What does it mean to have Asthma?

Asthma is one of the many chronic conditions that can’t as yet be cured,

so as things stand, a diagnosis is for life. This does not mean that your life needs to become stagnant and you can no longer do all the things you enjoy doing now. It simply means that you have to be a bit more careful with regards to:

* Where you go - places where there is a high concentration of the agent that triggers your asthma should be avoided,
* What you do - over exertion can cause your symptoms to flare up, and
* When you take your prescribed medications.

Providing you take the advice of your doctor and adhere to your drug regime, asthma shouldn’t really affect your everyday life, even if it is quite severe. There are also a number of alternative treatments that can help to alleviate symptoms, and recently more and more asthma sufferers are turning to these treatments and to herbal remedies in a bid to control their symptoms in a drug-free way.

A diagnosis of asthma is not the end of the world by any means, and you shouldn’t take it that way. With a bit of forethought and active control, nothing in your life really needs to change – you can still have fun, travel, go out with friends, stay in shape and do many of the activities you do now. Also as you become more comfortable with your asthma and you learn your limits in terms of what you can and cannot tolerate, you will find that life virtually returns to normal, with the exception of having to take your medications.

Over 90% of all asthma cases have a known causative agent - pollen, dust mites, fumes, etc. - and as soon as you work out what triggers your condition you will be able to avoid it during your daily life. You may be affected by more than one agent, in which case it might take a little longer for you to pinpoint what exactly affects you. As soon as you do and you learn to avoid them, your asthma should cause you virtually no problems.

There is no reason why you should let your asthma get the better of you and stop you from enjoying life. It is a potentially life threatening disease, but careful management and a full understanding of your condition will mean that you can live life just as you did before diagnosis.