Life As An Asthmatic Part 6
Life has a way of making things interesting. I have thought and prayed, and prayed and thought some more of how to do this blog what can I tell you about my life that not only could help me but help you? What can I tell you that will inspire your life and keep me going? Since the last blog the job I thought was going to be a bit more lasting ended leaving me a bit sad because I came to enjoy the people I worked with and although the hours were hard at times it was nice to have something that wasn't too stressful but sadly it ended up being a contract position that although both my boss and supervisor fought for me couldn't extend.
Soon after Troy and I went to our Pastor's house for the church I've now been going to for quite some months and I asked for God to come into my life and that I wanted to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior to forgive all of my sins. Although jobless at that time I felt uplifted and my mind at ease knowing that God was in my life. Since than I worked on the writing challenges that was posted finishing those, dealing with my asthma during various times, going on a few job stuff which lead to now two jobs. I have a part time job I'll be doing starting on Tuesday that I'll be doing until the beginning of March when the job that is full time starts. The full time job will be where I was before but for a different department and it is suppose to be a long term contract so hopefully it will lead into something full time as by this point Wilshire will be IBM.
Beside the things I have been dealing with I have been helping my best friend Adam with various things since his hands have been having problems. He has come to find that he has chronic hand syndrome which is incurable just like my asthma. I helped him through his paperwork to do for disability and get him prepared for bankruptcy. With going through both trying for disability and being denied a year ago and having done bankruptcy recently I knew what he needed and what I could do to help. It required about 4-6 hours of work to get everything done but it felt good. Having God in my life sure has been wonderful it has given me strength to work through things and to trust in Him my life.
So that has been my life in a nutshell lately. Now to go onto some of the questions people have asked about my life as an asthmatic. Katie from my Hyper Squad group had asked if I was born with asthma. The simple answer to that is no. The more complex answer is that I had dealt with it for most of my life in one form or another. My mom was in her early 30's when she was diagnosed with asthma although minor in comparison to mine now a days especially it was scary because as a single parent she is all I had and if something happened to her I would have been very afraid. My uncle also has asthma although his is more allergy induced than mine or my mom's. Since I got asthma at the age of 18 I have had to live with it for now for over 10 years with since 2004 becoming a more difficult time to deal with it especially when quite a bit of it not having health insurance and not always able to see doctor's as much as I would want and it seeming to be more scary as time goes on.
Dave from my Hyper Squad group asked a series of questions that were really great. One of the questions he asked was if I had an asthma attack so bad it endangered my life. Although I have not gone to the actual emergency room one of the urgent care's near my house know me quite well because I have gone there when my asthma was quite bad. Most of those times turning into having upper respiratory infections or bronchitis on top of my asthma. I have had asthma attacks that left me very scared and afraid wondering if I would be able to breathe or if this was going to be last one. Not very positive but when you deal with not being able to breathe and not catching your breathe it's hard to be positive at that very moment.
The second question he asked was if it felt that it was in the danger zone a lot. I feel that it depends on the week much less the day. Some days are not that horrible just a tiny this or a tiny that but if I get a cold or something it feels the worse day in the world. There is probably at least once if not twice at bare minimum a month that I feel that I am in a bit more danger although I probably go to even Urgent Care less than that due to money and finding a way it seems to work through whatever is going on at that moment. The related question after that was about if it causes me to panic when I am not able to breathe or am I able to reassure myself that it will go away and I will be all right.
This one is a bit complex. Sometimes it is hard and I do panic wondering if things are going to get worse before it gets better. Sometimes it is hard to just get through it and feel I will be okay. There are other times that it seems easier to be able to reassure myself that everything will be okay and that this is just a minor set back. There are some days that are easier than others but by the grace of God I do get through it all. As I was telling my best friend as he is dealing with all this hardship that he cannot let it rule your life you got to keep going even when things are the hardest. To not let things keep you down because than you let it win.
Having support is so important in life especially when one deals with certain things that they cannot control. For those that have asthma only every once in awhile I suggest a few things. Always and I mean always keep up with your stuff with your doctor in case things get harder and take what medication you are on the time you are suppose to. Keeping healthy with a good diet and exercise does help but also just remember that anyone at anytime can get asthma and that it can become harder even if you do everything. Make sure you relax and be a sympathetic ear to those that have the same disease that might be dealing with harder times.
Remember to also keep reading about it because you might find things that will help you out. Always remember you are not alone as sometimes it might feel that you are. I do not know if there is a true way to prevent asthma from getting worse. If I knew that I would have done everything I could have to stop mine from getting to this point. I do recommend to also do allergy testing and do flu shots every year even though flu shots don't cover every flu it is important if you are asthmatic and allergy testing becomes important as sometimes even if allergy asthma isn't your main type of asthma it is very important to keep up on what you are allergic too as it might affect your asthma at another point and time.
It is also hard to tell what sort of foods, herbs, and/or vitamins that could help with asthma. There are some things that do help with breathing such as eucalyptus and caffeine does help open up your air ways when you are dealing with tightness and having a hard time to breathe. But as I stated before eating healthy does help not just overall but with having asthma as well. Sometimes as with medications it is a bit of trial and error to find what might work the best for you. There is much more ground to cover and I hope to get more questions. Please feel free to add more.
