asthma sucks

[Bob_barker101]

asthma sucks

i have had it for 4 years now and it sucks exspecially when you love to play football, but get to tired to early & in other school activities. I dont know what exactly asthma is, never thought of asking what it does :-\. Can anyone tell me your problems with it, and what it exactly is?

 

[Kawaii]

Google is your friend.

 

[LunarSolaris]

Asthma is a lung disease that primarily affects the bronchial tubes. It basically causes the airways to constrict, thus causing a difficult breathing situation for the asthma sufferer.

I feel for you man, I've had asthma since I was a kid (I'm 34 now).

Asthma can manifest itself in several ways. It can be environmentally induced (meaning, things in your environment such as allergens, cigarrette smoke, etc. can trigger it and cause an attack). Or, it can be excercise induced - meaning that when you engage in physical activity, you can get an attack. Or... it can unfortunately be both.

Asthma can range from being very mild (meaning some airway constriction and difficulty breathing) to severe - life threatening. If you haven't been to the doctor yet (which it sounds like you have been), I'd encourage you to go ASAP so that you can get tested and get treatment.

Luckily the prognosis can be good. There are a wide variety of medicines that can be taken as well as inhalents which can help an asthma sufferer to lead a relatively productive and active life (that is, if you have moderate to light asthma). Inhalers such as Albuterol (which is what I use) can be used on an "as needed" basis and can stop an attack or even be used preventatively if you are engaging in an activity which is likely to provoke an attack.

There are also a plethora of sites online which can provide you some information if you need it.

I hope that helped a little bit. Yeah, it sucks to have it... but I've been very lucky to lead a very productive life despite my asthma. I can do pretty much anything I want to do... I only have to make sure to have my inhaler with me if it's going to be excessively physical to make sure I don't get an attack. I've been very fortunate that as I've gotten older, my asthma has become much less severe.

 

[Bob_barker101]

Thanks for your help.

 

[Cygnus434]

My girlfriend (pseudo-fiance?) has mild asthma. She's had 1 minor attack since I've been with her (will be 2 years in October)....

She doesn't really get winded and claims that her lungs have gotten better since having it because it forces her body to operate normally on less air over time?

Anyone have any claims to something like that?

 

[LunarSolaris]

Any medical professional is going to tell you that diminished lung capacity is never a good thing. I can imagine that she has learned to adapt to having a diminished capacity, but her lungs shouldn't be any better... they are still diminished.

It's possible that her asthma has improved over the years though... that's what has happened with me. I used to use my inhaler as much as 10 times on a bad day... now I use my inhaler maybe a couple times a month. I consider myself very lucky that it is minimal now.

 

[Canadia142]

last year in pe there was this kid named josh and whenever we would run the mile we would always find him passed out(maybe i don't know) when we ran by the parking lot. It was kinda funny cause he would just be laying there with his arms and legs spread out across the ground.

Now when I say it's funny I mean the passed out part not the asthma part. That would suck to pass out everytime you run.

I had asthma until I was about 7 years old then it just went away. Now i have to deal with allergies :rant:

 

[Freemason]

My asthma causes me to cough once every 15 to 30 minutes. The cough usually causes the bronchial tubes to quit the swelling. Not that big of a deal, just annoying as hell. I treat it with two puffs every 8 hours as needed.

I've been looking for an herbal remedy but so far haven't been successful. Inhalers slowly damage your vocal cords. So I'd rather drink a tea that does essentially the same thing. I'm sure the Chinese have something like that. 5000 years of herbal medicine is hard to argue with.

 

[bigD72]

Just get someone to drop kick you in the throat, that should clear things up...or make them worse, I forget which :scratch: .

 

[DarkHelmet]

Just get someone to drop kick you in the throat, that should clear things up...or make them worse, I forget which :scratch: .

i've been kicked in the throat before. it's the second one. i've had asthma since i was 7 (18 now). it used to be where i'd use my inhaler about 4 times a day, then my doctor gave me singulair, and advair. now i used it once or twice a month on average. it's gotten so much better that now i can do pretty much anything i want. i even teach martial arts.

 

[piff]

I have asthma. It used to be worse. Now it only bothers me when I run long distance and when I am sick. If you take an inhailer, you should be fine for a little. I've had emergency room worthy attacks, so I know how bad it sucks, but I also know that you can live normally with it. I play volleyball on my varsity team at school, and asthma only bothers me in conditioning, where we run a lot and the weather is on the fritz and at the end of the season, when it's hot out. Even then, with the inhailer, I'm ok.

 

[Cygnus434]

hmmm....

Anyone know the history of asthma? Is it a fairly recent condition that has come about?

It's starting to seem like a ton of people have it....

 

[Canadia142]

hmmm....

Anyone know the history of asthma? Is it a fairly recent condition that has come about?

It's starting to seem like a ton of people have it....

Asthma was created in the 1960's by Russian scientists as a type of biological warfare. It was sent to the United States and has since gone around the world.

Damn commies

 

[sunbearie]

Asthma's been around for a very long time but it can be environmentally induced, hence the significant increase in the number of people who have the condition in recent years.

