stark Raving Mad”?, his nervous wimp of a character also had asthma. How original.
Another lifelong asthma sufferer here.
Like DaddyTimesTwo I seem to fall onto the milder end of the spectrum of people responding so far. I have never blacked out while having an attack or felt like I was going to die, and I have never been hospitalized.
However, my condition did put quite a serious crimp in my ability to have a lot of the normal experiences of childhood, namely being able to run around screaming like an idiot without being brought up short gasping for breath after (literally) a minute or two, and then having to rest for hours or even days before I could breathe normally again.
I also don’t remember any attacks being triggered by cigarrette smoke or perfume or the like, though I ardently believe the people who say such things cause them a problem. The fact of the matter is that with indoor smoking effectively banned, and no one in my family or circle of friends who smokes I haven’t really been exposed to it in a long time.
My triggers are excercise in cold, dry, air. Also, sneezing would formerly set off a mild attack. This has been fixed by my taking Flovent as a preventative the last couple of years…it has essentially eliminated attacks for me. I can still be vulnerable however when I get a cold, which often leads to bronchitis and then a disposition toward more attacks. Another trigger in years past was my acid reflux, which is also now under medical control.
As far as misconceptions, my main gripe is people who misunderstand allergies in general (asthma is an allergic reaction). I used to get a lot of “allergies are all in your head”. Also “You’re allergic to cats? How come you don’t like them?” Uh, I do like them, I think they are neat interesting animals and can have a lot of personality. I also happen to be wildly allergic to them and can’t stay in a house with them for more than 12 hours without pharmaceutical support.
Oh, another good one: “I know you are allergic to cats but you can sleep in this bedroom, the cats never go in there!” (RIIIIIGHT!). Also: “I know you are allergic to cats but you should be OK, I vacumed the whole house!”
A recent misconception was someone who really should know better who told me asthma was caused by anxiety, in other words I couldn’t breathe because I was stressed.
:rolleyes:
Most of my attacks were stress induced and a few were related to food allergies. I have managed to eliminate these attacks by avoiding the food products that agitate my system. Additionally, I am much better at managing high stress situations now than I was when I was in younger.
I have had asthma for as long as I can remember. It never stopped me from being an active participant in sports. I started playing soccer and swimming when I was 5. In high school was a varsity track runner for four years and I also played football. I only had one attack during a high school sporting event and it happened during a football game and it was not after just running a great distance.
One of my gym teachers actually tried to sit me out during class. We were doing the mile run in class and she came over to me while the class was stretching and recommended that I sit out and take an excused for the activity. I told her that my warm-up run at practice that afternoon would be twice as far as our class activity. After more pleading she reluctantly let me run.
As much as I always hated the overbearing reaction that people give when they see the inhaler, I guess I understand what is going through their heads. If someone who is unfamiliar with asthma sees me sucking wind after running a few miles, then they are going to get very nervous. I just wish they could understand that by now I have a pretty good handle on my physical capabilities. I did not make it to 21 by taking numerous unnecessary risks.
Currently, the only time you would even notice my asthma is when I have a cold or the flu. When I get any illness that affects my respiratory system, all of the symptoms come flying back. That is why I will never really be able to eliminate the need for my emergency inhaler. Experience has taught me that going through an entire year with no attacks does not mean that you are cured.
My most unpleasant memory of a childhood with asthma was definitely the medication. By the time I was 7 I was taking four pills three times a day in addition to two inhalers that I took twice a day. I also had an emergency inhaler but that was reserved for attacks. As a child, it was very difficult for me to understand the necessity of taking pills when I did not look or feel sick.
I have only been hospitalized three times and one of the times it was completely due to the fact that I had forgotten my inhaler. The other two were results of me getting the flu.
You don’t have asthma because you’re anxious… you’re anxious because you can’t breathe. Perfectly understandable reaction to suffocation.
Just wanted to add that modern meds and inhalers are wonderful. As a kid in the 60s, my doc thought I was too young to use inhalers. So I have too many memories of staying home from school for days at a time with no treatment other than ineffective noxious liquids.
And those lovely scratch tests for every potential allergen under the sun. One time I had one that covered my back. Another one covered most of one thigh. Fucking torture.
