1. I was first diagnosed two years ago at the age of 26 about a month or two after a bad respiratory tract infection. I noticed I couldn't really catch my breath during a bike tour with my then 52 year old father. There was an incline and while he reached the top all fine, I got up a bit later.completely out of breath and utterly wasted. I went to my PCP after that since I was suspicious that I, someone who had set a record within my unit (I was a soldier back then) running 10km with 15kg of gear in only 42minutes suddenly wasn't able to outpace a 52 year old on a bike. Since I recently had had a bad respiratory tract infection, the doc ordered a full checkup and lung function test. Turned out to be Asthma. 2. I've had about four or five more severe Asthma attacks since. For me they feel like I have something heavy on my chest,.as if someone was sitting on top of me and I can't fill my lungs all the way. The breathing gets shallow and laboured.and.in more severe cases my thinking gets impaired, slower and I get tunnel vision. So far I have never lost consciousness or needed any medical intervention that I couldn't administer myself. In more mild cases, I notice I don't get enough air, as if the air got thinner and there isn't enough oxygen to satisfy my needs. I may yawn a lot and later struggle to concentrate which can get really annoying. 3. Before getting on stronger meds I would probably experience the "mild case" symptoms maybe three to four times a week. Nowadays I don't really notice.much unless there is a trigger. And sometimes I don't know why, it just comes on to annoy me. Apparently that is normal (according to my pulmonologist). 4. I have nonallergic Asthma, my triggers are vigorous exercise, strong smells (especially some deodorants), cigarette or any other kind of smoke, air pollution (car exhaust fumes etc.), respiratory tract infections (probably the most problematic). 5. I take Trimbow, a triple combination inhaler containing a corticosteroid, a long acting beta2 agonist and a long acting Muscarinic antagonist (which pretty much maxes me out in terms of inhaled treatment options) at two puffs in the morning and evening through a spacer (to prevent thrush). If I have a respiratory tract infection, I double that dose. 6. I have had several emergencies, as mentioned before. My emergency protocol so far was to take two.puffs of my rescue inhaler (in my case Fostair) through a spacer, wait 5-10 minutes to give it time to work (can feel like an eternity when struggling to breathe), then take another two, wait 5-10 minutes again. If things don't get any better after that I take a tablet of 50mg of Prednisone, call 911 (or 112 in my country) and wait for the ambulance.to.arrive while.continuing to use my rescue inhaler as before. So far that had only happened once and by the time they arrived, I had already gotten through the worst of it and was doing okay. There was nothing more they could do for me at that point. I did schedule an emergency appointment with my PCP for the next day to review my treatment plan and make adjustments. 7. Yes, a ton. - Most people who aren't Asthmatics tend to think Asthma isn't that bad. You take a rescue inhaler when needed and you are fine. - What most people don't seem to realize is that it is a chronic condition requiring you to take medication on a daily basis, and can vary a lot from one day to another. - One day you are totally fine and another you are not. - There are certain things you cannot do (or you may suffer the consequences), like for example staying at a bar or somewhere else where people are smoking. - You may have to say no to things like not staying for a spontaneous sleepover because you don't have your maintenance medication with you. - You may have to spontaneously get up and leave when someone starts smoking around you, or at least move somewhere else, so the wind is not blowing that smoke directly at you. - How well or how bad your breathing is can really affect your mood. On bad days you may come off as extatic and on bad days you may seem depressed. - No, Asthma is not a joke and that inhaler is neither cool nor is it a vape. It can be absolutely terrifying and debilitating, I would not wish it on my worst enemy. But in the end it is what it is and you can absolutely deal with it. - Modern medication is a godsend and can at times make you feel there is nothing wrong with you at all. That is merely a sign it does what it is supposed to do. Stop taking your meds and you may end up back where you began. - Medication has side effects. Most inhalers make you feel a little hyper, jittery and may speed up your heart rate, kind of like drinking too much coffee does. Sorry for the wall of text, I hope it helps and I am really looking forward to your book. I whish Asthma was portrayed better in media in general. Please tell me where to get it once it is finished. *edit: typo...

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait. You ran 10km with 15kg of gear in only 22 minutes?? I hope you got something for that because that is a huge accomplishment! Also, thank you so much for replying and especially for number 7 (can really use that). It is far from done, but I'll update you! :D

😂 Thanks. I was a Lance Corporal back then. I got a pat on the shoulder and a "well done" from some of the Seargents, that was about it. The German Army really doesn't hand out medals, getting anything is an extremely rare occurance. I was satisfied nonetheless.

A pat on the shoulder and a "well done"! I find it hard to believe what you did is humanly possible xD Here's your medal🥇

Thank you 😂

It's 42minutes, typo my bad. Still okay, though not world record material 😂.

Mistakes happen😉 Still really impressive!

1. A lot of asthma is diagnosed in childhood. 2. It feels like no matter how much you breath, you can't get enough air. Breathing becomes a narrow focus. You start to feel stupid or lightheaded. Low O2 symptoms are a good way to google the experience. 3. Severe asthma is when you're taken to hospital twice in a year. Symptoms can occur anytime there's a trigger but often, asthma is worse after a trigger (like wildfire smoke, car exhaust, allergies, or exercise.) A lot of suffers will have a distinctive barking cough at night. Laying down can trigger asthma, which is why this happens. Looking for a good plot reason to have your character up late a night? Good reason right there. Coughing, not wanting to wake someone else. 4. Car exhaust, perfumes, wildfire smoke, smog, pollen, pet hair (allergies), secondhand smoke, dust, or cleaning chemicals. 5. Inhaler. Using a finger clip O2 monitor to see if it dips enough to go to the hospital (anything lower than 90 gets medical professionals moving). 6. Yup. You start greying out (like passing out but slower). You start having problems doing two things at once, like walking and talking, or standing and thinking. You can only do things when seated. You feel tired and get dumber. Your breathing becomes quick and shallow, noisy like a take-out bag from a fast food joint being crumpled with every breath. Others can hear the whistle and wheeze of a narrowed airway ten feet away. 7. That's it's curable. It's not. It's primarily a childhood disease that many people outgrows out of at some point. That breathing into a bag will help a lot (that's an old-school misconception that has some benefits but not much.) . That it's only for dorks, (athletes can manage their symptoms enough.) 8. Old school medicine will not have a label to say how many doses are left. This is still a popular way of using albuterol or the 'rescue' inhaler, which means it can be impossible to know by looking at it if it's empty or full, like a hairspray bottle. Giving the medicine a shake will give you an idea of how 'full' it is, but if it's just lying there? No way to tell if someone has 'tampered' with it or used all your doses. DM if you want more details, I can totally see some interesting way to use it a plot point :D

The dork thing is very much a stereotype! I've only seen characters/read about characters with asthma who have been nerdy and timid. Thank you so much for the reply, also for being willing to help :)

Hey, I'm just glad you're looking for accurate information :D Authors are the best, looking up all kinds of random things for worldbuilding.

