Let Me Explain: Life as a Chronic Asthmatic

I'm sitting at emergencies right now, just after having a nebuliser placed on my face to help me breathe.

As I am sitting here, I am thinking about how often we take the small things for granted sometimes. Like breathing. Even as a chronic asthmatic, I start taking it for granted when my lungs and trachea are working at proper capacity.

It's when things like this happen that remind me how important something like breathing is. And if you are someone who has never had asthma, you will never understand. You might have been out of breath or had bronchitis which caused breathing problems. But it is nothing like chronic asthma.

Let me explain...

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EXERCISE

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To most of you, exercise is something you do if you want to stay fit, grow some muscles, lose weight or prepare for an athletic event.

For me, it's compulsory for my asthma. If I want to live longer I need exercise to increase oxygen circulation to my lungs and increase my lung capacity. Swimming and jogging are usually good for these, but I try to throw some resistance training in too.

The thing is, I don't always exercise as regulary as I need to. Which means my lungs dont always get the workout it deserves. And at 38 I need to start taking my exercises more seriously.

As an added benefit I will get a great body out of it. But I always need to use my asthma pump before a session to make sure my lungs can cope with the strain.

So once my body has healed from this infection, guess who is getting back into shape. That's right, me.

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BALANCED DIET

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Eating healthy is also necessary for me as an asthmatic. The problem is, I can't just go crazy for fruits for vitamins like I want. Certain fruit, like guava and mango especially in juice form, flare my chest and causing some mild breathing problems.

Coupled to this is the fact that I need to eat right for my exercising. Protein, fats, carbs etc. If I don't eat properly then my session will end up being a fail.

Yoghurt is very important in my diet. It serves as a probiotic, helps collect the right bacteria for mg body and helps maintain the right levels of fat.

When I was 23 I joined the gym. They measured me up and told me I was underweight, had low blood pressure and had 0% fat. Don't be jealous yet. For a man my age I am meant to have at least 20% fat in my body. Anything under is very unhealthy. Alright right now I am at 24% fat according to my scientific scale, which means I am slightly overweight.

I digress. By eating the right food, I make sure my body gets what it needs to fight off infections. The illnesses I get the most every year are sinus, throat, amd chest related. And they always affect my asthma. Every time.

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NATURE AND ALLERGIES

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Mother nature, as much as I love her, is my greatest enemy sometimes. And I mean that in the nicest way ever. With asthma, there are some inherent allergies that just come with it.

Spring brings pollen. Spring is actually my favourite season, but I can't walk through a park or nature reserve without the pollen attacking my sinus and closing my trachea. And then I need to use my pump to open my trachea again. You may have noticed from my other posts that i love growing trees and bonsai from seed, but when it is flowering time, out comes the pump and allergy tablets to fend off the snotty nose.

Summer brings with it the dry air and heat. When it gets too hot, I also struggle to breathe. There just doesn't seem to be enough fresh air in the air for me.

My chest also has a massive problem with extreme cold. So when autumn and winter come with their cold nights and rain, my chest hits closed in the middle of the night while I am sleeping.

And I am a real pluvophile. I love the rain.

Cleaning the house is also an arduous task. Any form of dust attacks my sinus first and then my trachea, before I have lung problems. I usually have to clean with a mask to protect myself, but even then some of the dust lingers in the air.

Finally, animal fur. I have 4 dogs and 6 cats. At first the fine hair killed my sinus for a few weeks but once I was used to them I was fine. Yet let me meet a new animal or walk with my kids through an animal farm, it's over.

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MEDICATION

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Now I know what the doc will give me later for this infection I have. There will be antibiotics for the infection, a syrup for the coughing and phlegm, and sinus tabs to clear my sinus and to stop the extra production of mucus.

The extras for my asthma will include a new pump, my chronic asthma refill that I have to take every morning and night, and prednesone tabs to open my chest up every morning, plus a liquid refill for my nebuliser at home.

The thing is my chronic asthma pump for every morning and day. There are many times I forget to take it, sometimes days in a row. You see, this medication keeps the muck off my lung branches. It has to be taken daily for it to come into full effect. The moment I stop, the mucus builds up in my lungs again and I have to start all over again.

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LAUGHTER IS NOT THE BEST MEDICINE

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I just saw the doc now and I was right about the bronchitis. And the meds. But chatting to the doc I remembered one more thing that complicates my life.

Laughter.

My wife will know when I'm enjoying a good comedy. When I reach for my pump so I can breathe. Some heavy good laughter closes my chest completely. I try to keep my laughing internal with just a smile on the outside. Or restrict it to a giggle.

Laughter is bad medicine to me, but I am such a happy person and I love smiling and laughing as often as I can.

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WHEN LIFE IS PERFECT

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I have had asthma my whole life. I have suffered it my whole life. When I was 22 my doctor told me if I don't look after my lungs I won't make the age of 40. My lungs would collapse by then.

It wasn't always this bad. About 3 years ago I went through what I call the perfect year. I was in my third year of kung fu martial arts, so my exercise was on par. I had researched nutrition and had changed my diet. I was taking my chronic meds every day without fail.

I could laugh as hard as I wanted and didnt need my pump before my kung fu class. I could run around the block and simply be out of breath like a normal person.

So what went wrong? I made the human mistake of getting used to feeling healthy and forgetting my reliance on my chronic medication. So that stopped. Also, my wife and I had bought a house near my work, and we had our second child. This meant stopping my kung fu to reduce travelling and also be there for my wife with our two children.

Of course, I am not blaming anyone but myself. I could have trained at home still. I have a gym set at home and I knew my martial arts off by heart. It took several months of not exercising and forgetting chronic meds before my first asthma attack happened again.

It doesn't mean I can't get back there. This post is a promise that I will. It is also a reminder to all of you out there to not take health, diet and fitness for granted. For some of us this is imposed on us if we want to live. Don't wait until it is too late.

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Header Image: Pixabay Mobile App

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Kind regards

Shaun M Jooste

Joint-Owner: AIR Entertainment (https://airentertainment.biz)
Director: Celenic Earth Publications (https://celenicearthpublications.wordpress.com)
Author, Screenwriter, Gamewriter, Journalist (https://celenicearth.wordpress.com)