You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'blogs' tag.
Hello guys! After much pestering and heckling from us, Elisheva -faithful reader and asthmatic in Israel -has started her own asthma blog. Soooooo, go and check it out!
In other news, I came across this article at My Asthma Central today. Woah. Discuss!!
Kerri’s blog has got quite the discussion going, under the comments section of her latest post. The topic? Prednisone, and home nebulizers, and differences in practices between countries. If you’ve got experiences to share, do join in!
So, in my honest scrap award entry, I mentioned that I hate discussing my asthma with people in real life. Other than with my family, this is true. However, I do have some friends that are very awesome about it and I don’t mind talking about it with them. 3 of them specifically jump to mind.
The first one reads this blog and is a medical encyclopedia. She wants to be a doctor too so she’s very normal about it.
The second one has been my best friend for 6 years. We talk to each other about ev-er-y-thing and give each other boosts when we need it. So if I need to gripe about my breathing, I do.
The third is older and is a family friend. She’s very sweet and always asks me about my asthma in a way that makes me want to talk about it. Some people have a way of doing that.
So there you have it, that’s much better than I made it out to be, isn’t it? These people are such a difference from some of my friends. I had a very good friend who I was really close to but she would always call my asthma my “thing“, and frankly that made me want to avoid discussion at all costs.
And thanks as always to my blog friends! You’re a huge source of inspiration and comfort!!
I’m honoured to have received the honest scrap award from Kerri!
Now I must write ten honest things about myself. Here goes!
1. I’m a feminist, but not in the men-are-filthy-pigs-that-should-sleep-in-the-doghouse kind of way. It makes me so happy to see women asserting themselves and reaching their full potential.
2. I look way old for my age. I hesitate to go out alone with my dad because people assume we are married. Also, people think I am my brother’s mommy.
3. I recently moved into an appartment after spending a year and a half at my aunt and uncle’s house and I can already say that it was one of the best moves (pardon the pun, haha) I’ve ever made. Suddenly I feel so in control and HAPPY with my life.
4. I would rather swim in a glacier-fed lake than discuss my asthma with people. Maybe that’s why I started this blog: because I find it interesting and worthy of discussion, but I’m uncomfortable with the people I know.
5. I play the accordion and I don’t care who knows it. It’s versatile, it’s everywhere and let’s face it: you can’t play the accordion with a long face 
6. My mom and I act like we are about 1o when we are together. She has a way of bringing out the mischievious part in me.
7. I hate doing my hair. Waste of time. I can’t wait until it grows out and is easier to manage. I’d appreciate it if we were all bald and hair was one less thing to worry about.
8. Though I demand to be treated as an adult, I really like it when people call me “kiddo”. I dunno why, it’s just endearing.
9. I get attached to people quite easily and I’m terrible at goodbyes.
10. I’m breathless more often than I’ll ever let anyone know, including you, though I suppose the cat’s out of the bag now. Also, this pretty much is a re-iteration of #4.
As for tagging, I would have tagged all the same people that Kerri tagged, but if you feel like doing this, by all means do!
I blog about asthma and I have lots of internet asthma friends, but I seriously don’t talk about it to people I actually know. Well, other than my mom and doctors I guess. But yesterday I discovered someone I work with is also asthmatic and we got to talking about it.
We were walking from the hospital to the university for a lecture (yeah! I actually get paid to go to lectures!) It was pretty hot out and a group of girls went jogging past us. I asked her if she was into running, prepared to tell her that it just wasn’t my thing. But then she said “No, not at all. I guess I have a really lame excuse for it though. I have asthma and running makes me feel really bad”
I sort of lit up a bit. I said “Hey! I have asthma too, it’s not a lame excuse at all, I know what you mean. I’m athletic but running especially makes my asthma bad. I find that I just can’t do it”
And she totally knew what I meant. We sort of chatted a bit about what the heck it is about running that makes us flare up so badly. She told me that she finds it really hard to get people to understand. She also said that her mom won’t get rid of their dog even though she’s had allergy testing that says she is allergic to it. I felt very bad for her. Let me tell you it felt good to just tell someone about my asthma and talk about it for a bit without feeling embarrassed.
