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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Thankful Day #2

Today I'm thankful for inhalers and modern medicine. 

I don't think I've talked about this much but my asthma has been pretty nasty this fall season. Since 2nd grade I have become nearly crippled by this condition every fall and spring. My asthma can be induced by exercise, allergies, any flu or cold, cold weather or stress. Most people grow out of their asthma by the time they become an adult. I most certainly have not.

I came down with a terrible bout of allergies that turned into a cold about a month ago. A few weeks later my lungs slowly but surely started to decline to the point where I was gasping for breath without constant breathing treatments. Not cool. I couldn't work out and I couldn't stray far from home for too long since I couldn't breathe without a nebulizer treatment (yeah, look it up. No one knows what they are.) It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest and my lungs were exhausted from trying to get a breath in.

I finally managed to get a doctor's appointment last Friday and since then my quality of life has improved drastically. She prescribed a 4-day steroid to give my lungs a break from working overtime to breathe regularly and within 12 hours I was nearly good as new.

I will still need my inhaler before I work out and on rare occasions but I am just very thankful that I can lead my life normally with the minor help of a doctor and medicine. Starting tomorrow I can get back to the gym and start working toward my running and fitness goals once again.

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