Basically, my advice to you is to keep exercising. You do get winded really fast but you can overcome it. There are plenty of inhalers etc though you should try your best to keep dependancy on these to a minimum. Most of my country's national swimmers are asthmatics :lol: They all got asthma when they were young, so over-zealous mothers on advice from doctors that exercise is good for them (eg. swimming improves breathing) forced them to swim everyday. :lol: It paid off though.

 

[{KOW}Spazed]

Asthma is not new - as it's recent "popularity" seems to suggest - Asthma like symptoms were first recorded 3500 years ago in an Egyptian manuscript called Ebers Papyrus. The word Asthma was also seem in Homer's Iliad. The word means "Laboured Breathing" in Greek. The word Asthma was first used to describe an illness 500 years later by the famous Greek physician Hippocrates. The Romans used to treat asthma by giving sufferers Owl's blood in wine - more like Magic then Medicine !!

The first book specifically about asthma was written in AD 1190 by a Spanish doctor, Moses Maimonides. He was physician to the Sultan Saladin. Maimonides wrote that asthma was characterised by sudden bouts of breathlessness, his treatments included copious amounts of chicken soup and sexual abstinence !! He also advocated the Holistic approach and had the humility to admit that he lacked a magical cure.

Physicians during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries realised that asthma was due to constrictions of the Bronchi (The airways into the lungs). One doctor called asthma "Epilepsy of the lungs" reflecting the sudden and unpredictable nature of asthma "attacks".

Throughout history there have been several reports of folk remedies - some of which probably worked like today's Bronchodilators - drugs that counteract the constriction of the airways. It was not until the 1960's that physicians discovered that asthma is an inflammatory disease. The immune system of asthmatics is overly sensitive to "triggers" (such as pollen, animal fur/hair and house dust mites). This discovery started a revolution in the treatment of asthmatics - instead of just treating the constriction of the airways doctors now treat the underlying inflammation as well.

As we head into the 21st Century doctors have a vast arsenal of drugs and treatments at their disposal allowing asthmatics to lead normal fulfilled lives.



Again Google is your friend.

 

[Cygnus434]

Asthma is not new - as it's recent "popularity" seems to suggest - Asthma like symptoms were first recorded 3500 years ago in an Egyptian manuscript called Ebers Papyrus. The word Asthma was also seem in Homer's Iliad. The word means "Laboured Breathing" in Greek. The word Asthma was first used to describe an illness 500 years later by the famous Greek physician Hippocrates. The Romans used to treat asthma by giving sufferers Owl's blood in wine - more like Magic then Medicine !!

The first book specifically about asthma was written in AD 1190 by a Spanish doctor, Moses Maimonides. He was physician to the Sultan Saladin. Maimonides wrote that asthma was characterised by sudden bouts of breathlessness, his treatments included copious amounts of chicken soup and sexual abstinence !! He also advocated the Holistic approach and had the humility to admit that he lacked a magical cure.

Physicians during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries realised that asthma was due to constrictions of the Bronchi (The airways into the lungs). One doctor called asthma "Epilepsy of the lungs" reflecting the sudden and unpredictable nature of asthma "attacks".

Throughout history there have been several reports of folk remedies - some of which probably worked like today's Bronchodilators - drugs that counteract the constriction of the airways. It was not until the 1960's that physicians discovered that asthma is an inflammatory disease. The immune system of asthmatics is overly sensitive to "triggers" (such as pollen, animal fur/hair and house dust mites). This discovery started a revolution in the treatment of asthmatics - instead of just treating the constriction of the airways doctors now treat the underlying inflammation as well.

As we head into the 21st Century doctors have a vast arsenal of drugs and treatments at their disposal allowing asthmatics to lead normal fulfilled lives.



Again Google is your friend.

That's kind of interesting. I remember reading parts of a translated Ebers Papyrus got my Ancient History class...don't remember seeing anything being described similar to asthma.

Maybe "round worms" was asthma...hehe.

 

[Anakha1]

I have mild asthma. It doesn't stop me from going for a run every day, though, so I guess I'm lucky. It still sucks on military ops, though. On cold days it especially acts up.

 

[Stevinator]

I thnk it's common for kids to have...and the lucky ones just grow out of it. I had one attack when i was pretty young...it was very scary...i just couldnt breathe...luckily someone gave me another kids inhaler and I was okay. I ended getting bakc int he game in the second half...the doctors told me to buy and inhaler...I never used it again...it was weird. the doctors were sure it was asthma...but i never had another symptom and they said I must've grown out of it. my brother unfortunately does have it...he's almost better....very rarely uses his inhaler now...but if he goes in smoky bars(downstate the bar age is 19) he still brings it with him. he's had several attacks, but none recently. I remember him turning blue(well maybe not that bad...it was freaked)...I had to shove the inhaler in his mouth and push on his chest--i don't know if the chest pushing did anything...but he made it through. kid scared us all a lot of times.

 

[LunarSolaris]

Here's an interesting bit of information regarding parents with children that engage in the manufacturing of methamphetamines...

90% of the children exposed to this manufacture are reliant on inhalers and have lung problem.

Likewise, children of smokers also have a much higher prevalence of asthma (though I don't have the exact figures).