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Unfortunately, too many people can relate to the impact that asthma can have on someone's life, like Donna H, who says, "I was out with a group of people and all of a sudden I just couldn't breathe. There was no air. I remember my mom and dad taking me to the hospital. The doctor said I had asthma, and she gave me an inhaler to use in emergencies. And that was the start of my journey."
Always active, Donna played horseshoes, basketball, and volleyball and rode motorcycles. Yet asthma took over her life. "It got so bad I couldn't even walk places," she says. As her asthma symptoms and attacks got worse, she became more and more dependent on her quick-relief inhaler. According to Donna, "I was always afraid I wouldn't be able to find my inhaler. I put them under my pillow, in my purse, everywhere. It was very scary, like my whole life was in that inhaler."
Donna has worked for 27 years in a job in a packaged food plant in the Midwest, but asthma made her feel sick and caused her to miss work often. She recalls, "It was nothing to go to work and be there only 10 minutes before they called an ambulance." Both her inability to stay active and her difficulties at work affected her physically and emotionally. "I felt like one of those people no one could count on," she says.
Finally, Donna took the Asthma Control Test™, which indicated her asthma was not controlled as well as it could be. She brought the results to her doctor, who helped her to do something about it. Now, she takes a preventative medication regularly and works at managing her asthma. She knows that asthma is a condition that will never go away and that it needs to be managed every day. "Sometimes I feel so good that I don't think about my asthma. But asthma is always here, so I've got to work at remembering to take my medication," Donna says.
With proper asthma management, Donna is able to exercise regularly. She's back riding her motorcycle and she's also seen a change at work. "Now I rarely have to take sick days for my asthma. I guess I've become one of those people you can count on," she says.
If you are using your quick-relief inhaler more than 2 times a week, your asthma may not be well controlled. Talk to your healthcare professional. Asthma is a serious medical condition that results in thousands of deaths every year in the United States alone. You can also click here to take the Asthma Control Test™, which can help you determine if your asthma is controlled as well as it could be. But asthma can be managed with the proper medications and the right treatment plan. |
