Asthma has not always been in my life, but just a couple of years ago I was having trouble breathing. I had no idea what was going on with me, I was having tightening in my chest and trouble catching my breath. Asthma controls many peoples lives, after people find out that they have asthma they feel they are controlled by this. That's not the case though, you can overcome this obstacle and live your life to the fullest. Coming from someone that has asthma, there are many ways for you to live your life with out being controlled by your asthma. This will always be part of my life but I control it and it does not control me.
SYMPTOMS
- Tightening/ pressure in the chest
- wheezing
- shortness of breath
- Airways closing
- coughing
- trouble sleeping
A little about me and my asthma.
As I grew up I was active and was involved in many sports, including track, soccer and gymnastics. When I was 13 years old I was diagnosed with sports induced asthma, this was devastating coming to someone that was very active and loved playing sports. At first i slowed down on my activities because my asthma was bad enough to scare me out of playing. I quite gymnastics only a year after i knew i had asthma, but i continued to play soccer and track. My doctor had told me that my asthma should not stop me from playing my sports and from doing what i love. So i went on doing what i love and that was playing soccer, i focused most of my time out on field and determined to concur what had a hold on my life. When i was around 16 my sports induced asthma had almost completely vanished, my breathing while playing soccer was no longer affecting me. I was asthma free for a couple of years. When i turned 18 i started to have real tightening in my chest and i felt like my airways were closing. I went to the doctor and he had told me i now have asthma and it was triggered by smoke, dog hair, and dust (some common allergies to most people) but these certain things really set off my asthma . I was prescribed an inhaler to take twice a day or whenever my attacks happened, which is usually at night. Devastated by this news again, i knew this time my asthma was more sever. I now control my asthma attacks with the prescribed medication and i am in control of my own life, asthma does not control me!
Video on asthma!
Ways to help manage your Asthma!
There are many ways for you to manage your asthma. From personal experience it help me to exercise and eat right, it keeps me in shape and my attacks are not as sever, compared to when i don't work out. Eating right is huge for me, i do my best but i'm not always eating the right things, and when my diet changes so does my breathing. Controlling your asthma is all you can do to help yourself so you want to do whats best for you and your body when it comes to the severity of your asthma. Keeping your stress level low is a good thing as well, when you get heated about something or stressed about work or school, i know for me, my breathing changes and i kind of go into a little panic attack. so the three main things i recommend to manage your breathing are, eating right, exercise, and low stress level.
IF I CAN LIVE WITH ASTHMA AS A 20 YEAR OLD SOCCER PLAYER, WORKER, AND A FULL TIME STUDENT, I THINK ANYONE CAN HANDLE THEIR ASTHMA. AS LONG AS YOU TAKE THE STEPS TO MANAGE IT, YOU CAN LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST WITH NO RESTRAINTS.
By: T.J