Have you ever tried to forget your asthma past?  Do you have an asthma story you've never shared with anyone?  Do you have asthma forgetfulness?  If you do, perhaps it's time to share your story.

Trust me.  I know from first hand experience that asthma is no fun.  I also know that asthma forgetfulness may be the easy route, yet it also leads to poor asthma control later on.  If you bare with me I'll explain.  I'll also explain why a little asthma honesty might be the cure youve been looking for.

One such experience came to light this morning. It was 6:00 a.m. and I was working as a respiratory therapist. I was paged STAT to the emergency room (ER).

Upon entering the ER I found one of our regular asthmatics sitting on the edge of the bed, slouched over, huffing and puffing to get air in. Her oxygen was so low when she arrived the nurse had put an oxygen mask on her.

I started up a breathing treatment and replaced the mask with a misting pipe in her mouth. The mist was Ventolin, the Godsend to asthmatics; the juice that gets the lungs moving air again. I could tell by the way she held the pipe firmly between her teeth -- the no hands technique -- she was an expert at this.

I sat in a chair the opposite side of the room while the nurses worked their magic: inserted an IV line, inserted Solumedrol into IV line, and asked a million questions. I couldn't help but remember the days of long ago when I was in her shoes, with a Ventolin Peace Pipe proficiently stuffed in my mouth.

Then the nurse asked this question: "So, how many breathing treatments did you give yourself at home before you came in?"

The asthmatic said, "Oh, more than enough."

That was more honest than any answer I ever gave, I thought. Then said, "When I was a kid and a nurse asked me that, I would just lie."

The patient, obviously breathing better now, said, a smile on her face, "You have asthma too."

"Oh yeah," I said, "I had it very bad too when I was a kid. In fact, I used to go through a Ventolin inhaler every day."

"You did what!" The nurse said, peering down at me, bug eyed.

"I would use an inhaler every day, and then I'd also take breathing treatments in between. In fact, back then you could only get one Ventolin refill at a time, so there were weeks when I'd have mom go to the pharmacy every day to get a new inhaler."

I wrote about this experience in more detail in my post, "Confessions of a bronchodilatoraholic."

The nurse gasped at my story, yet the patient smiled.

Years ago I wasn't able to be this honest, yet now asthma stories flow easy, and allow me to create a bond with my asthmatic patients. It also helps prevent asthma forgetfulness, as asthma forgetfulness only results in worsening asthma.  Trust me:  I know.

In fact, for many years I completely blacked out my severe asthma past. I'll be honest, there were days I used up my Ventolin inhaler, and then was so miserable, so afraid, that I never told my mom for fear she'd be mad at me. Then I'd suffer until about 2 in the morning when I couldn't stand it anymore and finally break down and wake her up.