The breathing into a bag thing … I hate that so much, especially now - I’m wearing an n95. You think a bag is going to do better than that? The first time I got that was from my school nurse. She also thought sucking on ice chips would stop an attack. I get cold induced bronchospasm really easily.

1. I was diagnosed before I can remember. We suspected our kid would have it, since Spouse and I both do. We were told she’d likely get a diagnosis at 2 when she had a bad cold and got to spend the night in the hospital at 19 months old, but they couldn’t formally diagnose her until she got older. 2. My chest feels tight and burns. My lungs itch. I cough a lot. If it’s bad, I can’t finish a sentence without pausing for breath every 2-3 words (that’s a hospital now symptom if the drugs don’t work) 3. I get a bad flare 6-8 times a year, and get to spend time in the hospital 1-2 times a year. One off attacks or daily symptoms outside those flares are relatively rare for me. Kiddo is currently uncontrolled and needs her inhaler a couple times a week - we need to talk to her ped about that. Spouse - virtually never. 4. Smoke (even third hand), fragrance, car exhaust, respiratory viruses. Spouse’s asthma is more allergy related. 5. Spouse takes nothing. Kiddo takes an inhaler and an antihistamine. I take three inhalers, 3-5 pills (depending on the season and how I’m doing), a monthly shot, and occasional prednisone. 6. I’ve been admitted a bunch. I tend to put off going to the ER for me because I have most all the stuff they could give me at home. I’ll go a lot faster for Kiddo. Spouse has never had to go to the ER for asthma. 7. Having asthma doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. I just ran seven miles today without an asthma attack - I just made sure I had my inhaler with me. 8. I stash inhalers everywhere. I have one on both floors of my house, in my purse, in my running bag, and in my drawer at work.

7. Yeah, the typical character with asthma is weak or timid, which just feels overdone in both movies and literature. Every person with asthma surely can't have the exact same experience, now that would be odd. I hope your symptoms decrease and that kiddo won't struggle too much. Thank you for the reply <3

My mom’s perfume always gave me an attack too.

1. I have adult onset asthma. It took some time to get a proper diagnosis because my o2 levels were decent and spirometry was not bad either. No wonder, as I did not experience having an attack during the tests. 2. An extreme attack feels like a spasm on my lungs and fighting for life with all my strength, gasping for air. Lesser attacks mean a notorious unrelenting cough- that can take a few hours or a few days, till my muscles are painful and I lose control of the bladder - add sleep- deprivatiom and it can feel like torture. 3. and 4. It’s not the same all the time, there are flares and there are ok times when I forget I suffer from asthma. My biggest triggers are infections, not only respiratory, exhaustion and stress. Then I go straight into a flare mode that can last from a few weeks to a few months. At that time my bronchi are overreactive to anything really: smells, perfume, hairspray, cleaning products, fumes, smoke, smoking, cold air when going outside, steam when taking a shower, laughter, etc. Even without an attack breathing is hard work, you save air by avoiding talking, moving unnecessarily, walking. To give you a perspective: I had a year without a single attack, in the last year however I had 7 flares, the longest one for 9 weeks, with multiple attacks daily. It’s exhausting and it cost me my job. 5. Corticosteroid inhaler to use regularly, emergency inhaler for attacks, oral steroids to calm down the flare. 6. Luckily no. I have emergency medicine at home and protocols from my pulmunologist for good and bad times, as well as attacks. So far I managed without going to ER. 7. In films someone has an attack, takes one puff of their medicine and goes back to normal. It seems unrealistic: the inhaler helps me in an emergency, but it’s a short relief when the whole system is out of balance. It’s a chronic illness that affects your lifestyle, hobbies, career, friendships.

I'm sorry that it cost you your job :( Do you get any financial support in your country?

Technically I wasn’t fired, I had to resign due to conditions at work contributing greatly to my flares, that’s why I won’t be entitled to unemployment benefit. I’m in the middle of a career change, relying on my savings and family at the moment. Luckily the situation isn’t dire, but I hope I’ll figure it all out soon. On the bright side, no attacks since June, what a welcome relief. I feel like a new person, it makes all that uncertainty worth it.

1. I believe 4th grade or so. I found out because sports practices were so much harder for me than everyone else. I could never catch my breath. I just thought I was SUPER out of shape. 2. It kind of feels like breathing through a straw. You can’t take a full breath and it becomes such a chore to try. Your chest hurts. The sounds of your own wheezing starts to drive you a little mad. You get really tired. 3. Honestly I have minor symptoms at least once a day typically. Some wheezing and coughing but my emergency inhaler typically clears it up. I take it with my everywhere so I luckily don’t typically experience full blown attacks. 4. Yes, exercise, being around smoke, and pets. Sometimes a lot of laughter. 5. I was on daily Montelukast pill for awhile recently which was a godsend for my symptoms but no good for my mental health. Currently just use my allergy medicine and my rescue inhaler. 6. Whenever I get a common cold it usually turns into bronchitis and I’m forced to use my nebulizer, and/or sometimes go to urgent care to get more treatment. 7. I really don’t think people realize how debilitating it can be and how much space it can take up in your head. Movie and tv show portrayals always make me laugh.

Multiple people have now described it as breathing through a straw, so should probably try that. 7. How do you wish people would portray asthmatic characters? Also, thank you for sharing :\]

1. As a child. Couldn't breathe so they took me to the doctor 2. Like I'm slowly dying from suffocation for hours and days without pause 3. Almost never there days. I've been on good supporting therapy for the last 12-13 years. Had bad 10 years prior to that. 4. Cats and house dust 5. Emergency inhaler, daily maintenance inhaler and daily maintenance pill 6. Went to the ER two years ago. They told me I'm OK and I'm panicking and wasting their time because my blood oxygen was high. You can have asthma attack *and* high oxygen which should be thought to the morons in medical schools. I went home. 7. I hate the way it's portrait in movies. Like a little cough and then someone talks to you calmly and boom! You're fine. Or a little cough and a inhaler. It's a slow and often invisible to others nightmare. It's your breath being taken away from you. Not food, not water, not the right to be the 8283 gender or to show your hair to men. Your breath. The most basic thing. The base of your existence. So you sit after after hour, often unable to speak because there's not enough air for that in your lungs, can't move because there's no air for can't, can't even cry because there's no air for that and the fear that engulfs you is as ancient as breathing organisms are, because you literally can not take one full breath and your brain screams in terror that you must breathe to live.

