Having Asthma AND Other Diseases, Too!

Recently, I was talking to a friend and mentioned how much I hate migraines.
She looked at me and said, "But you have asthma."
I responded with "Yes" and give her a strange look (I couldn't figure out what she was getting at).  She said, "You have asthma AND migraines?!"
"Uh, yeah. In fact, I have asthma, allergies (including food allergies- which can lead to anaphylaxis), migraines and arthritis."
Where does it say that you get one disease, and then you are done? I wish my life was that easy!
Many people have more than one disease. Just because I have asthma doesn't mean that it is my only worry. In fact, as I type this, I am just recovering from a nasty migraine.
The migraine kept me up all night and I had to take the day off work. My migraines take the usual pattern - the pain increases, then the nausea starts. Once I vomit, I fall into a deep sleep and then the severe pain is gone. As I woke up from my "migraine nap",  I realized that I had forgotten to take my daily, maintenance controller medicine.
I know how important it is that I take my asthma controller medicine EVERY day - whether I feel like I need it or not. You can't see or feel swelling in your lungs, but it's there.
And with winter and flu season starting, I need to make sure my lungs are in good shape. My 3 kids also have asthma, and we have learned that once we get a cold, it usually turns into bronchitis or pneumonia. In fact, when my kids were little, they were hospitalized 12 times with pneumonia. Scary stuff!
It's hard to protect them from germs when they are little and in school all day with other kids with runny noses and coughs. Then my kids catch the colds, which turn into pneumonia. Sigh.
My kids are older now, but we are still REALLY careful that we take our asthma controller every day.
If you have other chronic health conditions, it can be hard to keep track of all of your medicines. (Like me forgetting to take my asthma medicine today because of my migraine.....)
My teenage daughter has a list taped to the inside of the cupboard door. She has listed which allergy and asthma medicine she needs to take each morning and night.
You can find the best system that works for you. A list taped to the cupboard door, a reminder on your cell phone, a timer on your watch - whatever works for you.
Just make sure you are taking all of your medicine for your chronic conditions. You never know when one of them may flare up!