When did you find out what asthma was?
I'm curious about when everyone here found out what asthma was and their understanding of it at the time. I found out what asthma was when I was 8 years old. I was having a sleepover with a friend (said friend is no longer my friend now, but that's a story for another time). The next morning, she had to take her asthma medication, she had a brown inhaler and a spacer. I knew that asthma made it hard for you to breathe, and I knew that they typically used an inhaler. I don't remember when I learned the word "asthma" or that it made it hard for you to breathe, but I don't remember where or when I learned that I didn't know a lot about asthma until I was diagnosed and I didn't spot the signs that I could have had it for a long time.
HI. Very good question you ask here. And it does get me to thinking. I was diagnosed at a very early age, so I kind of just grew up with asthma, so it was always a part of my life. If I had to pick a time, I'd say when I was five years old I was "aware" of what asthma was. I pick that age because I got my own room due to asthma. And, when I was having trouble breathing, mom met me in the bathroom where she gave me this nasty tasting medicine. I think it was Tedral (https://asthma.net/living/my-experience-with-theophylline), although that's just me guessing. Great question. It will be neat to hear how other community members respond here. Thank you for posting. John. asthma.net community moderator. Yeah honestly I think it's super interesting!
I grew up with family members that had/have asthma & one of them died from an asthma attack; so I know asthma plus I was just diagnosed with it last year I'm so sorry for the loss of your family member. I was diagnosed a few months back myself.
I can't say I remember a specific time when I learned what asthma was specifically, but an awareness began in elementary school when I noticed a few other kids not able to participate fully during gym class. I couldn't really do gym class either, so I was curious about the other kids. Someone told me that they had trouble breathing. I didn't think much of it at the time. -Melissa, asthma.net team I don't remember when I learned about it either, I just remember it made you unable to breathe, but I didn't think it was a huge deal when I was a kid