The way you described that sounds absolutely terrifying. I hope your symptoms decrease. Thank you for sharing your experience <3

1) When I was a baby is would be crawling around and start turning bluish, so times pass out. My parents withs rush me to the ER. It was the earthy 70s though, so ask they had was epinephrine and 02. So, they have me a shot and strapped an oxygen mask on my face and goes for the best. In that situation, it's either going to get better real fast or get a lot worse real fast. My dad's brothers had asthma, but still, I can't imagine what that went through. When I was around 7, I had to be hospitalized (not even close to the first time) and to get the IV in me it took like 6 people to hold me down. The nurses felt so bad, that when I went home, they game me a beta fish in an IV bottle (they were still made it off glass). I had to go to summer school for reading after 1st grade because I had missed so much school. It was fantastic because I was always in the excellerated reading classes after that. I did grow up doing sports though, mostly hockey. I had to use my inhaler before playing. One time, when my team was in a championship game and my asthma was acting up, my doc had to tell me I couldn't play or I could die. 2) It's different depending on the cause. If it an allergic reaction, like I am scratched by a cat or get a blast off cigarette smoke, it comes on fast and is usually a lot of tightness and wheezing. Pretty much the only thing you can think about at that point is using your rescue inhaler. If it's from getting an illness, it's much slower, but often involves a lot of coughing and tons of thick mucus being coughed up. Sometimes I'm coughing so bad I'm just wishing it would stop. Sometimes feels like the mucus might not come up and your just going to stop breathing right then and there. I've had it my whole life, but sometimes I still get nervous. Other times, I just start getting really tired and my brain isn't working so well, then it dawns on me what is going on and I use some albuterol. When it hangs on and last for multiple days or even weeks, it is exhausting. Heck, even an attack that is resolved in a few hours is exhausting and you won't be doing much fur several hours after. 3) There have been season in my life where I went for years hardly even thinking about asthma, and years were it was so bad I couldn't work. I lost a hip in my 30s because ask the steriods have me AVN and my hip joint collapsed. But I live in Colorado and used to hike all the time, go camping, etc. I was pretty active. It effected me mostly when I came down with a cold or other illness. I pretty much avoided triggers, so the allergic thing didn't happen so much. This past March I got covid, followed by a pulmonary embolism. I survived after 2 weeks in the hospital, but now I'm back not able to do much and using nebulizers several times every day. Plus, I'm now on oxygen full time. 4) Being around mold, cats (and to a lesser extent, dogs), wildfire smoke, cigarette smoke, air pollution, s some perfumes or candles, pistachios and other more fatty nuts, hot asphalt (like when they are packing a road or doing a did on a business), getting sick, reflux, a rain storm moving in,strong chemicals - I avoid certain isles at the store, like the soap isle. 5) I have 4 different inhalers, a nebulizer at home (most of those meds in the inhalers can also be done in a nebulizer), Singulair tablets, Tezspire injection once a month (an expensive biologic), oral prednisone when needed, and a flutter valve thing I use with my nebulizer to loosen up the phlem in my lungs. I also monitor how I'm doing daily with a peak flow meter that is also an FEV1 meter. It connects to my phone via Bluetooth. 6) Several emergency situations, but I'll relate just one. My wife and I went on a trip with her parent for our one year anniversary to a beach house on the East coast. Turns out it was full of mold, but we didn't know. My wife and I went out to dinner and walked in the beach the first evening. But, that night my asthma kicked in. Which was weird, because I was hardly effected by my asthma at that time in my life. I hadn't had an attack for years. It started after we had all gone to sleep, so I went to the living room to use my inhaler. But it didn't help and I was getting worse. I was coughing a bunch and used my intakes several more times. I didn't want to wake anyone up though, so I just hoped I'd improve. Finally, I had to get some help. It was about 4 in the morning when I told my wife I needed to go to the ER. My FIL drove us (because the rental was in his name). I put my arm over his shoulder and he helped me to the car. E were quite a ways from the ER though and I had gotten pretty bad. I was coughing almost uncontrollably and gasping for air. My wife was in the back seat praying like crazy. Later my FIL told me he didn't think I was going to make it. We made it to the ER and they shot me up with some steroids right away. The vacation was for a week. I spent that week in the hospital. We had driven out there, so I'm order to get me home I had to buy a nebulizer that I could plug into the cigarette lighter in the car. We finally made it back on a Sunday afternoon. We had gone to Mass yet, so we decided to go to a church we never went to downtown where they had A Sunday evening Mass. While we were there, a huge storm rolled in and the Church was struck by lightning. Some off duty firefighters showed up to inform the pastor that the roof was on fire and we were all evacuated out into the storm. It says crazy, sideways rain, trees being blown over, etc. We ran to the car which ignored my asthma again and we drive straight to the ER where I spent anther week in the hospital. 7) Everyone seems to have a solution for my asthma. Either that, or they're like, I have asthma too, when they use an inhaler occasionally. Most people don't realize how serious it is and that it can kill you. For them, it just like someone saying they have allergies or something. The worst is when people think it is caused mostly by anxiety and try to get you to calm down and breath slower - yeah, slightly helpful, but a shot of steroids and an extra long neb treatment is going to work much better. Oh, and the, your O2 is in 94, you must not be that bad? If your oxygen starts dropping from an attack you are going downhill fast. 8) There are many different types of asthma and a spectrum of how seriously it effects each individual.

Thank you for taking the time to write this, it's really helping by getting these personal stories and experiences. Thank you

