Hi, my name is Eva. I’m 21 years old and I’ve had asthma for over five years.
I’ve been ok for a long time and haven’t really had any serious asthma problems until just this past couple of months. Suddenly, I’m having problems breathing when I’m running or when it’s really cold outside. It’s even happened when I went to my favourite restaurant. I couldn’t believe it—all those lovely aromas that normally made my mouth water had me wheezing.
The absolute worst though was what happened during my recent ski trip. I’d been looking forward to it all year and I was so upset to actually just not have enough stamina the whole time.
So I’ve just gone to see my doctor because I have every intention of going skiing again next winter. And I don’t want any more problems.
She made me take a new test called exhaled NO to check what was going on inside my lungs. She explained that it was important to see if my airways were more inflamed than usual. The exhaled NO test would tell her whether she needed to increase my inhaler dose. (I’m on a combination of cortisone (anti-inflammatory drug) and brochodilator.)
The exhaled NO tests showed that I had a really high level of inflammation and that meant that I needed a higher dose. The good news was that my doctor was very sure I would get better because this new test lets her know that I will be more likely to respond to anti-inflammatory drug treatment.
And I have to say she was right.
I went back two weeks later, my NO levels were way down (though still not normal) and I was feeling a lot better. So she upped my dose some more and told me to come back a month later.
My levels are now absolutely normal and I feel like my old self. I’m booking my ski trip as I write!