I know a family with a daughter who has a neuromotor disorder and is in a wheelchair. To the world, they are the most upbeat and wonderful family that doesn’t let anything get them down. They travel the world despite the wheelchair. I’m pretty close with them and especially their daughter and they do share aspects with me of what it’s like to live with this disability, but never in a complaining way. One day, I was with them when they were visiting with another family with a daughter who had the exact same disorder. And the tone of their conversation changed completely, almost channelling anger. The two sets of parents talked about how it was impossible for anyone else to understand what their situation was really like, they talked about how tired they were and had been for years, they talked about how it was impossible to communicate with the schools and their administration, or how hard it was to get proper equipment for physiotherapy. At first I was so taken aback by this new tone, but I very soon realized how healthy and helpful it was for them to share these very legitimate frustrations each other, and to feel totally comfortable with someone you know understands you because of their similar experience.
So, it felt good to have that yesterday, even though it was for a brief moment and I didn’t share my deepest frustrations. It was just nice.
But, I still love blogging and all my internet friends and nothing could replace the support I get from this!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their story in response to my post “Confessions of an asthmatic (part 1)”. You have all helped me to see my little “quirk” as a fairly normal part of having a disease that interferes with your daily life and sometimes compromises your capabilities. Blogging and networking are wonderful things.
Still, there are good reasons to try and get over this. Number one: as Emily and Amy and others pointed out, it’s a safety issue. I need to know that people will know how to respond if I have an emergency and I am not able to communicate. Also, I should not be too embarassed to do things to take care of myself in public ( take my puffer, sit out or stop when exercising, etc) because that’s not safe. Reason number two: asthma sure doesn’t define me but it’s certainly a part of me and there should be no reason to be embarassed of any part of weird and wonderful me! That’s so restricting and I don’t like it.
So, Asthma Mom, I will take your advice and start by telling one person at work. Thank you for the reality check! I have someone in mind who is almost always in the lab, and is very kind and approachable. Why oh why am I shaking in my boots thinking about it??
Where are you? When I first decided to look, I was surprised that I couldn’t find that many asthma blogs on the internet. I honestly thought there would be plenty of asthmatics with things to say. We are a very small community: The Asthma Mom writes about all the latest asthma news and it’s one of my favourite places to look. If you haven’t checked out Breathin’ Stephen, please do so. He is a severe asthmatic who tackles marathon walks. He is doing the Boston Marathon this weekend, but I was going to save a whole separate post for that. Then there is Kerri, who is a young person like myself who just blogs about asthma and life in general and any interesting thing that catches her fancy.
Around 10 % of the population suffers from asthma, yet hardly anyone writes about their experience. One in 2500 people suffer from cystic fibrosis, yet have you seen how many cystic fibrosis blogs there are? I have found a lot of really insightful and inspiring CF blogs that I have enjoyed reading, it’s just that I’m not able to relate to them. Probably the reason that more people with CF blog is that it’s such an unusual experience and people are more compelled to share it. Also, it may be a useful way for them to catch everyone they know up on their health. On the other hand, a huge percentage of asthmatics are pretty well controlled and may not think about their health all that much and might not feel like they have anything to write about. Of course I’m just speculating and I don’t know the real reason, mostly I’m just noticing the huge difference.
Asthma is so variable, and I think everybody would have something valuable to contribute to the blogosphere. It’s really nice to read about others’ experiences and realize you aren’t a martian and you aren’t alone and it does happen to other people. Did you know that in my whole 19 years of existence, I’ve never met an asthmatic like myself in person? (and by an asthmatic like myself, I mean one with the same level of severity) Then again, I am a master at hiding it, so maybe other people are too. Still, I would have thought I would have come across somebody by now and I think I would have found it very helpful to have someone to talk to.
So, if you are reading this and you have an asthma blog I haven’t found, then shoot me a message! If you are an asthma sufferer and you think you might like to write about it but never have, consider starting up a blog! I promise I will link to you if you do!
PS: THE GENETICS EXAM WENT AWESOME. I’ll spare you the gory details. I must tell you though, that the guy at the desk next to me, talked to himself THE WHOLE TIME. Seriously? My friend said I should have poured my water bottle all over him.