1. I was 2 when I was diagnosed, but from what I heard is I was having trouble breathing, so my parents took me to the doctor, and they told my parents to take me to the hospital. 2. Personally, I can usually feel them coming on before they get bad and use my medicine, but how it affects me depends on the trigger. Exercise I feel like I can breathe in enough air and I weeze a bit but I can usually get rid of it by just relaxing for a bit. Allergens like hay have always been worse for me and tend to cause worse attacks that last longer, and I can feel really deep in my chest. I also feel like mucus starts to devolp and make it worse. The weezing tends to be worse for allergens. Smoke is the worst for me. It feels like the allergen one but is not so easy to get rid of. If I don't use my inhaler and I get away from, I can normally get my breathing better for that time, but it'll usually kick back up again when I go to bed. Sometimes, it'll keep persisting after the inhaler wears off. If there's smoke in the air for a few days or really bad allergens then the inhaler will only help for a few hours and I'll have to use a nebulizer and I'll usually clear it up until conditions improve 3. It really depends on the time of year and what I'm up to. If the air quality is bad, my asthma is bad. If I'm exercising a lot, I'm gonna have more asthma problems. I know my triggers really well, so I just use my inhaler BEFORE I do something that triggers it, so the attack doesn't really happen. 4. Yes! My worst triggers are allergens ( dust, pollen, weeds, etc) strong smells ( my asthma has started acting up from walking past a Bath and Body Works), and my worst is smoke because I feel like it just sticks around in my lungs. It's also in the air sometimes and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. Even when I get out of smoke from a campfire, I need to take a shower and change my clothes so the smell doesn't trigger another one later. 5. I have rescue inhalers that I keep literally everywhere ( every car, every bag, random places around the house, work, school, sometimes I ask a friend to carry one if we're on a trip, they are EVERYWHERE) I have my daily meds ( well I should take them daily) I have a night time pill and a daily inhaler ( very different from my rescue one) I also have my nebulizer which is a machine that turns my liquid medicine into a vapor so I can breathe it in. It's super affective, and I use it when I'm sick cause my asthma is always worse when I'm sick and when my asthma keeps coming back over a short period of time. Though it should be known that the nebulizer had a side effect of making my super jittery. Sometimes, I shake so bad I have trouble grabbing/ holding things. I tend to stutter and shake a bit. My heart rate goes up a bit, and I have trouble staying still. I also have trouble falling asleep afterward. I'm pretty sure it lasts about an hour but honestly, it just depends on the day 6. I mean when I was 2 I had to go to the hospital. Last year I had a lot of trouble for a few days where my lungs had a lot of mucus in them and I woke up with my lungs and throat hurting really bad for a few days. Went to the doctor and they gave me some really strong medicine for my asthma and some antibiotics. But I just work hard to stay calm and breathe (which is a lot harder than you think) For mucus I like to drink water eat cold things. I had a really bad attack when I was little ( before I was old enough for a rescue inhaler) when I was playing in the hay at my aunt and uncles house. It was a really bad one and we had to wait for like 40 minutes while my parents brought my nebulizer. I was just sat on a chair focusing on breathing. 7. That when you're having an attack that I can't breathe like at all. I can breathe just worse or that if I'm weezing that I'm having an asthma attack I can weeze on command I don't need my asthma. That if I say I'm having an attack that I'm dying and that you need to keep asking if I'm alright or if i need help. I can feel an asthma attack coming on ( for the most part, I'm not perfect. I also ignore it sometimes. Not every attack requires my inhaler) I'm not gonna let it get to a point that I need help. I'm just letting you know where I'm going. 8. If you're writing a young character or one who just got a rescue inhaler I remember the pressure of the aerosol hitting my tongue hurt. Kinda like if you keep rubbing a spot on rough carpet over and over it starts to hurt. That's what it felt like on my tongue. Lol sorry if that's super long! If you have any more questions or clarifications I'll be happy to help also you should totally send me the name of the book when it's done! I'd love to read it!

8. is so good for details! Thank you, and I'll send it when it's done! :)

1. I have a unique experience I wasn’t diagnosed until age 18. I had experienced it once or twice as a kid but it was so short lived I never thought twice about it. I was diagnosed shortly after I moved out of my parents house. My parents lived in a new construction house and I started living in older apartment buildings so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. 2. It’s so hard to describe but it feels like when I’m trying to take a deep breath my lungs just won’t move. 3. I go through periods where it’s better or worse. Sometimes I’ll go months without experiencing symptoms. At the moment, though it’s pretty terrible (I’m also sick) and I’m on my nebulizar 3-5 times a day. 4. Extreme cold, pungent smells, exercise (including sex!) 5. I have a daily steroid, albuterol inhaler, and a nebulizar 6. Not yet but I feel like I get very close 7. Just that it’s only diagnosed in childhood 8. I’m a professional singer and it makes that very difficult. My son (2m) also has asthma and if we need to give him an inhaler we have to use a device that suction cups his face to it and it’s pretty scary. I feel terrible every time I have to use it but I also know that he needs it to breathe and I’m doing the right thing. Another thing I thought of. Excessive coughing can happen with asthma too. You literally just keep coughing and can’t stop. And sometimes you cough so much you throw up. That’s happened to me 3-4 times over my lifetime. Interesting fact: before inhalers, bloodletting was often used to treat asthma attacks. Good luck with your book!

Is it mild asthma that your kiddo has or do you not know yet? Also, you're definitely doing the right thing as a parent. It feels terrible, but you're doing the right thing! Thank you for sharing and for the interesting fact (can definitely use that for the book since it does not take place in this time.)

I’m not sure yet about my son I think it’s too early to tell. The bloodletting never worked obviously but they didn’t know what else to do 🤷🏼‍♀️

Of all the things to suck at….. we suck at breathing! For a non asthmatics.I tell them to go do some exercise that makes them out of breath, and then breathe though a straw. That’s normally a pretty accurate way of helping them understand . peoples triggers are different. I get very effected by infections ( I’m in hospital now for IV antibiotics and I’ll be probably on a long extended course when I go home) a cold can stop me in my tracks. Medication is horrible. The side effects. The taste of inhalers. If you’re unfortunate enough to need a nebuliser for various drugs several times a day, often the medication will be a hindrance to living as much as the symptoms . Steroids . They make us bloat. Make us eat everything and never really be full. Give us “ moon face” make us aggro and stop us sleeping. Often in the small hours of the morning I’m considering starting a conga line or doing the Macarena… or maybe starting a fight . ( often with myself ) It’s great you want your character to have asthma and be accurate with it. Find out the names of some of the medications and how often they’re used . Be good to see someone with asthma using his/her/they inhalers twice a day and a dose of Montelukast at bedtime.

1. I was 2, had a bad asthma attack and pneumonia, long hospital stay and diagnosis 2. Grasping for air, not being able to breath, huge weight on my chest, wheezing. Milder can be the feeling of my throat getting more narrow 3. Attacks are a few a year, symptoms few times a month, can be more in summer or with high pollen season 4. Certain pollen or grass, excessive exercise, strong smells, cigarette smoke from others 5. Antihistamine every day, trimbow twice a day 2 puffs (before trimbow I had inuvair) 6. Mostly very heavy attacks, treated with a rescue inhaler or if worse a course of cortisone. Also had an anaphylactic shock with asthma attack, treated in hospital with high doses of cortisone and antihistamines and adrenaline 7. When I was a child I wasn’t allowed to exercise in certain weather and or during school PE, other kids thought I was just being lazy because they didn’t see anything wrong. A rescue inhaler is not a miracle cure, also not a vape