Broomstick, great post. Love the imagery of asthma attack combined with street brawl: :::wheeze::: :::whack::: ::
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I was diagnosed with asthma at about age 3, this was in the early 60s. Took them an amazingly long time (months) to figure out the diagnosis, for some stupid reason. Apparently they tried all sorts of medications to help me breathe (including tetracycline, which left my permanent teeth a hideous shade of gray/yellow). They finally decided it was asthma. Back then the medication options sucked (no inhalers). They did put me on a long course of allergy shots, which may or may not have helped.
My mother told me that as a 4-ish year old I’d go out doors to play in the winter, get winded, and lie down in the snow :eek: Obviously I survived somehow.
I remember things getting better for a while, then worsening quite a bit around 4th grade for a couple of years - I stayed indoors at recess during colder weather for several years because cold was a major trigger for me. It improved again to the point where at age 13 or so I was off the allergy shots and only had occasional symptoms (e.g. when I had a cold), for which I’d take a syrup consisting IIRC of theophylline and epinephrine - that tended to make me shaky and wired so I hated the stuff.
Oh, both my parents smoked. One thing about that that pisses me off is their refusal to acknowledge the contribution of the smoking to the asthma. I’ve since run into people who become livid when their kid’s doctor suggests such a causation. Take some responsibility, people!!
My asthma reappeared, and became a constant companion (daily medication) back when I was 25 or so when we got a cat. Actually, cat # 1 wasn’t a problem, but cat #2 put me over the edge. Years of allergy shots as an adult and I still can’t be around cats for very long.
I had crappy control for a number of years - a combination of doctors who weren’t that knowledgeable about how to really control asthma, weren’t aggressive enough about educating me, and my own misconceptions. For example if I had a flareup, I’d often just hit the inhaler more (I counted 20+ puffs in a single day once!!) or take extra theophylline.
What turned the corner for me was finding some “educate yourself” books on the subject. WHich educated me enough to know more about what I was doing, what questions to ask the doctors, etc. As a result, though I do still have flareups, I’ve never had it get bad enough to be scary (I know what to do for routine flareups, and when to go for help).
My biggest frustrations with asthma are with other people (mis)managing their own or their kids’ symptoms. We know a mom whose daughter flares up whenever she gets a cold. But the mom hasn’t yet learned the lesson of how to respond and escalate when the symptoms start, and as a result, the daughter gets sicker than she should before she gets treated appropriately.
Oh, and BONEHEADED medical people - I’ve told this story here before. We took my son’s friend with us on vacation. He was using Pulmicort via nebulizer (steroid inhalation, very good for controlling symptoms). Mom didn’t want him to have to lug the neb on vacation (though we didn’t mind, we even had our own we could have brought) so asked doc what to do. Doc said “Just stop, have him use albuterol as needed”. No mention of another steroid inhaler to replace the neb. Within 24 hours he was coughing. Within 48 he was coughing a lot. Within 72 he was scaring us. The next morning we were at the ER, and he wound up on oral steroids and antibiotics. All because of VERY BAD medical advice back home.
So my advice to anyone dealing with asthma is educate yourselves, read everything you can, and have plans in place for dealing with the situation - including when and how to escalate at-home treatment and when to go for help.
The real reason that I take my meds and try to otherwise care for myself is that I almost died from an attack. Like Mama Zappa, I was hitting the albuterol constantly instead of using the steroid inhaler like I was supposed to. And we still had the two cats. So, in the middle of my SIL’s birthday party I almost fell down cause I couldn’t breathe (they had a dog and like 4 or 5 cats). And I ended up on a vent for a day in the ICU and went home a few days later. My wife drove like Dale Jr on crack going to the hospital and my lips turned blue and the whites of my eyes turned red because the blood vessels burst from the straining to breathe. Or something, I forget the exact explanation.
So, in short, kiddies, asthma can kill and I know cause it almost got me. Find a good doctor, take the drugs prescribed and follow other suggestions like getting rid of the cats.
I was pretty bad as a kid. To this day, an indoor pool is still an instant asthma trigger (all that chlorinated air).
I have no problem believing there is a significant psychological element to asthma, at least in certain people. As a kid I could go days without needing my inhaler as long as I had one with me. If I ever realised I was away from home without an inhaler, you could bet an attack was coming. People tend to get their backs up when you suggest there may be a psychological dimension to an illness, but that’s a whole 'nother discussion.