Dad would take me to the emergency room having no clue how long I had suffered.

So then I'd be in the ER, shoulders high and scratching at the mattress to stretch out my lungs to get any extra air into them I could, and the respiratory therapist (perhaps one I work with now), gave me a breathing treatment.

Then came THE question: "How much Ventolin did you use at home?"

"A couple puffs," I'd say after a long delay. Yes it was a lie. A very bad lie. 

My asthma -- my hardluck asthma -- was so bad my mom and dad and doctor thought I was going to die. And in 1985 they had me admitted to the asthma hospital in Denver Colorado (then it was National Jewish Health-National Asthma Center (NJH/NAC). I ended up staying there for six months (Yes, I wrote that right).

Once I was discharged my asthma was under better control than ever. I never missed school again due to my asthma, and I rarely ever needed the services of an ER. My asthma was under control -- finally.

All was great right? Well, all except for the fact asthma forgetfulness set in. After several years all the great wisdom I learned from NJH was lost. 

The thing is, asthma forgetfulness only leads to worsening asthma because when you forget you have it, you forget to control it (something a gallant asthmatic would never do).

So 10 years after leaving the asthma hospital, my asthma was almost as bad as it was before I went there. I had to relearn everything.

Asthma is a very fragile and devastating disease when it's not controlled. If you don't control it, it controls you.  Forgetting you have it, or pretending you don't have it, only makes matters worse. 

What comlicates matters are myths that asthma goes away with age.

The best way to overcome asthma forgetfulness is with asthma honesty. Where I once had blacked out my past, I have since forced myself to relive it. I even wrote about it to some extent here. I realize now if I hadn't forgotten,  my asthma never would have gotten bad again ten years later.

So my advice to other asthmatics is to never forget how miserable you were before your asthma was controlled. Don't ever forget how you gained control of your asthma. The best way of doing, the best way of being honest, is to share your asthma stories. Thankfully that's something I get to do at work and right here.

If you have an asthma story you've never shared, feel free to do so in the comments below, or create your own sharepost.