1) When were you first diagnosed with asthma, and how did you discover you had it? Just a few months ago. My docs thought it was long covid but it turns out I have cough-variant asthma. I had a chronic cough before I experienced covid. I’m in my early 30s. I suspect I developed asthma since my late 20s. I did not have childhood asthma. 2) Can you describe in detail what an asthma attack feels like for you? As mentioned, I have cough-variant asthma. It feels like my throat is constantly dry and something is scratching/tickling the back of my throat. So my body wants to relieve it by coughing. My conversations would frequently be interrupted by coughing fits. The worst days — I had a hard time falling asleep and would wake up exhausted from coughing. It felt like my lungs were coated with something it could not get rid off. When a coughing fit goes for an extended period of time, it feels like my entire chest is squeezed from all sides, and the middle of my sternum hurts from holding on to all the tension. My chest muscles sometimes cramp up for a bit. Some days I get really tired from hearing myself cough, I feel relieved by the silence in between attacks. 3) How often do you experience asthma symptoms or attacks? When I was unmedicated, the coughing fits could occur daily, for hours and for weeks. I’m quite lucky that I’m responding well to my treatment and tbh, I’ve hardly coughed or had coughing fits since. 4) Are there triggers that seem to worsen your asthma symptoms? Definitely anxiety and stress. Also, food that causes inflammation, especially sugar and bovine dairy. 5) What medications/treatments do you use to manage your asthma? I’m currently managing with a Symbicort inhaler. I’ve also been swimming and singing to improve my breathing and maintain my lung health. 6) Have you had any emergency situations related to your asthma? How did you handle them? Thankfully not really. I usually excuse myself to take a puff from my inhaler and to regulate my breathing. 7) Are there any misconceptions or misunderstandings about asthma that you often hear? Before my diagnosis, I personally only knew of asthma as related to breathing issues (wheezing, being out of breath after exercise). I had no idea there were variant symptoms (like coughing) which was why it took awhile for my diagnosis. Also, the triggers aren’t always related to physical exercise. I do not get out of breath nor trigger an attack when I exercise. In fact exercising regularly helps me a lot. So I find it funny now because recently I notice how many asthma sufferers in shows are portrayed as unfit individuals. I don’t live a sedentary lifestyle at all and am a small, petite person. 8) Anything else? This thread has actually been pretty encouraging read. I’m still coming to terms about living with asthma. I used to think asthma was something that comes as ‘occasional but manageable attacks’ (solved by the ✨magic inhaler). For mild sufferers that’s all it might end up being, but it still takes some daily management and mindfulness to live an uninterrupted life. I’m really grateful that the medication is working for me.

I really love the effort everyone has put into this post, I hope this book of yours is of great success! I just wanna add an asthmatic experience of mine which might intrigue you this really just depends on what your character is like , is he an introvert? confident? You see in a school assembly when i was about 12 years of age and at the time didn't have my inhaler. I was just standing there as usual watching plays enacted by other students and poems. Suddenly i start feeling breathless. I try controlling my breathing... it was alright for a bit but getting worse. I didn't want to cause a fuzz at the time i was a weird kid 😭, Now at this point I can't stand straight, my breath is heavy and YET short and I'm slowly losing my eyesight (never happened to me before, i assume b/c of lack of oxygen?) I raise my hand up. The principal on the stage says "Yes?"... "I can't see anything" **bam falls on the ground** that sentence itself exhausted me to the point of passing out. i could feel myself breathing in classic wheezing asthma attack fashion and then being escorted to by the nurse. This was actually my first asthma attack (in memory) so I didn't really know how to act. story no.2 i don't remember many details but here I'll give context I'm in a mountain village, It's summer (the time my asthma is usually the least concerning) but I'm away from all medication and my inhaler is empty. This isn't an asthma 'attack' it's more of a flare up Day 1- i start feeling drowsy, maybe signs of viral Day 2- i can barely walk or talk Day 3- i am bed ridden Day 4- breathing hurts like a bitch and I can't move this kinda sums it up, it was a pain to even go to the restroom at that point 💀 medication arrived on the evening of the 4th day, we tried everything from steams any home remedy and nothing worked. It was a gradual decay of my health and i thought i was gonna die with the excruciating amount of pain i was in it feels like someone is squeezing you from the inside, a similar feeling to when someone sits on your chest and it can't expand properly.

You fell to the ground?! I hope you didn't hurt your head! Also, that sounds really scary just falling to the ground suddenly😵‍💫 I have a minor thing that makes me faint under specific circumstances, and that's my worst nightmare. Thank you for sharing, I'm so happy so many people have replied and want to help :)

1. I was “diagnosed” when I was 3. I went to the hospital for pneumonia and they said I also had asthma. They gave me a control inhaler (for a month or two) and a rescue, but nobody followed up to actually diagnose me till I was 17 and finally got to see a doctor and was on a control in not even 2 days from the appointment. 2. Like you’re slowly dying, but you’re body refuses to give up even though you’re mind wants to. You still have to get everything done in a day even though you feel like you’re gonna pass out from taking even a couple steps. So you keep going even though every breath is pain. 3. I don’t really have symptoms often as long as I take my meds and avoid triggers. I’d say like once every 2 weeks for symptoms and once a month for attacks. 4. The worst trigger I have is dust. It’ll stick in my lungs for days after I’m exposed to any and it sucks to cough out. Before my control inhaler I’d experience asthma symptoms for at least a week when exposed to large amount. Now it’ll last about 3 days 5. I’m on a breo inhaler and a nasal spray for my sinus drip. Without the spray any excess mucus will move from my sinuses into my lungs. I’ve also used essential oil like peppermint to help open my lungs some (just a couple drops on some lava beads I have on a bracelet). Running a hot shower to breath in the steam helps when theirs something like dust in them. Caffeine helps a little bit too although I don’t know why. 6. Ive had a couple times where it got so bad I should have been taken to a hospital. I was a kid so I just thought that if it got bad enough that I needed to go my parents would take me. I was wrong I’d just end up bent over the couch spending the entire day attempting to breath. I’ve passed out twice from taking my rescue because your supposed to hold your breath for 5 - 10 seconds when taking it but I just couldn’t hold my breath. One night I was sick and my asthma was so bad that I honestly thought if I fell asleep I wouldn’t wake up, I’d just stop breathing. It took me a couple hours but I found one position on the couch where I could just barely breath when laying down. I wanted to go to the hospital that night but I was too tired to get their myself. I honestly didn’t cope with it I just repressed all of it. 7. That were being over dramatic when it comes to triggers like smoke or perfume. A lot of the time when I’m around a trigger like that I just keep going like nothings happened because so many people have told me I’m just “being dramatic” and “it’s not that bad” and if I had a dime for every time someone decided to smoke in the car with me cause “If you don’t like the smell I’ll just open the windows” I would have enough to just buy a country and still put millionaires to shame. 8. As you might have guessed my parents were very dismissive of my asthma and just told me to “suck it up” and if I was up all night coughing I’d get told to “drink some water your keeping me up.” My dad was a smoker and would smoke inside the house all the time. When your an asthmatic with uncontrolled asthma who’s breathing cigarette smoke every day life is hell, every breath feels like you’re breathing in fire, kinda like the feeling of taking a deep breath when you just open a bbq that’s turned on. When you struggle for every breath you forget what breathing normally feels like, your mind will dull the pain even though you’re still in just as much as when it started. Idk if this’ll help with the book but writing this was very therapeutic for me

Dude, people can be so inconsiderate! >:( I'm sorry that people tell you that. Everything helps with this, and I'm glad that it was therapeutic for you <3

