I know my body so well that I can manage the medication myself

Once I had been diagnosed with asthma, I tried to rearrange my life accordingly. It dominated my life at first. Everything revolved around my illness. It took a while to get used to. To be honest, I found it pretty annoying at times. Although I had had asthma for a while and it had affected my life before too, I hadn’t been as aware of it then. Taking medication every day, using the inhaler, was sometimes a burden.

When I first found out that I had asthma I was in the middle of my studies. I had never been able to join in all the physical activities that other people had. I felt limited in the things I could do. I used to get very frustrated sometimes. I always used to think that I had to be as good as other people, always compared myself to them. I realize now what a waste of time that was. I never used to appreciate my own abilities, the things I was good at.

My quality of life has improved a lot since then. I've developed a lot of new interests. For example, I regularly practice Qi Gong and do vocal exercises. I'm very happy to have discovered that I have a voice. People used to say that I couldn’t sing. Two years ago, during a class, I realized that my voice wasn’t that bad after all.

Once, when I had pneumonia, my lung volume was reduced by more than half for a while, but I could still sing. Unlike when I talk, I don’t have coughing fits when I sing. I really enjoy singing and am now a member of two choirs.

I first came across Qi Gong five years ago during treatment as part of a special asthma program, where I was given a lot of ideas. I carried on practicing it at home. After doing Qi Gong exercises I feel stronger and full of energy. It simply makes me feel great.

I have a more positive attitude towards life now. When I had pneumonia the first time I was pretty depressed for a while and started to think I wouldn’t be able to cope. Nowadays I take it as a sign that my body needs a break and I make sure that I take the time to relax. I’m okay with it. Of course there are days when I feel a bit down, but I suppose that’s normal.

I always have my inhaler and other rescue medication with me just in case. It makes me feel safer. I always carry everything in my backpack and take the inhaler with me. It's become second nature to me.

Over time I've come to realize how little oxygen a person actually needs to survive, as long as they remain calm and don't start to panic. If I feel an asthma attack coming on, I do breathing exercises. That helps me. There have been occasions when I had a peak flow rate below 10 percent and still managed to stay calm. Whenever the rate is that low I use the inhaler, of course. I don't even start trying to do the breathing exercises. I just go straight for the inhaler.

I now know my body so well that I can manage my medication myself, obviously in agreement with my doctor. I no longer take steroids regularly. But everyone is different and needs different treatment. There are, no doubt, a lot of people with asthma who have to take steroids on a regular basis.

Asthma attacks can be life-threatening so they shouldn’t be taken lightly. I have pneumonia at the moment so I have to inhale medication regularly again. First of all, I use a bronchodilator to open my airways, and then I use the steroid spray after five minutes. I measure my peak flow rate before and after inhaling the medication and make note of the readings in a diary. Plotting the data on a graph usually reveals that the medication has made a clear difference.

When I go to the doctor I take the diary along. I use the “traffic light system” to note the severity of my symptoms in my diary. Red shows that the situation is critical, yellow means that I have to be careful, and green shows that the symptoms are under control. When I measure my peak flow rate and enter the readings into my diary, I can see straight away whether I am in the green, yellow or red zone. If I’m in the red zone, I know I have to seek medical help immediately. If I’m in the yellow zone, then I have to watch out. And if I’m in the green zone, I can continue taking my usual medication.

My life used to revolve around my disease. Now I'm happy to have accepted it as being a part of me.