Every since I was a small kid, asthma has always been a problem. I’ve had many a sleepless night because of weezing and inhaler of empty, which is a horror that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Also just waking up to the realisation that one can’t breathe, even with the inhaler nearby, ain’t fun.

The article on outdoor air pollution that I reposted had me thinking. I’ve had moderately bad asthma my entire life. I’ve always needed to have a rescue inhaler near me at all times. For half of the year, since aged ten or do, I’ve needed a steroidal inhaler, otherwise I’d be hitting the rescue inhaler all day. But something happened around some unspecified time in the last few years that my asthma just disappeared. Fuck I wish I could pinpoint the year, it’s just something that happened without notice, and I chalked it up to “people grow out of asthma”.

Since 2020, I’ve been consistently doing the n95 thing, as well as nearly always having a HEPA filter on around me when indoors.

I guess I’m curious how likely it is I grew out of asthma vs just cleaner air. I wish I could have more data on my symptom timeline, but those memories are just a blur.

As a mod of c/covid, I promise that no one will get banned for saying “nah people do grow out of asthma”.

  • Alaskaball [comrade/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    I have/had similar levels of asthma. It’s currently functionally gone but on the occasion where I get some kind of respiratory flu or I’m exposed to one of my allergen for a significant enough period of time my asthma comes back to verying degrees. Usually when I’m not exposed to either situation I’m functionally asthma free, I can run without wheezing, get pollen bukkakaed and just sneeze, have the campfire smoke follow me around with the express purpose of turning me into jerky and there’s not one bit of asthmatic response.

    I have no idea whether or not I grew out of it because for pretty much my entire youth I had the usual asthma steroids but also was a guinea pig for all sorts of East Asian traditional medicine. I’ve had shit ranging from Tiantian Baicao Tea to deer antler soup to spoonfuls of bee royal jelly to tinctures made out of of random shit you find in the woods. Personally I think the tiantian baicao tea had more visible effects on my respiratory health, but it’s all uh personal conjecture and not scientific fact.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      Funny enough I used to be really into traditional medicine. I sort of read some (not 100% damning) research papers and now I’m off it. The problem was that the practitioners had some weird ass theories, like the eat and coldness of my body. A lot of them became anti-vax, so that didn’t help anything.

      I’m sure your traditional doctors were better than mine.

      • Alaskaball [comrade/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        What traditional doctors? burgerpain

        burgerpants-dejected I was fed wild shit by the Korean side of the family to the point I’m actually glad they’re catholic or else I’d be afraid of how far they’d had been willing to go with the mystic bullshit if they still were animists. I’m at least grateful that it seems like it either had an unquantifiable positive effect or at least had no impact on my health as it currently stands.