A Journey with Asthma

Originally, when I thought of this piece and its title I immediately thought of “A battle with Asthma” because it feels like a battle.  On reflection I decided with the title above as it has been, and still is, a process, a learning curve and ultimately a journey.

 

My journey started from me, a Kinesiologist and Neuro-trainer, the mother of now four children, and a mother who has fought with asthma from a very young age herself.

The last thing I ever wanted was a child of mine having to go through what I did. I have many happy memories of childhood but I also have many memories of having to miss out on school, not playing outside, being uncomfortably, overly rugged up even on warmer days and sitting on the dreaded couch not been able to breathe.  Struggling to breathe.  Feeling a hollowness in my chest.  The cruelness that asthma brings...the deprivation of life breath. 

In 2005, I gave birth to my boy, my third child.  As happy as a mother could be.  Before his first birthday, he had a multitude of respiratory issues.  Colds would linger and cause him great distress.  The doctors could not classify it as asthma as he was not one yet.  Well, ever since then, it has been an uphill battle to keep him well, to not expose him to infections, to keep him out of hospital and to keep him feeling ‘ normal ’, and not sick.

As the years went by, he was getting asthma attacks and croup frequently, and more often than not he was heavily medicated by all the usual medicines, just as I was. 

By 2009 I became depressed or oppressed for want of a better word.  Not only had my darling little boy become the classic asthmatic case but he was also increasingly allergic to substances and had terrible hay fever and eczema to go with it. 

All I could picture for him was a life of endless medication and a life which was not free from the dreaded looming asthma cloud that would restrict him. As even on medication, he seemed to still get the asthma.  The fear that would grip me should the early hours of the morning bring about coughing and realising that the Ventolin was out. As a mother never feeling relaxed, every night going to bed, praying for him to have a peaceful night’s sleep.  Wondering when the next trip to hospital was going to be. 

I felt irritated, cheated, depressed and alone. Seeing my boy becoming heavily medicated and sick all the time was soul destroying. Seeing the side effects of his medication was difficult.  I started to not only become depressed but I felt like we could not mix and mingle with others as much, just in case he did catch a virus / bacteria that would lead to asthma.  I even remember feeling resentful of others who were not in our situation.  It felt like we were in a dark, dark tunnel with no end in sight.  That was when I thought, “this has to stop - there has to be another way”.

Then I stumbled across kinesiology.  I remember the first time not knowing what to expect but being pleasantly surprised.  Each time he went in for a session, would recover faster, need less medication and be well again.  With each visit, not only did my boy start to recuperate but so did I. He had a session every month for two years straight. It was hard, mainly the fear of the unknown.   Slowly, my fears seem to subside and my vision of how life should be for my boy start to blossom again inside of me.  I had found hope for both of us.

We are in a much better place some five years later.  He is medication free 99.9% of the time.  He occasionally (maybe once or twice a year) needs a few puffs of Ventolin to get him through some tough infections but on the whole he is free.  He has not had any preventive medication morning and night for four years, steroid medication only once in the five years and he runs around the soccer field like the wind is chasing him.  Free and alive and with breath! It has taken us much work to get to where we are now, and even with setbacks occasionally, I feel positive and happy and I know we are moving in the right direction.

I know that he will always have a genetic weakness that makes him susceptible to respiratory issues but I also know that he now has longer and longer time periods where he doesn’t have to deal with lung and respiratory complications.  He can just have a cold - and that is all!  He can live like other children and not miss out as much.  He does not need to feel sick.

My initial goal for my son was to be medication free - this I achieved. I now am moving towards others.  The goals of never having an asthma attack again and to change the reaction his nervous system has in times of infection.  Not only will he be free of asthma but also his future children and theirs. He IS the circuit breaker for future generations and I couldn’t be happier.

 

By Daniela Miles

 

As a result of Daniela's journey she has become a qualified Kinesiologist and Neuro-Trainer running her own business - The Kinesiology Effect.  She is passionate about helping to alleviate these types of challenges that both parents and children are battling with everyday.  Her story certainly provides hope to other asthma suffers out there.  You can also find her on Facebook.