[bpjam]

I was a child with severe asthma. My mother was a nurse. her advice, stop running around if you start wheezing. After a couple of years, it went away. Apparently, it was a fairly common occurence of childhood asthma which was not permanent or chronic. But if I were a kid today, I've no doubt that the pressure to put me on steroids of some other drugs to prevent any form of inconvenience would be tremendous. It appears that we are no longer allowed to have any kind of diffictulty or malady which shouldn't be immediately treated as a threat on life itself.

With that being said, I have seen studies showing that food additives, airborne contaminants and other chemical additives in cleaners causing allergic reactions which cause asthma-like conditions. And unfortunately, treating these things makes us a weaker and weaker species since nobody is allowed to develop their own antibodies.

[IrishCatholic]

My daughter has asthma. We noticed her labored breathing at night and sleep apnea. When we took her to the specialist she was barely functioning at 38% lung capacity. Neither of us smoke and our daughter tested negative for allergens.
Asthma is a real disease and the problem with just letting it go is that it puts stress on the heart and can cause all sorts of long term damage.
Now two years later after being on the steroids and taking the breathing treatments and having the inhaler her lung capacity is almost 100% and in six months if she still is that way the doctor will take her off all meds and monitor her.
Sometimes people really are sick and sometimes the medicine really is necessary. The diagnosis process and testing was quite involved and not the result of a ten minute exam.

[neverdem]

Apparently, it was a fairly common occurence of childhood asthma which was not permanent or chronic.

Maybe a lot of those cases are what would now be described as exercise induced asthma. I wonder how many of those folks still kept engaging in vigorous activities as they aged?

[little jeremiah]

I know three people other than myself who experience asthma symptoms when around cleaners, perfumes, and related petrochemicals. All of us can trace it to over-exposure to such chemicals. One worked in beauty salons for years, one worked in contruction and was heavily exposed to polyurethane finishes, one did a cleaning business.

We all have to go out of our way to use products that have no petrochemical based cleaners, perfumes, etc. Basically all perfumes (other than those made from plant based essential oils) are made from petroleum by-products; some from coal by-products.) It is common among asthma sufferers to react strongly to perfumes, but often natural fragrances do not bother them.

A lot of products claim "natural fragrance" but are mixed with the regular petroleum based ones too. One has to be careful.