Living

I take four inhalers, and only one of them actually has a dose counter on it—and after all, research and experience indicate this may not even help much. What’s ridiculous...

He wraps his recently-three-year-old fingers around the blue tag of my medical ID bracelet. Plays with my bracelet chain for a moment while smiling at something, while standing in front...

As asthma comes in all kinds of different forms, sometimes, I forget that some of my friends with asthma actually have asthma, until I think back on conversations. I keep...

We have all seen them - either the sticker or clip on your finger attached to the vitals machine. The elusive pulse oximeter. There are also small portable ones that...

I recently came across a pamphlet on advocating for yourself and involving patient and family advisers in your decision making and care. I could have seriously have used that pamphlet five years...

So asthma never fails to surprise me. The latest “fun” with asthma is that I now lose my voice when I have a severe asthma attack or when I get...

The earliest recorded instance of respiratory distress was from china in 2600 BC. It was characterized as "noisy breathing" which could be what we know as wheezing today. There are...

We all know inhalers play a significant role in asthma treatment. The importance of carrying your asthma inhaler at all times cannot be overstated. Your inhaler is probably one of...

On our second last Asthma Pals session this Spring, one of the kiddos asked about how to get better at remembering to take her puffers everyday. My suggestion was to pair...

I never really thought of my asthma as a disability when it came to my time in university. It’s not that asthma didn’t cause me trouble a time or two...

Like most patients, there are a few items in my medicine cabinet that I have been saving for a zombie apocalypse or that failed but that I just don't seem...

Researchers now understand that about 11% of asthmatics also have COPD, and 10-50% of COPDers over the age of 50 also have asthma. When this happens it is generally diagnosed...

I rarely ever drank coffee until I was 40. Then, for some inexplicable reason, I became a coffee fiend, drinking 6-7 cups of coffee every day. Then I quit cold...

In May and June, I was a part of the Asthma Society of Canada’s initial launch of an asthma peer support program for kids called Asthma Pals. Asthma Pals, is...

I am generally a pretty positive person. Especially, when it comes to health stuff. I usually take the good, the bad, and the ugly and deal with what is coming...

Ever since I was a child I have kept a journal. Writing and being able to get my feelings down on paper is extremely therapeutic for me. When I received...

I feel like you can never know everything there is to know about asthma. For instance, did you know that you can get a collapsed lung from asthma and being...

I sit here sipping iced tea after showering off a morning of digging in the garden. I will head out to bicycle to a potluck supper with friends in a...

I’m mentally packing for my next trip (and my next trip 9 days after that, and my next trip 4 days after that. Life is hard, y’all ;)). In my...

I heard this quote recently at a lecture. "Patients are a multidisciplinary wealth of lived experiences and shared goals" and it really struck me. How can we as patients be...