What Is Asthma? Every Breath Counts
What Is Asthma? Every Breath Counts“Asthma doesn’t slow me down at all.”“I live a hugely healthy and fulfilled life. I’m very active.. I love to work a lot. I play sports still.. Just veryactive in general.”For Sarah Brundidge, running is her passion. She spent years competing in high school and college. But herpassion hit a hurdle 15 years ago, when doctors diagnosed her with asthma.“I notice certain times of the year my running wouldn’t quite be up to par and no matter how hard Itried, I couldn’t go faster and couldn’t catch my breath.”Asthma is a lung disease that makes breathing difficult.“Asthma is caused by essentially twitchiness or irritation in the lungs. Basically the breathing tubesdon’t stay as open as they should. And certain triggers cause the lungs to get more twitchy and theairways close off and that’s why people get the symptoms from there.”“What’s it like to have asthma? Breathe in normally and breathe out through a straw. There’s theobstruction part.”Doctors diagnose asthma by looking at symptoms, performing breathing tests and by reviewing family history.Brian Kloskowski was diagnosed as a child. His 8-year-old daughter, Kendyll, also has asthma. Getting thatdiagnosis for her four years ago came after several trips to the hospital.“I was relieved. We looked at each other and said finally someone’s going to put a label on it.”“We finally had an answer and she could have an action plan and we could help her. “Asthma is more common that you might think. Right now, there are over 24 million people living with asthma inthe U.S. That’s about one in every thirteen people.“We often miss the people who aren’t diagnosed; statistics are underrepresenting what’s actually outthere.”“It doesn’t make me any different. I know I can do all the things I want to do.”What triggers asthma is different from person to person.“Triggers are huge for people with asthma. My triggers happen to be strong smells. It’s not veryspecific.”“My asthma triggers are coughs.”For people with asthma, if their airways become irritated, that can trigger an asthma flare-up. You can live withasthma by monitoring it daily and using medication as instructed by your doctor.This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.HCPD1007198 EN WhatIsAsthmaEveryBreathCounts.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 1 of 2What Is Asthma? Every Breath Counts“The main thing we tell people is not get as afraid and to make sure they have their medications withthem. The thing that should make them less afraid is knowing they have that available and should beable to use that when they have symptoms.”“Asthma can be dangerous but if you have control of it and take your medications like you should andare put on the correct medicines, you should have a normal life like someone who doesn’t haveasthma.”This program is for informational purposes only. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness,or suitability of this video for medical decision making. For all health related issues please contact your healthcare provider.HCPD1007198 EN WhatIsAsthmaEveryBreathCounts.pdf© The Wellness NetworkPage 2 of 2
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