Asthma

Project 365 - Day 210
Originally uploaded by mrbosslady

I've been plagued by asthma since I was a child; I was not diagnosed until I was seven but the current theory is that I've had it since birth, but the doctor's didn't recognize it as I am not a wheezer and it was not recognized that you didn't have to wheeze to have asthma until about 15+ years ago.

Having been dealing with rather significant asthma since birth I've become a pro at treating it. I pride myself at knowing my symptoms, my triggers and knowing how to keep healthy. I forced myself to learn because when I was about 14 I lost almost two years of my life to asthma and other medical problems. I was so medicated for this time that it really is a struggle for me to remember anything about that time; due to the meds and being sick it's just gone from my memory.

I vowed that I was never going to let myself get that sick again and once I hit the middle of college I really became proactive about it. I lost over 30 pounds to help my lungs, began to work out, etc. I was the healthiest I have ever been. I was dealing with the disease.

This is why I became so upset when I went to the doctor Monday.

My physician did a pulmonary function test on me to compare to the one I took about 18 months ago. At the time of the first test I was unmedicated (as my insurance had just kicked in after a year without it) and my lungs were at 112% capacity and I was breathing out 93% of the correct materials; Monday my lungs were at 105% of their capacity and I was breathing out 79% of the correct materials.

This is a significant drop and I can only account to it that I have gotten lazy with taking care of myself. I've stopped exercising, I've stopped eating as well and all the other healthy activities I was doing. I'd noticed the circles under my eyes getting more pronounced, headaches had started to pop up more often and I was always tired. Instead of attributing this to asthma as I should have I assumed it was because I was "burning the candle at both ends";after all, in the past year I've left one miserable job, temporairily returned to retail, then took a new office job and made my first feature film. It's been crazy. So I did what I vowed not to do and ignored the symptoms. Now I am paying for it.

I have to kick back into high gear and treat myself the way I know needs to happen. I am not going to let my laziness get the best of me again.