Gasp, Wheeze!
I’m not sure I’ve ever talked about being asthmatic on my blogs before, because most of the time it’s not really an issue. It came on about twelve years ago with no warning but a horrendous attack which led to me being taken to Casualty. Since then I’ve mostly managed it with inhalers, and if I have one really bad attack a year that’s probably my average. I’ve never yet managed to work out what it is that triggers these attacks, sometimes they seem to be environmentally-related, sometimes they just come out of the blue. When they do hit, they’re quite extreme and I get the sense can look quite alarming to those around me.
My one really bad attack for this year (hopefully) was on Saturday. Unfortunately it hit the minute I walked through the door of the home of some friends we were due to stay with that night, and I worried that there may simply be something in the environment that was setting me off. The slight easing whenever I went outside seemed to support that, and reluctantly we made the call to find a hotel to stay in that night instead. (And yes, I know you’ll be reading this, and yes, I’m still horribly, horribly, upset that we had to behave in what felt like such a rude way when you’d offered us your hospitality.)
But the reason for blogging about it isn’t just once again to apologise, it’s because a comment that was made by someone other than our wonderful hosts subsequent to the attack has wound me up and wound me up in its casual dismissal of what is a potentially very serious condition. While the last thing I want to suggest is that my asthma is life-threateningly bad, it’s nevertheless a fact that it is a condition that kills people. A couple of people among The Mrs’ close family have died from related problems. When you’re having an attack it feels like, no matter how deeply you try to draw in a breath, nothing is happening; no air is making it into your body. It can be quite scary and certainly more than a little panic-inducing.
So a comment like “it’s only air - you’ll get more” spoken to someone who recently went through that experience feels on the one hand unbelievably condescending, and on the other phenomenally insensitive.
Therefore, as a bit of a public service anouncement;
An asthma attack can be fucking scary, and the effect of one on the sufferer should not be underestimated. As well as the symptomatic inability to get usable breath into one’s lungs, there’s an accompanying pain in the chest caused by overstraining to breathe that can persist well after the attack itself is under control, and during one can be almost as debilitating as the shortness of breath. An extreme attack can come on suddenly and be so severe that the sufferer can be unconscious and then even die before being able to deal with it - a particularly well-known example of that was the actor Charlotte Coleman though that kind of sudden onslaught is thankfully fairly rare.
So if you find yourself dealing with someone having an attack, please don’t underestimate the seriousness of their experience, or its possible consequences. Generally speaking we manage the condition effectively with inhalers (or steroids for some people) to the point that we don’t much think about it, so on the occasions when that doesn’t work, it’s a big deal. There’s actually very little that anyone else (outside of the medical profession) can do in practical terms - there’s no CPR or Heimlich Manoeuvre for asthma - but as a bare minimum it would be appreciated if you at least took it seriously.
Thank you for your attention. We now return to our usual programme of fluff and misanthropy.
“Fluff and Misanthropy”? What a *great* name for a blog.
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Sorry to hear about what happened. You have my sympathies. I too have been put in a similar situation (due to allergies though) when an overnight host had a cat and I had to take a hotel. I felt embarrassed and terribly rude, although the host was quite understanding. Yet, it seemed difficult for those who don’t suffer from allergies or asthma to understand.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Hmm, how about “Bile and Philanthropy” ?
mwah!
March 4th, 2009 at 9:48 am
See - you would do philanthropy *so* much better than I would, dearest. I am, at heart, a miserable old misanthrope. But hopefully not *too* bilious with it.
Michelle - thank you for the sympathy and fellow feeling.
March 5th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I’ve had one of those myself, a few years back and nothing really bad since - the wonders of symbicort - so you have my sympathies and I hope you’ve recovered. Perhaps the insensitive among us would like to try breathing with a belt around their chest done up so tight that they can’t move their chest at all. Or perhaps a plastic bag over their head would do it.