How did I end up with 6 other conditions plus just from one medication I take for severe asthma. The scary thing is I am not alone.
This word cloud represents all the conditions a small selection of people have as a result of severe asthma. I asked a support group on social media as I am becoming more and more aware of my growing list of conditions. I started off with only asthma and now have: GERD, Osteoporosis, Adrenal Insufficiency, Steroid induced Diabetes, Optic Nerve Neuritis with peripheral vision loss, chronic pain due to lung adherence to chest wall, depression, anaphylaxis, steroid induced myopathy, and this is just what has been diagnosed there are a host of other side effects as well which are a collection of symptoms rather than conditions.
I know my asthma is on the severe end of the spectrum and this type of asthma is very rare but it is shocking that for 33 I have all these conditions all as a result of having asthma and the medication required to control it.
I asked a group of 30 different people of varying ages and almost all of them had at least 4 other conditions that they did not have before they ended up with severe asthma.
I think this just highlights the chronic misunderstanding asthma has. We rely on medications that ravage our bodies to help our lungs. If we did not take these medications many of us would be dead however with the medication we are facing life shortening conditions.
How do we change this? How can we prevent severe asthma causing all these other conditions. You see advances being made in other chronic conditions where new medications are coming out that are life changing and do not come with side effects that just multiply not only your condition list but also your medication regime.
It is a side of asthma that no one ever knows or sees. I am sure the list of conditions I gathered is not all of them and if I asked a wider group of people there would be even more conditions in the word cloud.
Hopefully by sharing this and highlighting this insight it will educate even just one person as to how much severe asthma can destroy a life.
Severe asthma does not end up as only asthma there is a whole lot more that goes along with it too.
ANONYMOUS-ASTHMA 