Im having a wheezy day! (My Experience of Asthma)

Member Name: kiss_me2070

Product:	My Experience of Asthma
Date:	29/03/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Medicine to treat it

Disadvantages: Wheezy, Asthma Attacks

***WHAT IS ASTHMA?***
Asthma is a condition that affects the airways. When a person who has asthma comes into contact with something that can irritate their airways, the muscles around the walls of the airway tightens and the airways become narrower and the lining of the airways become inflamed and starts to swell. Occasionally sticky mucus can build up which can narrow the airways further. All these reactions cause the airways to become narrower and irritated, making it difficult to breath and leading to symptoms of asthma. Asthma can be triggered by Cold & Viral infections, Exercise, Food, Hormones, Medicines, Moulds and Fungi, Pollen and much more.

***MY EXPERIENCE WITH ASTHMA***
I got diagnosed with asthma when I was in first school at about the age of 5. As it was so long ago that I got diagnose I don't remember a great deal of the first few years of so with asthma. How-ever I do remember becoming short of breath and wheezing a lot as well. My mum could hear me wheezing sometimes and it got worse when I had a cold/cough.

I remember going to the doctor and him making me blow into something which was called a peak flow. This had little a white tube which was the mouth-piece and it had numbers from 50 up to about 800 on the main tube. It also had a small needle thing which moved up and down the tube when you blow into it. This was to measure to see how far you could blow the needle up the tube.

I couldn't blow the needle very far and from my symptoms and what my mum told the doctor he said that I had asthma and he gave me a prescription for an inhaler. Any of you who may have got diagnosed with asthma a few years ago may remember the inhaler I got prescribed which is no longer available as there are more updates versions of this inhaler now.

This was a blue inhaler which was quite small and had 2 bits to it. It came in a small blue case with lots of holes towards the back of the case. The lid to the case just simply lifted off. I also got a tub of capsules which is what the asthma medicine was in. These capsules were not to be swallowed, you simply put one in one end of the inhaler twisted the inhaler which broke the capsule in half, you would then put the end of the inhaler in your mouth and breathe in the power which came out of the capsule.

I continued to use this every day as my asthma was quite bad to start off with. As the years went by I needed to use my inhaler less and less. I also got an updated version of the inhaler which was just a simple push down inhaler and breathe in. This was much easier to use and was less fiddly than the other inhaler I first got prescribed.

Shortly after I got diagnosed with asthma, my brother was also diagnosed and a year or 2 later my dad was then diagnosed with asthma. My dad used to suffer from it quite bad and used to have a Nebuliser machine at home, which he used to have to use every night for a week or 2.

My sister was the last one who got diagnosed with asthma a year or 2 after my dad. My sister suffered from it quite bad and still does as she has 2 different inhalers. She doesn't need to take them as much as she used to which is good and my dad never needs to use his inhaler either.

I still have an asthma inhaler, as when its winter and gets cold this irritates my asthma and Pollen and smoky places also affect my asthma as well.
Luckily I have never suffered from an asthma attack so I can't comment on my experiences with that.

***TREATING YOUR ASTHMA***
There are many different types of medicine you can take for your asthma, and your GP will prescribe the best one suited for you to use. Some examples of the medicine you may be prescribed are below:

* Reliever Inhalers - These are blue in colour and nearly everyone with asthma should have one of these as they quickly relax the muscles in the narrowed airway and allows the airways to open wider making it easier to breathe again.

* Preventer Inhalers - This controls the swelling and inflammation of the airways and reduces the risk of severe attacks. This type of inhaler normally needs to be taken every day for the effects to build up.

* Steroid Tablets - You may be given a short course of these is your asthma is severe and these will work very quickly to calm your inflamed airways.

* Spacers - These are for use with the aerosol inhalers which make the inhaler easier to use and causes less side effects.

* Nebulisers - This is a machine which creates a mist of medicine which is breathed in through a mask or mouthpiece. These are used to give high doses of medicine and are used mostly in emergencies.

***ASTHMA FACTS***
* 1.1m children in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
* There is a person with asthma in one in five households in the UK.
* 5.4m people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
* There were 1,200 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2006.
* 56% people with asthma are sensitive to pet allergens.

If you suffer from asthma you can lots of information from the internet, your local surgery and your GP.


(Review also on ciao)

Summary: My experience on suffering with asthma