Collaborative Post
I have had asthma for over ten years now. I started noticing the signs during Physical Education at school – I knew what to look out for as my mum, maternal aunt and maternal grandfather all suffer from mild cases plus my friend has severe asthma. I headed to the GP and bam, that was it – they told me I had asthma.
I’ve been quite lucky over the years and not had too many attacks – in fact, at my first check up after having Jack, the doctor said that because I hadn’t had a proper attack in over two years that they would take me off the repeat prescription for asthma treatment and to just go and see them should it start to get worse again.
All was fine until 2015 when I noticed my weight had crept up dramatically and I was starting to show signs of my asthma coming back with a vengeance. It had never truly gone away of course but I was having increased breathlessness and on the odd occasion, mild attacks. I wish I had lost some weight as a teen. Luckily my mum had a spare inhaler so I kept that one with me just in case. Knowing that asthma can be affected by your weight, especially if you are obese, and knowing I wanted to lose weight anyway, I joined Slimming World and lost a stone and a half and my symptoms pretty much disappeared. I then of course got pregnant with Olivia and am currently sitting at 1.5lb more than my starting weight back in 2015 – eek!
But why am I telling you this? Yet again I am starting to notice the signs of my condition coming back with a vengeance. I’m getting breathless within seconds of chasing after Jack, I’m struggling to catch my breath sometimes simply when I’m not actually doing anything. I don’t want to go back to when asthma almost ruled my life so I will take any steps I can to calm it down. I know that losing some weight the first time helped me so I need to get my head back in the game and get on it. I’m also using treatment for it if required too.
I need to lose weight – not just for my happiness but for my health. Asthma is a serious condition and I don’t want to live my life not being able to run after or play with my children in case it brings on an attack.
Wish me luck!