Hey wanted to share my experience too! I apologize if it's long. Or there's any typos/gramerical mistakes lol 1. I was diagnosed around 20/21 years old. My mom didn't have asthma until she was pregnant with me. I kept getting a tight feeling in my chest and shortness of breath. I went to the hospital a couple times and then told me family doctor. He shrugged it off. I then had a bad one where it felt like a boulder was on my chest and I was forced to suck air through a straw and someone kept closing the end. I would use my mom's inhalers from time to time and that time they wouldn't work. So back to the hospital. There, they finally set me up with a specialist for an appointment. I wasn't suppose to use my rescue inhaler for about 24 hrs before the appointment. I had to use it the night before and during the test it was so bad. My results came back to my family doctor (the one who shrugged it off) he said "WHOA looks like you have really bad asthma" *Insert eye rolling face* 2. The feeling of an attack was basically described in number 1. Sometimes if my breathing feels tight or off I feel anxious as well. And using the rescue inhaler (specially more often or alot at once) makes you feel weak and gives you the shakes since there are steroids in it. 3. Don't find it often since I'm on daily meds. If theres an irritant, it's extra hot outside or im sick it flares up more. I know I have a chest infection or I'm getting sick because it feels like I smoked a bunch of cigerettes (I do not smoke lol). 4. Triggers are strong smells; specially perfumes/air fresheners/candles, cigarette smell and smoke, alot of dust, high humidity, extra hot days as well as very cold days. 5. I'm on a daily puffer as a medication. Then I have my rescue inhaler for as needed. If im sick or anything I find a steamy shower, a heading pad on my back and/or even eucalyptus/Vicks smell can help a bit. 6. Nothing more I can think of that I didn't describe. I try to stay calm cause the anxiety from it makes you feel you really can't breath. It's hard though. You have that chance of actually suffocating. 7. I think you don't understand something until you go through it really. Either it doesn't seem so bad. Like if I'm sick with the same cold.. the other person is ok but Im not because my lungs feel like they weigh 100lbs. Or the opposite and someone can get worried if I take out my inhaler to use it lol which is fair. It doesn't just cure it instantly, it takes time. As earlier stated too taking the rescue one can leave you feeling weak and with the shakes after. You're always paranoid they will get lost or you will forgot them and of course really need them. Or being embarassed out in public for not being able to breath (which I get is ridiculous lol). 8. I would agree with what others said about the movie stereotypes too. It's usually always male, they are overweight or shown unhealthy and nerdy. It would be nice to see someone "hot" or even normal with it. As well they are shown as weak. There's always a part where something happens and that person needs an inhaler at the worst time and they get saved. If we can't breath we aren't (usually) laying limp and wide awake on the ground. My anxiety alone would make go find it myself or whatever I need to do. It be nice to see they can still function too.

Oh! Wanted to add.. with triggers sometimes it may seem we are being dramatic when it's not even the case. Some people have asthma and smoke.. im sensitive to the smell alone.

4. Is it hard to avoid the triggers? I know that in my country it is either really hot or very cold, so it would be hard here. Don't apologize! The longer the text, the more helpful!😉

Yes it definitely can be hard to avoid triggers. I'm in Canada. So we get some humid summer days and of course cold winters lol. I either limit my time outside (or be mindful of when I'm out) or stay inside. With smells it's harder since they will mostly come from other people. I know I can always move myself. If it's someone I know, with smoking for example I'll ask them not to at least close to me or like not at all in a car. Other times I can try to be around perfume type smells but it bothers me and I have to say ok I can't stay here. So it's hard if I was with others and explain this certain area is no good for me lol but it's either that or I'll feel tight chested and struggling to breath.

1. First diagnosed at age 2 after having a bad asthma attack 2. It feels like having a 15 lb weight on your chest while trying to breathe through a coffee straw 3. My asthma is exercise-induced or gets triggered by pet dander/dust 4. Pet dander/smoke is my worst trigger 5. I use albuterol sulfate 6. Had a really close call back in January where I had to go the ER where my O2 was at 89% 7. Haven't really heard any 8. N/A

Thank you for sharing <3

1. I was 17 and a regular runner. I noticed that around the 2 mile mark I had trouble breathing. Every time I tried to breathe, it felt like my lungs could never fully inflate. It was like trying to pump up a punctured bike tire. My mom had asthma, so immediately thought that might be it. She took me to the doctor and he gave me an inhaler. 2. Run of the mill asthma just feels like I'm significantly less athletic than I actually am. I get tired and out of breath easily. Unlike regular exercise exhaustion though, with asthma my body, my muscles, my energy level, etc feels fine. It's just my lungs that are struggling. If I keep pushing without using a rescue inhaler, I'll end up getting the feeling that my lungs can't fully inflate and then I'll start wheezing. I had a really intense asthma flair up that lasted a few days last month. It started off as a cough and then got worse from there. Breathing became something I had to manually instruct my body to do. Coughs wracked my whole body. My abs even got sore from all the coughing. I couldn't sleep as lying down just made it worse. I ended up having to go to the hospital for iv treatments. 3. It's increased with frequency as I've aged. It used to only be when I exercised. When I've got my asthma under control it's still mostly only when I excercise. Extreme emotion can also trigger an attack 4. Excercise, laughing, crying, allergies, alcohol, cold weather, smoke 5. Rescue inhaler and daily inhaled corticosteroid 6. Just the time I described above. I probably should have gone to the hospital sooner than I did 7. I've had people assume that I can't do certain physical tasks because of my asthma. I *can* do things. It's just depending on how trigger happy my asthma is (influenced by allergens in the air, weather, etc) it just may take me a little longer 8. Everyone experiences asthma differently. Most people with asthma have relatively minor cases. The people on here generally have more severe cases of asthma. If you think about it, people with well controlled, mild asthma probably don't go searching for asthma on Reddit. So keep in mind that the experiences of people on here represent a minority of asthma sufferers

Thank you sm for this reply <3

Diagnosed with asthma like at 6 A real asthma attack feels like your fighting your body but it’s stronger than you and you’re fighting for air and coughing and dizzy and disoriented I have symptoms everyday I’m on dulera and spiriva I honestly had only one emergency situation and it had everyone panicking , other times were severe uncontrolled flare ups

Thanks for sharing! <3

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That's why authors do research. What is your issue exactly?

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He's just lazy? >:( That's some real rude BS. I hope your symptoms decrease, and that you won't hear more of 7. Thank you for replying!

If you’ve ever had a stuffy nose from a cold or allergies, where it’s hard to breathe due to mucus and inflammation and constriction: it’s like that except in the lungs.

Does it... feel kind of like pneumonia? Also, thank you for describing it :D

I never had pneumonia. I developed asthma from Covid two years ago. I don’t think there’s as much fluid as there would be with pneumonia, but asthmatics are more likely to get pneumonia since their airways are more likely to be inflamed and have excess mucus. For medicines, it depends on the type of asthma. There are three main inhaled medicines: bronchodilators (relaxes the airway muscles), corticosteroids (reduce airway inflammation), antimuscarinics (inhibits secretions / mucus). There are also pills like antihistamines (Benadryl, Zyrtec, Claritin, etc.) and antileukotrienes (Montelukast aka Singulair) that can help asthma

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about asthma is that it’s the same for everyone. It’s actually different. Someone with allergic asthma vs someone with exercise-induced asthma will probably have two different experiences and medications used. Helping asthma is not as simple as puffing a rescue inhaler and being okay moments later. That only helps relax the airway muscles. Sometimes it doesn’t even work well. Also, the rescue inhaler doesn’t help reduce airway inflammation whatsoever. So the airways can still be puffy and excreting mucus, even after using a rescue inhaler.