I hope to expand even more on my life as an asthmatic in upcoming blogs but I hope you enjoyed the answers and the updates on my life. I want to thank you all for your support and help through this all for God has brought you into my life and it is due to that reason and more that I wanted to do this blog series. Until next time remember to be grateful for all you have, support those that you might know that have this disease, and treat each other with love. God bless.
Soon after Troy and I went to our Pastor's house for the church I've now been going to for quite some months and I asked for God to come into my life and that I wanted to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior to forgive all of my sins. Although jobless at that time I felt uplifted and my mind at ease knowing that God was in my life. Since than I worked on the writing challenges that was posted finishing those, dealing with my asthma during various times, going on a few job stuff which lead to now two jobs. I have a part time job I'll be doing starting on Tuesday that I'll be doing until the beginning of March when the job that is full time starts. The full time job will be where I was before but for a different department and it is suppose to be a long term contract so hopefully it will lead into something full time as by this point Wilshire will be IBM.
Beside the things I have been dealing with I have been helping my best friend Adam with various things since his hands have been having problems. He has come to find that he has chronic hand syndrome which is incurable just like my asthma. I helped him through his paperwork to do for disability and get him prepared for bankruptcy. With going through both trying for disability and being denied a year ago and having done bankruptcy recently I knew what he needed and what I could do to help. It required about 4-6 hours of work to get everything done but it felt good. Having God in my life sure has been wonderful it has given me strength to work through things and to trust in Him my life.
So that has been my life in a nutshell lately. Now to go onto some of the questions people have asked about my life as an asthmatic. Katie from my Hyper Squad group had asked if I was born with asthma. The simple answer to that is no. The more complex answer is that I had dealt with it for most of my life in one form or another. My mom was in her early 30's when she was diagnosed with asthma although minor in comparison to mine now a days especially it was scary because as a single parent she is all I had and if something happened to her I would have been very afraid. My uncle also has asthma although his is more allergy induced than mine or my mom's. Since I got asthma at the age of 18 I have had to live with it for now for over 10 years with since 2004 becoming a more difficult time to deal with it especially when quite a bit of it not having health insurance and not always able to see doctor's as much as I would want and it seeming to be more scary as time goes on.
Dave from my Hyper Squad group asked a series of questions that were really great. One of the questions he asked was if I had an asthma attack so bad it endangered my life. Although I have not gone to the actual emergency room one of the urgent care's near my house know me quite well because I have gone there when my asthma was quite bad. Most of those times turning into having upper respiratory infections or bronchitis on top of my asthma. I have had asthma attacks that left me very scared and afraid wondering if I would be able to breathe or if this was going to be last one. Not very positive but when you deal with not being able to breathe and not catching your breathe it's hard to be positive at that very moment.
The second question he asked was if it felt that it was in the danger zone a lot. I feel that it depends on the week much less the day. Some days are not that horrible just a tiny this or a tiny that but if I get a cold or something it feels the worse day in the world. There is probably at least once if not twice at bare minimum a month that I feel that I am in a bit more danger although I probably go to even Urgent Care less than that due to money and finding a way it seems to work through whatever is going on at that moment. The related question after that was about if it causes me to panic when I am not able to breathe or am I able to reassure myself that it will go away and I will be all right.
This one is a bit complex. Sometimes it is hard and I do panic wondering if things are going to get worse before it gets better. Sometimes it is hard to just get through it and feel I will be okay. There are other times that it seems easier to be able to reassure myself that everything will be okay and that this is just a minor set back. There are some days that are easier than others but by the grace of God I do get through it all. As I was telling my best friend as he is dealing with all this hardship that he cannot let it rule your life you got to keep going even when things are the hardest. To not let things keep you down because than you let it win.
Having support is so important in life especially when one deals with certain things that they cannot control. For those that have asthma only every once in awhile I suggest a few things. Always and I mean always keep up with your stuff with your doctor in case things get harder and take what medication you are on the time you are suppose to. Keeping healthy with a good diet and exercise does help but also just remember that anyone at anytime can get asthma and that it can become harder even if you do everything. Make sure you relax and be a sympathetic ear to those that have the same disease that might be dealing with harder times.
Remember to also keep reading about it because you might find things that will help you out. Always remember you are not alone as sometimes it might feel that you are. I do not know if there is a true way to prevent asthma from getting worse. If I knew that I would have done everything I could have to stop mine from getting to this point. I do recommend to also do allergy testing and do flu shots every year even though flu shots don't cover every flu it is important if you are asthmatic and allergy testing becomes important as sometimes even if allergy asthma isn't your main type of asthma it is very important to keep up on what you are allergic too as it might affect your asthma at another point and time.
It is also hard to tell what sort of foods, herbs, and/or vitamins that could help with asthma. There are some things that do help with breathing such as eucalyptus and caffeine does help open up your air ways when you are dealing with tightness and having a hard time to breathe. But as I stated before eating healthy does help not just overall but with having asthma as well. Sometimes as with medications it is a bit of trial and error to find what might work the best for you. There is much more ground to cover and I hope to get more questions. Please feel free to add more.
I hope to expand even more on my life as an asthmatic in upcoming blogs but I hope you enjoyed the answers and the updates on my life. I want to thank you all for your support and help through this all for God has brought you into my life and it is due to that reason and more that I wanted to do this blog series. Until next time remember to be grateful for all you have, support those that you might know that have this disease, and treat each other with love. God bless.
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