Meme for Invisible illness week

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is held annually in September and is part of a worldwide effort to bring together people who live with invisible chronic illness and those who love them.

1. The illness I live with is: asthma
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2008_
3. But I had symptoms since: my teenage years.
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: carrying my emergency medication everywhere I go and accepting that it is a dangerous illness
5. Most people assume: either that asthma is very minor, that it stops you doing anything interesting or active or that it is imminently fatal.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: sometimes I can be very chesty early on and you never quite know what the day will be like and everything takes a bit longer than I'd like!
7. My favorite medical TV show is: I don’t watch them!
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is:medically speaking - my spacer which makes sure I get all my medication into my lungs. Otherwise my computer!
9. The hardest part about nights are: sleeping propped up enough not to start wheezing and having to give up my preferred habit of sleeping with an open window.
10. Each day I take: 1 pill & vitamins plus an inhaler twice a day every day and I always carry another, of different medication, at all times in case of an attack or increased symptoms.
11. Regarding alternative treatments I am trying to learn good breathing techniques.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: invisible because I see so many people judging those with visible problems – I might lack understanding from others but at least I don’t suffer their assumptions!
13. Regarding working and career: I have a rewarding career which does not affect my illness
14. People would be surprised to know: that I concealed (even to myself to an extent) quite bad symptoms for a good couple of years
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: that while I have not had a really bad attack I have to live with the fact that asthma is serious and that people do die from it.
16 Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: be more active than before
17. The commercials about my illness: well, in the UK we don't really have commercials about illness!
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: sleeping with the window open and carrying a tiny clutch!
19. It was really hard to have to give up: I'm lucky, apart from the window thing, I haven't (so far) had to give up much!
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: gardening
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: walk through a field of flowers on a cold, windy day (most of my triggers in one go)
22. My illness has taught me: to appreciate good days, and that getting treatment is a bloomin' good idea!
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "oh, my friend/cousin/loved one died of an asthma attack" - really not helpful, you know?
24. But I love it when people: just take it in their stride and don't stare at me when I have to take my inhaler in public!
25. My favorite motto that gets me through tough times is: I didn't have one, so I just found this: "To live is not breathing it is action" Jean-Jacques Rousseau - it reminds me that, despite asthma, I still have a fulfilling and active life.
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: don't panic, take care of your symptoms, be aware of what your lungs are telling you, ask for help if you need it, take your medication and carry on with the rest of your life!
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: that most people don't know anything about it!
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: give me a hug
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: Just because we don't always show symptoms doesn't mean we are perfectly fine
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: happy that you are interested and hopeful that you will think about all the people who may have an illness that you can't see

I've combined blogs!

Because the likelihood of me adding to the Derby Telegraph blog page is small at the present time, I have copied over (and pre-dated) blogs from that list to this one. Those blogs also appeared in the Derby Telegraph's print editions.

Please support Asthma UK's "Putting Asthma in the Limelight" Campaign

From 2 to 10 May Asthma UK is having a fundraising week - please take time to see whether there are any local fundraisers.
On Tuesday 5 May 2009 it is World Asthma Day. This year the focus is on children and young people with asthma.

I was one of the 40 percent of asthma sufferers diagnosed in adulthood - my diagnosis was last year. Although I’d guessed what might be wrong with me, I was a little afraid to find out. After all, having asthma puts limits on what you can do, right? Well, no actually! Having uncontrolled asthma is horrible, as I found out, and it’s quite risky too, but daily medication and a few sensible precautions have made all the difference.
I’m lucky because I don’t have severe symptoms. Since my diagnosis I feel healthier, happier, more active and have even discovered gardening! I know that my asthma won’t get in my way and that, as long as I take it seriously, it won’t define who I am.
1 million kids in the UK have asthma, but one third say they don’t know what to do if they have an attack. If this happens when they’re alone, or with someone who doesn’t know what to do, their attack may become more severe until they have to be hospitalised. Having an asthma attack, even a mild one is very scary because, although symptoms vary between individuals - wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and so on - you are effectively trying to breath in and out through a space that is only a fraction of the size it should be -imagine a drinking straw compared to a hosepipe!
This week’s fundraising is called “Putting Asthma in the Limelight” so that all kids with asthma know what to do in an attack and that more adults understand how they can recognise, and assist during, an asthma attack. If you do not know what to do in an asthma attack, please visit the Asthma UK website where you can find lots of important and useful information that might help you help someone else. Since there is a person with asthma in one in every five households in the UK you probably know someone with asthma.

You can also make a donation on the website and find out about other initiatives (such as the Kick Asthma Holidays for kids and the campaign to get the UK Government to supply asthma medication free of charge for those with long-term requirements).