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“People with “bad asthma” don’t run marathons, much less train for them.”

That is true. My asthma was worse when I was young. It rarely bothers me now until allergy season hits.

I ran track in high school and I was FAST! I loved running but my asthma didn’t. I eventually had to quit the team.

I sang and recorded gospel music in the 70’s. I had to quit that too because there were too many times I just didn’t have the lung power to sing.

Now it only bothers me during allergy season so until I messed up my ankle, I was able to ride a mountain bike 30 miles on wooded/gravel trails and never miss a beat, even in the TN heat and humidity. I occasionally rode the road bike through the hills but I don’t really like road riding. I prefer the woods. The ankle is finally getting better after 3 years so I hope to get back on the MTB but I’m giving my road bike to my sister.

Asthma is a real downer for active people. I doubt any would be running in a marathon unless they were really stupd because bad asthma can kill you.

I don’t talk about this much, but I was sidelined from many activities in the past few months. What began as my usual winter allergy season escalated, with breathing problems far beyond what they’d ever been before. It was worst at night, and only a litle better in early morning. I was not sleeping more than 2 or 3 hours at a time. I’d wake up suddenly gasping for air, and would spend hours prowling around the house or sitting at my computer, dead tired, but being in an upright position was the only thig I could semi-tolerate, but I couldn’t sleep sitting up. Many nights I didn’t sleep at all, and then catnapped during the day when I could. It wasn’t pretty. Herbal blends I had taken before for relief weren’t working as well as they had. Still, I was not about to take any drugs.

One Sunday morning not long ago, I showed up at church for the pre-service run-through and sound check for the music. I barely got myself and my equipment through the door when I had to sit down in the back pew for a spell, because I was panting so hard. The song leader took one look at me and said “You should go home.” I said, “No, it’ll pass.” When the pastor arrived during our run-through, he saw me sitting in the chair the song leader got for me (I normally stand) and asked me if I had an inhaler. I said no, and he asked if I’d ever used one, no again. He and one of the singers said I looked like I had asthma. I wouldn’t know, but I said, “This is me, almost every night. It will pass.” And it did - by the time the service began, I was normal again. And stood up to play. ;)

But I knew I couldn’t go on like that. I had found a pair of local classical homeopaths online. When I clicked on their website “allergies” link under conditions they treat, I found one of the homeopaths’ personal testimony of being cured from bad allergy breathing problems when nothing else had helped, and being inspired to study homeopathy precisely because of that. That was over 45 years ago. I made an appointment. Went through the whole 3-hour interview thing. Classical homeopaths want to know all about your lifestyle and childhood history, favorite activities, food preferences, anxieties, everything - in addition to the symptom profile you are experiencing, for which you are seeking relief. There may be 100 remedies out of 6000+ that are right for your symptoms, but only a very few that are right for you as an individual, and it’s their aim to find the best one. Ten days later, I had a bottle of liquid remedy delivered by priority mail. I was instructed to take just one dose and wait and see what happens. I have a follow-up appointment a month after the initial interview.

I’m on Day 13 as I write this. Long story short, I had a very rough night initially after I took the remedy, one of the worst ever. But then, I started improving. Right now I’ve gone 10 nights in arow where I’ve slept straight through 7 or 8 hours, only getting up to pee and going right back to sleep. I’m back to work painting my house, I can mow the lawn without a break (45 minutes), and I just spent 2 hours yesterday pruning large branches in the front yard trees with a manual pole saw. All that was unheard of such a short time ago, and IMO, it’s nothing short of miraculous. If you ask me, homeopathy rocks! At least the classical kind. There are others who use the remedies in the same way as allopathic doctors prescribe drugs - take this pill or potion several times a day, or whatever, because that’s how we’ve all been programmed to think about medications. But one dose of the right homeopathic remedy can do wonders. It gets the body to heal itself, like God and nature intended.

Unfortunately I can’t drink coffee, at least at the present time. It’s an antidote, and will screw up progress. But it’s a small sacrifice for breathing deeply again.