Asthma How Hard Life Is With Asthma

[habbopixelz 0]

i am Shelby, i am 15 years old and ive had asthma ever since i was borni hate asthma, its hard to do alot of running and fun sports, and almost my whole family smokes cigarettes, which sucks because when i ask them to please step out side they get all rude and yell at me but they just dont understand how its so hard to breath near the smoke, so i usually have to go into another room and close the door but the unseen chemicals of the cigarette can still seep into the room and give me second hand smoke, ive tried to get my family to stop smoking but they just say "its my lungs i can smoke if i want to" what do you think i should do because i really cant stand smelling another cigarette.

[t3jem 0]

Have you tried telling them that it's not just their lungs but everyone else's too? Also, if they need harder proof, take them to a doctor or even better, take them to several doctors so that they have scientific proof of the damage they are doing to you. It has been proven that second hand smoke is way worse than just smoking so it's a big deal that they don't listen to you. In fact, it probable that them smoking has actually caused your asthma. If they don't want to go to doctors then you could do an experiment, make some sort of filter and get the cigerette smoke to go through the filter to show them the amount of dust that goes through the filter. You can also go online and find information about smoking, including images of what happens to your lungs. Another thing would be to take a white rag/towel/paper towel (damp, not wet) and wipe one of the cabinets or the side of the tv or any hard, dry surface really and you'll see how much smoke is just caked onto everything in the house (trust me, i know, i had to clean a motor home once).I really hope this information helps, good luck, and i'll be praying for you.

[J_M 0]

I have suffered from Asthma myself and it's not just that I've suffered from it that I'm saying this, but it really seems to be like the worst of all diseases. You just can't breathe at all in an asthma attack. It's like dying very slowly. There have been some occasions when I did not have an inhaler with me and I had to spend the whole night without it. It's really difficult without having an inhaler around. It's like your lungs simply have no space inside to hold any air. No matter how hard you try to breathe air simply doesn't go in. Horrible experience.Fortunately my disease has gotten better with time and I don't have many problems now. But whoever is suffering from it, always remember to keep an inhaler with you. Keep a spare even just in case.

[g3place 0]

Asthma can be very hard, I know. I have personal friends who have it. They cannot exercise very well, and they cannot keep in shape. I feel bad for you, because its something that you might have all your life. With future technology, we might be able to solve this worldwide problem. All we can do now is wait.

[RAWRzilla 0]

Mostly what annoys me about having asthma is when people make stupid comments about it.

 

There's this one lad I know who's favourite phrase lately seems to be "I can't breathe". He seems to think it's hilarious, but thankfully no-one else does and he usually gets yelled at for it, which is quite funny.

 

Sometimes, thinking about it, it's hard for me not to verbally lash out at him.

 

When people haven't experienced asthma for themselves, they can't possibly imagine what going through it feels like.

 

Personally, I am lucky enough not to have a constantaneous difficulty in breathing. I can breathe quite comfortably unless I over-excercise (which doesnt take very much, unfortunately, as I am quite sporty, too.) or I become stressed, or have a stomach migraine (even WORSE because then you're having a stomach migraine and an asthma attack at the same time).

 

Also, second hand smoke causes more cancer than smoking itself so no, it's not their lungs, it's your lungs, and anybody else who they have contact with in day to day life.

 

Can they live with the knowledge that they are slowly killing everyone around them?

 

For the benefit of people reading this who have never experienced an Asthma "attack", I'm going to try to explain a little better, from my experiences.

 

Sometimes an asthma attack occurs slowly, you see it coming, feel the signs, get the chest pains, start to wheeze, it's probably the more painful but less terrifying form of attack, in my opinion. You see it coming, you take your inhaler, sit down, pace yourself for a while, and it gradually starts to pass.

 

Personally, however, and to my dismay, I have more experience of the more abrupt form of asthma. This is something that I wrote a while ago, while I was trying to describe to someone what having an asthma attack triggered in your sleep felt like.

 

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night, and all you can hear is this squealing, scraping, panicked noise, like a horrific combination of screaming and trying to grate a rock with a cheese grater?

 

And you have no IDEA what is going on around you, you can't see, you can't think, you just have this enormous feeling of pain and horror.

 

When you've lost all control of your motor functions, and you can feel yourself lying there, convulsing, and you don't know why, and nothing makes sense, because you know all this stuff is going on but your mind doesn't process it.

 

When your throaght is grating, as though someone is trying viciously to claw their way out, and you're desperate to know what the noise is and you want more than anything for it to stop.

