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Overcoming the Myths About Allergies and Asthma |
 When you suffer with allergies and asthma, the health issues in your life are enough of a problem. But an additional issue comes up when people around you do not understand the nature of your symptoms. Sometimes if you are having an allergy asthma episode and you explain what is going on to friends or coworkers, you can tell they think you are just making excuses. Other times, a common myth about allergies and asthma may surface when someone says, "find a cure and get over it" or "its all in your head" or some other misinformed idea that shows that they have no idea what asthma really is.
You might even be carrying around some myths about allergies and asthma in your head. If so, those snippets of misinformation can get in your way when you need to find resources and strategies for coping with your allergy asthma problem. So it is smart to confront some of the most common myths about allergies and asthma and get the truth out for your sake if you suffer with asthma or for someone else's case if you know someone that has the problem.
Probably the most common myth about allergies and asthmas is that the symptoms you are going through are the result of you being sick. An illness is something you can recover from with a little tender loving care and the right medication. And because allergy asthma symptoms resemble symptoms of a cold or other head ailments, it is easy to think you should just do what it takes to get over the problem and then it will just go away.
It is true that symptoms of allergies and asthma resemble how you feel when you are sick with a cold or some other kind of bug that causes problems in your head, sinuses or your upper respiratory functions. But the symptoms of allergies and asthma are not the result of a "bug" that can be cured. The truth is that if you have asthma, you are going to continue to have it for a long time to come. With rare exceptions, there is no "getting over" allergies and asthma.
That is because your symptoms are being caused by your own immune system that is reacting incorrectly to something that it thinks is dangerous. In the case of hay fever, your immune system is attacking pollen that you breathe when you are outside. The symptoms that you experience are the result of that attack which means that in a way, it is your immune system that is making you sick, not the allergen itself.
Similar myths about allergies and asthma maintain that you will outgrow your asthma or that the problems you are having are all emotional or part of a psychological problem. There have been a limited number of cases where an asthma problem became less severe over time or even went away as a person grew older. But the majority of people who have allergy asthma problems must face up to the fact that they will be dealing with the problem for many years and possibly for the rest of your life.
The reason a myth about allergies and asthma has grown that suggests it is "all in your head" comes from the impact of fatigue and your emotional state on how often and how severe your asthma attacks will be. This is more a function of the condition of your immune system than it is of emotions or psychology. If you are tired, your immune system is not as well equipped to deal with the interference of an allergen in your life. Similarly, how well we perform physically is tied to our emotions. So if you are well rested and upbeat, you may experience fewer or less severe allergy and asthma episodes.
The problem of allergies and asthma is very much a medical problem. It is not something you "brought on" or that you can just "shake off". You cannot "catch" asthma from someone else or give to someone either. Moving to a different climate will not "cure" your asthma probe. It might cause your symptoms to subside simply because in the new climate, you don’t contact the source of your allergy. But the allergy asthma problem is still there even if it is idle.
The fact that these myths about allergies and asthma are so prevalent demonstrate that the most effective weapon you can give to yourself or to a loved one who is fighting asthma is knowledge about what is true and what are myths about allergies and asthma. By understanding the problem and the specific allergens that set off your asthma symptoms, you can devise a strategy for how to manage your asthma condition. In that way, you can make allergies and asthma "go away" because you took control over your lifestyle to minimize the exposure to the triggers that cause your symptoms. That is smart management of allergies and asthma that is grounded the facts, not in myths about allergies and asthma.
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