Asthma and me (My Experience of Asthma)

Name: Tracy_1127

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Product:	My Experience of Asthma
Date:	18/07/08 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None!

Disadvantages: Too many to list so read the review!

Asthma runs in our family, lots of my relatives have it and 2 have died from it. So me managing to escape asthma throughout my childhood seemed amazing. However, at the age of 21 I suddenly had an asthma attack for no reason. I started with a persistent cough in the evening and struggled through the night thinking it was just a cough but by the next day I realised I needed help. My flatmate at the time lent me her Ventolin inhaler (the blue one for relief) and I got some help from this so went to see my GP.

The GP was very unhelpful, amazingly even with my family history he insisted it was not asthma and was in fact stress?! I wasn't stressed one bit but he wouldn't have it. There's a common misconception in the medical world that asthma causes not trouble getting air in but getting air out sufficiently to allow enough air in. Now how they've reached this conclusion when asthma causes a swelling and spasming of the airways I have no idea. If the size of the airways is reduced surely this will affect the ease with which you breathe in?? Anyway, he sent me home with nothing. That's right, nothing.

Later that evening my symptoms got so bad my flatmate called a doctor out. It was the same one. He walked into our flat and announced "this is quite obviously asthma" and proceeded to put a capsule of medication into a nebuliser. A nebuliser is used when an attack is happening as the medication is broken down further in a nebuliser and it can be breathed in easier. See, there's that whole breathing in thing again that GP's don't agree with! The nebuliser itself is a machine plugged into the mains with a face mask like the oxygen masks you see in hospitals. He also gave me some steriods for the swelling which are fine and just made me really pale!

So, I'm too breathless to tell him what I think of him and when I gasp out he told me earlier that day it wasn't asthma he assures me he didn't!! Anyway, he leaves me with the nebuliser because I refuse to go to hospital and says if I get worse I have to go to A&E and if not use the nebuliser for a few days then back to the surgery for medication.

I survived, as you can tell! I made an appointment with "the asthma nurse" who is basically a nurse at the practice who has taken courses in asthma treatment. She gives me the standard Ventolin inhaler and a preventative Becotide inhaler. The Becotide should be taken twice daily (amount of dosage and puffs vary) and the Ventolin for relief. So I start taking these and for a while all is well.

My next attack happened after a party when I was walking home. No warning and suddenly I had half a mile to go with no inhaler. I hadn't taken it with me, I was stupid and young and thought I'd be ok. A friend found me gasping in the street and helped me home. I took my Ventolin inhaler and within 15 minutes felt fine but tired. Asthma attacks tend to make you very tired for a few days afterwards.

So a few more years pass and one winter I get a bad cold that turns into a chest infection. Now a bit older and wiser I go to the doctors who test my peak flow. The peak flow test is done using a tube with a mouthpiece that you huff into as much as you can and they measure how far the little marker has moved. They make you do it 3 times then average it which is no easy feat when you're breathless. My lung funtion was down to half what it should be from this simple cold and chest infection. Another 2 weeks on the nebuliser and a course of pale-face steriods and I was fine again.

At our practice if you have asthma they make you see "the asthma nurse" once a year to make sure you're still taking your inhalers correctly (as if I'd have forgotten how since my last appointment!) to test your peak flow and change your medication if you aren't doing especially well. I had mine changed after the chest infection by adding an extra inhaler. This one is called Serevent and it works by relaxing the airways enough to then take the Becotide. Need I point out this is a breathing in procedure that I need help with not a breathing out?!

So a couple more years pass and I'm managing ok, you're never going to be perfect with asthma there's always a bit of a problem with breathing and certain things can set you off when you least expect it. It's doubtful an asthmatic will ever become a long distance runner or cyclist but some are worse than others so it varies what you can manage.

My next attack was a synchronised affair with many other asthmatics! On a holiday to Tenerife my partner and I decided to go up the mountain in a cable car. I thought I'd be ok but I was aware of the risk because the air is thinner the higher you get. Never mind the cable car, as we walked to the bottom of the mountain (already fairly high up) I started my usual gasping for breath and had to stop and rest and take my inhaler! As I rested I looked around and saw a large number of other people puffing on their inhalers and sitting down or bending forward to try and suck more precious air in so mountain climbing is a definite no! Although alarmed I still went on the cable car and when I wasn't walking etc was fine which was a huge relief as we were miles from help!

That was my last noticable attack. Nowadays I up the dose of preventative if I get a cold and use my Ventolin more if necessary. I still have to go to "the asthma nurse" once a year for monitoring but mostly I live at a place where I know I'm not breathing as well as people without asthma but I have enough air to cope.

Things that set me off are dogs, furniture polish, dettol (weird I know!), having a cold, doing too much exercise, pollen, humid days, walking into a very hot room from a cold area, aerosols, dust and obviously the thinner air around mountains!! There are more I'll encounter in the fture I'm sure and possibly some I've forgotten too.

If you get asthma in childhood you have a chance of growing out of it but if you have adult onset you won't. The inhalers themselves contain steriods so having to take them long-term can cause problems, I think there's a syndrome called Cushings that can be brought on by using steroids long-term. Most asthmatics I know seem to be clearing their throats often and breathe more by lifting the shoulders rather than using the ribcage which can make exercise even harder.

If an asthmatic gets a chest infection they MUST go to the doctors and get treatment, my sister didn't last year and died at the age of 39 due to her asthma. Basically it's a case of knowing your own limitations and avoiding triggers to keep you as healthy as possible.

I've given asthma one star but only because I have to rate it, I'd really like to give it minus 5 stars!

Summary: Can be controlled to a degree but never perfectly