 

Then the growing sense of dread in your stomach reaches unbearable and you're brought crashing back down to reality. Unable to control your arms or legs, unable to speak, unable to scream you realise with horror that the noise is coming from you, and with a terrifying realization you know what it is.

 

Because your throaght seizes up and your lungs wont work and that horrible squealing grating noise is your body trying desperately to open your airway even a little and DRAG the air inside, and every SINGLE BREATH sends a wave of agony coursing through your ribcage, and for the millionth time you think it's over. This is it. You are going to die here. It's all over, and you TRULY, truly believe you are going to die.

 

There is nothing more terrifying than that.

 

Yet despite the horrific noise that it's taking your body so much effort to create, simply trying to open your air passage sending mass convulsions all over your body, you know no-one can hear you, but you have to make them.

 

If you don't... the alternative doesn't bear thinking. So you're lying there, feeling helpless, petrifyed thinking each pained breath you take could be your last and you try desperately to regain control of your motor functions, and it's difficult, and it's inaccurate, and it's painful, and it's very primitave, but it's necessary.

 

You end up flinging yourself ungracefully out of your bed and on to the floor, scrabbling desperately around trying to get to your knees, to your feet, and still with the convulsions. But it's not over. The hardest part is walking.

Shakily you half-run-half-fall into the nearest person's bedroom, gasping and flailing, doing everything you can to wake them up, and you desperately need their help because in that kind of situation there's no way for you to help yourself.

 

When they wake, they restrain you, in an attempt to stop you causing further injury, bundle you into a car, and drive to the emergency room, because frankly, it takes too long to wait for an ambulance. You get there and they rush you through, and you still can't breathe and this whole time this horrible feeling of dread and fear is eating away at your insides like an awful parasite.

 

It's too far on for your inhaler to make a difference so you have to have an injection, which they have to hold you down to administer so you dont do yourself any more damage. They give you the needle and they're trying desperately to calm you down.

 

The effect takes a few minutes, but it feels immediate. Breathing becomes easier and your airway slowly starts to force itself open and the relief that floods through you at that moment is your saving grace. The despair and the fear are all gone, replaced by what's probably the best feeling in the entire world.

 

So I'm sorry if sometimes I overreact, if I get scared sometimes, when I can feel a less serious asthma attack coming on, but if you had any idea what that felt like, you would never want to feel that way again. Because it isn't worth all the money in the world. Your security, your hope, your happiness, gone in one horrifying moment. I never want to experience that again, and I live in fear of a repeat of those nights. So if I overreact sometimes, I'm sorry, but I don't care.

That is a description of an attack I had when I was younger, probably my most serious, but to this day I have never gotten over it.

 

I just hope it helps anyone who has never helped that to try and imagine what it feels like for someone.

[organized 0]

There are several substances that causes tightness of the airways like caffeine containing beverages such as coffee, tea, sodas and chocolates. If U have taken these then U cld go into an asthmatic like attacks. Inhaled irritants are another. The attack in here is preceeded by series of cough and then the tightness of breathing happens.Emotions trigger the release of some hormones that tighten airways. When the emotion is controlled, problem is corrected.One cause though, not known to many, is dehydration. The lung is one portal where water is lost from the body. This is noticeable when one breathes out on a mirror or glass. A mist forms. When the body runs short of water, the airways partly closes to conserve water. This causes wheezing and difficulty of breathing. So when water is taken, the body is rehydrated, the airways won't need to conserve water and so opens up for more breathing. U being pregnant share water that U take with ur baby. The baby needs more water than U because he is growing fast to catch up with his development. So episodes of having mild breathing difficulties are common and lots and lots of water is often the answer.Mike

Edited February 12, 2008 by organized (see edit history)

[Morningstar38 0]

Hello all, I just found this site (Xisto)today. I have asthma and have had it since 2003. I am thinking that I have had it most of my life, but I grew up in Tulsa, OK which is very humid and my trigger is very dry cold air. My lung capacity is that of a 15-year-old and I am 47 (i.e. should be 437ml and I can't seem to get it above 350ml on the breathing meter). I have also just learned that my symbicort has been the cause of my cataracts that were diagnosed in March of '09. That almost made me mad, but I feel there is nothing I can do about it.

[iAssistant 1]

That is very tough situation, you are into. Maybe, when they are smoking, try to walk around your garden or talk a walk with your dog to inhale a fresh air. Try to talk to one member of your family about your condition and plead that they stop. Never stop trying to convince them. May the Lord be with you.