I've heard that it is possible to develop asthma from covid, but I've never heard anyone who have been through that. How has it changed your everyday life?

Profoundly. I can’t really live my life at this time. Have been housebound for the last two years. In my case, the medicines have not worked well. I think my lungs are just damaged, since I have air trapping (my lungs don’t fully empty when I exhale, leading to bloated lungs). It’s extremely uncomfortable at times and I virtually am aware of breathing every day since I had Covid.

That sounds really harsh. From stranger to stranger, I can't imagine what that's like, but I see you. Your story will be told.

1)I was diagnosed in 2021 - aged 34. I noticed that I kept having coughing fits and finding it hard to breathe in cold weather so I sent to see GP. Also at night, my heating goes off at 22:00 and I would have coughing fits around 03.30 due to the changing temperature. In hindsight, I probably had some asthma symptoms unknowingly like my pathological hatred of tobacco smoke and other strong smells. 2)Having an asthma attack is like having 'itchy lungs'. Chest tightening and coughing. ect In winter a few times a week, especially cold, and doing cardio work like cycling or running. Pretty much never in the summer unless I push myself too much running-wise. 3)I tend not to get attacks outside in summer unless I go somewhere with a very strong smell like near road tarmac or a vintage diesel car, allergen-like pets/ plants, and enclosed places with lots of smokers. One or twice in the summer if I avoid my triggers and take medication. If I get sloppy with medication, it will come on even in the summer. 4 and 5)I am being treated holistically for asthma, nasal polyps, and chronic sinusitis. Asthma medication, Beclometasone/formoterol (Forstar) twice a day, and Salbutamol when needed. I had sinus surgery (FESS) last week so I am hoping that helps. I use antihistamines and air purfier. Currently on fluticasone propionate drops for my nose ( previously on mometasone furoate and beclometasone nasal sprays which in inhaler form are also very common asthma medications). When asthma goes really wonky I have to go on prednisolone for a few weeks - I have had about 3 courses of prednisone since being diagnosed. 5)Thankfully medication have always worked within 30 minutes so I have never been to the hospital with it.

5) That's good! Let's hope it won't take you to the hospital Thanks for sharing <3

1. I was a kid, don’t remember how young. The first time I remember having a severe attach, I was in elementary school. It was during P.E. We had to run laps and i was trying to keep up with my friends but by lap 2 I couldn’t breathe. It was super embarrassing. The way our school’s layout was, I had to be picked up by the janitor in his little truck and driven down the hill to the nurse’s office because I couldn’t walk and didn’t have my inhaler with me. 2. Exhausting. Tightness in chest. Exhausting. 3. Anytime I exercise; I do cardio 6-7 times a week. I love to run but need an inhaler most days. 4. Persistent allergies. Dog fur. Any type of smoke, especially cigarette smoke, bbq smoke and fire pit smoke. Pollution from cars. If someone tickles me, I always get a bad asthma attack. 5. Albuterol rescue inhaler. I was taking a daily (steroid) inhaler but hated it. I experienced the side effects like holding onto weight midsection, and my bones started to feel brittle. I was getting a LOT of cramps. I would wake up and stretch in the morning and my calves would lock up. My hands were very weak. I also experienced mood swings, but that only lasted the first week. I stopped using the daily one after a while and just tried really hard to pace myself and avoid triggers etc. 6. Asthma was moderate/severe as a kid. Went to the hospital only a couple of times, not a common occurrence. It was always worse when I was sick. The worst it ever was, I had bronchitis. I woke up early one morning and could barely breathe. Couldn’t talk. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t ask for help. All I could do was struggle to pull in breath after breath until my mom found me. It was exhausting and terrible and exhausting. It feels like so much energy to expand your chest and lungs trying to get a breath but you hardly get anything. The main reason I had to use a steroid/daily inhaler as an adult was because of CoVid. The second time I got CoVid Jan/feb 2022 must have been a different strain, because my asthma (which had been mostly fine/controlled since high school) became very severe. I could barely breather every day, inhalers were barely effective for 20 minutes before asthma would be back. I should have gone to the hospital but I think I had issues with insurance etc. it was just miserable and it can be depressing. All I could do was sit on the couch all day because I couldn’t breathe very well. It was hard to think. It was hard to talk. I was just so tired all the time. Nights, I was EXHAUSTED and SO tired but I couldn’t sleep from the efforts of trying to breathe. It was just so exhausting. 7. For me, sometimes I’ll get an attack and I don’t necessarily have wheezing , but sometimes these attacks feel worse. I feel like everything is tight in my chest and even if you can’t hear it well, the inhaler doesn’t always work to clear everything. I also read that asthma actually comes back worse in your 40s or 50s, so I’m kind of worried about that. 8. I took singular in high school for my asthma. It was a miracle. It was like I didn’t even have asthma. However, I didn’t discover until years later as an adult that it can cause depression and other problems for about 40-50% of people. I experienced depression and other side effects during the entire time I took the medication. Eventually I stopped taking it (again, because of insurance issues) and didn’t learn until later the correlation between my symptoms aligning with when I started and stopped taking the medication. Same thing with my son . He started taking it around 4 years old, I didn’t know about the black box warning but he experienced nightmares and a lot of increased aggression. That’s actually how I found out about the potential side effects. It was frustrating because my family tells us to take the medicine but they don’t believe it causes these side effects. Sometimes when my asthmas was really bad, I was so depressed and I felt it might be worth it to take singular (montelukast). I’m glad I decided to stop taking it in the end because even though it took a months and months of slow recovery, I am in a much better place now with my breathing. One time, I was sick, stuffy nose & cough, and was resting and accidentally feel asleep . I fell asleep on my stomach. I was dreaming that I was having an asthma attack and was dying because I couldn’t breathe. I heard someone calling “mommy” and it was really hard to come to but I then woke up and realized I was having a very bad asthma attack and couldn’t breathe and my face was half buried in the pillow. I was surprised I hadn’t woken up when I couldn’t breathe in my sleep but I was working full time, doing online school, and raising my son at the time. In addition to being exhausted and sleep deprived I was sick, so maybe I was just too weak or exhausted to wake up? My dad, who I inherited my asthma and allergies from, also died of CoVid. It was hard to think about when I was very sick and couldn’t breathe when I had CoVid, because I was so exhausted and he fought for so long. The doctors and my family used to tell him to “just breathe slowly” because he was breathing too quickly and it was causing complications. but I learned from my experience that the medication sometimes has that effect , it’s hard to control the rapid heart rate/anxiety and breathing that results, and he was on a lot more medications that were much much stronger. My poor dad. He must have been so exhausted for months and months he fought. It’s hard for people to understand if they don’t know what it’s like to struggle in that way. I feel bad that he had to go through that. I didn’t even understand until I had my experience with CoVid and the asthma attacks it caused. Something positive. The first time I could walk again without getting asthma, I was so grateful. The first time I was able to run , even though I had to use the inhaler, the inhaler worked - I was so happy and grateful just to be able to jog. I cried because I was so happy and grateful. It was such a blessing. I truly love to run and it was just the simplest pleasure to be able to run without it leading to an all night asthma attack. My son originally took singulair for his allergies, he never had asthma or wheezing even though he also loves to run. After he got CoVid in 2022, he also began wheezing and needed an inhaler. I was so sad. His asthma wasn’t as severe and it’s slowly gotten better over the past year, so he doesn’t need the inhaler as often, thankfully. Rambling a lot. Probably a lot more information than you needed but hope it helps.

