Asthma

Peter: It’s quite perplexing when you are first diagnosed with it, because you don't really know what it means and how it's going to affect you. I have to say, in the first several years, three, four years of having asthma, it didn't affect me too badly. I just used a reliever inhaler and, not all that often, but over the years it has deteriorated.

Jenny: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's stopped me working. And that's the big thing. That's the one that I hate, you know, I mean I used to work 39 hours a week, do shift work, night shift, sleep, whatever. You know, I was always-, I was at work early, I finished late, I love, I like working. I like -, I miss the people, I miss the interaction, I miss responsibility. I mean, I spend so much time needing other people, but it's actually-, I quite like the idea of being needed.

Jane Y: But if I keep a journal, I can look back a week and then I can see, oh yeah this time last week, I had real difficulty just walking around the block. And this time, this week, I've been able to walk as far as the shops and the back, and I can I can monitor the progress much more easily. And, just found it really helpful. I also write down a lot of stuff about, you know, just how I'm feeling. And sometimes I feel angry that this is happening to me because it's getting in the way of me doing what I want to do. So I kind of write some of that stuff down. It just, just helps me.

Catherine: You just have to find your way with it and then try and get on with life and accept that you will have bad days. There will be days where you just say, ‘oh, for God's sake, give me a break and let me live my life’. But those days, the further you get on past the diagnosis, the less those days become because it becomes ‘normal’ in inverted commas.