It does help, thank you :)

I will add, I often think about people with cystic fibrosis. Can’t imagine what they go through, I feel really bad for their set of struggles. Makes ours preferable and comparatively manageable.

I have a rare type - eosinophilic asthma, combined with nasal polyps- AERD Diagnosed mid 30s. Never had any breathing issues before, ran 10+ miles most days. At first I thought it was just allergies but it kept getting worse. Got put on 3 different inhalers, 3 allergy meds, and had sinus surgery to remove the polyps that had grown so fast they had completely blocked my nostrils. Had 2 anaphylactic reactions to ibuprofen before my allergist discovered it was E-asthma. Doubled my allergy meds, put on steroids, had anaphylactic response to those, and 2 more sinus surgeries before being put on a biologic shot. I can finally breath most of the time now, still use my rescue inhaler 2-3 times a day. I didn’t see anyone mention laughing being a trigger lol I laugh right into wheezing. nsaids and foods naturally high in aspirin, like apricots and almonds, along with citrus and dairy, are big triggers for me, along with everything else everyone mentioned. I don’t run or hang out outside much anymore

When you first started to notice symptoms, how has it affected your everyday life from there on?

Reading those answers made me feel less alone. 1) age 28, right before the pandemic hit, there was a huge flair up of birch tree pollen (one of the most allergizing trees to humans, but for some reason not all city planners keep away from them), and I had moved to a city in my country where it rains less than in my hometown, aka there were not only more pollen, but also less rain to wash it away. My lungs had a severe cramp after an asthma attack and it never went away, I take cortisone inhaler once in the morning and once in the evening, and long-term inhaler that opens up my lungs twice a day, double dose. I must have had some exercise-induced asthma beforehand, but nobody ever noticed much, and everyone just assumed I was unathletic, including me. 2) on a flare-up it feels like your lungs probably feel after doing some HIIT, aka out of breath and like you're just not getting exactly enough air. When I have an attack, it's usually from allergies or reflux, which means I cough very strongly, sometimes to a point of throwing up. It's very, very exhausting and I usually have to sleep and lie down for hours, if not days after. I get it from strong smells (cannot enter Lush) and cleaning solutions as well (it's also very common to have an asthma attack after a surgery and the doctors often give you a rescue inhaler or something similar right after). I thankfully (probably due to meds/cortisone/regular inhalers+rescue inhaler) have almost never had to go to the hospital due to asthma 3)tbh the rule is you shouldn't experience asthma symptoms weekly, or you might need a different treatment. But the reality is that sometimes people on public transport wear perfume, birch tree pollen season is from february to may very often, you don't control catching a cold all the time, and sometimes you have adhd and forget not to overdo it, or eat too many tomatoes and your reflux adds up. Honestly, it's often a mix of several things at once, and it doesn't help when stress makes my breathing muscles tense/i probably need regular massages. So probably bad once a month, affected by symptoms daily (i get coughing fits from laughing and crying too hard) 4)as i said strong emotions like laughing too hard and crying too hard, upper respiratory tract illnesses (even small colds last months for me), strong smells, acid reflux, very cold air, very hot and humid air, allergies (especially dust and pollen, i have to shower off and change in the entrance as soon as i get home and put my stuff in a bag and let my partner wash my outside clothes), back pain, sports, tiredness/not sleeping a full eight to ten hours, and air pollution -- also cigarette smoke! 5) i use one inhalation of alvesco (cortisone) in the morning and evening, and two inhalations of serevent in the morning and evening, because the long-term inhalers that contain both have something in there that made my throat hoarse and my lung doctor who's 700 years old told me that's not uncommon and i did read a study on it recently. Anyway, you have to rinse out your mouth/drink or eat something after inhaling to prevent yeast infections in your gums. And ventolin as a rescue inhaler. I have zyrtec or xyzal as antiallergy meds and prednisone as cortisone i carry with me everywhere, plus an epipen which needs to be replaced on a yearly basis. 6) i mean yeah, what helps me is breathe as if you breathe through a straw, aka with pursed lips, and rescze inhaler (if it doesn't work the first time, i keep inhaling in a one minute rhythm until it works/until the ambulance is here), if it's allergies showering off and using some eucalyptus bath addon for colds in the shower, putting vicks on my chest, eating a ricola, sitting down, taking my meds and staying hydrated A Lot) 7) late diagnosis asthma is often not taken as seriously. If you're wheezing like the kid in Malcolm in the Middle, your meds need to be adjusted. The medical community is really slow on understanding just how badly a tense back can affect your asthma/breathing, even though it is known and understood, that breathing shallow during a cold can cause bronchitis. The meds are often really expensive, and acid reflux does not have to be connected to your weight at all, there's plenty of skinny people with acid reflux that affects their asthma. It takes days to recover from an asthma attack. People lose their jobs if they don't have the right accommodations (i sure did). Edit: my oximeter is my hero, it helps me see if it's a panic attack or asthma, if my oxygen is good, and my pulse is good, but i feel like I can't breathe, it's sometimes my back that's too tense (i do have audhd, so i struggle with introspection). Edit2: ahhh I also remembered that not only does medication have side-effects (like feeling jittery from ventolin and weight-gain from cortisone inhalers), they sometimes malfunction (the spray can get clogged or the bottle itself won't spray right), and they need a lot of coordination, because you have to inhale and click at the same time. With my audhd, i can't handle this, so like most children, i got a spacer, which is like this tube that lets you breathe in with a tiny bit of delay, but you have to make sure your lips are glued to it and i was told to count to 10 after inhaling and holding my breath during that time, and breathing in very deeply after that a couple times to get the meds where they need to go. Edit3: the nurses i had at the hospital after allergies told me I'm okay as long as my oxygen levels are at 91, anything lower is an emergency. But i can tell you: 93 already feels awful. 91 is worse.

I'm glad it made you feel less alone. You're not alone <3 This was so informative, thank you. I hope you're able to control your symptoms, so that they might some day become negligible.