Breathe In… Breathe Out…
Did you know that although death from asthma is rare, individuals who do die from asthma are more likely to who have a mild or moderate case of it instead of a severe case?
This little fact is something I learned when I was a volunteer with the American Lung Association. The reason that mild and moderate cases are potentially more dangerous is because those with severe cases are better at monitoring and managing their symptoms. Those with lesser cases may dismiss real signs and triggers for their asthma until it’s a dire emergency. Asthma is not a curable disease, but it is a manageable one. For those with asthma, if you learn what triggers your asthma and how to manage your symptoms, there is no reason that you should not be able to participate in just about anything. In order to take care of it, however, you must admit that it is a real part of your life and then learn how to manage it.
I feel like mental health is the same way. When I was trying to ignore my burnout, I could only be reactive to it and eventually it put me into a dangerous place. Now that I’m more accepting of the fact that I have burnout, and probably other mental health issues as well, I’m starting to treat it like how I treat my asthma. Just as my asthma management is part of my life (but does not define me), so too can mental health management be a regular part of my life. Lately, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how much our physiology impacts our mental health. It’s from this space that I began seeing the parallels between my asthma management and my mental health management. Here are 5 takeaways:
5 Strategies to Care for My Asthma & My Mental Health
Have a licensed professional help you find your baseline(s)
I was first diagnosed with asthma in the 5th grade after a scary visit to the emergency room. From that day on, I visited several specialists who began teaching me how to find my breathing baseline.
Similarly, when I finally hit burnout, I saw my therapist – a specialist who helped me find my emotional and energy baselines.
Record and reflect
The asthma specialists gave me the assignment to learn how to monitor my breathing. They gave me a tool, a peak flow meter, that I would exhale into a couple of times a day and would record my levels for over a month. It was this month of data (and beyond) that I could use to understand when I was more vulnerable to asthma issues versus not.
In my stress, coping, and resilience class, our most impactful assignments were ones that required us to make notes of different things throughout the day for an extended period of time and then reflect back on those notes to find themes and insights.
In both instances, your symptoms and insights will be unique to you. This is why recording your own experience and then reflecting on it will hold the most power for your management progress.
Get to know your triggers
When I was a volunteer teaching elementary school students about their asthma, we spent several class periods on finding and understanding their asthma triggers. For instance, did you know that cock roaches are an asthma trigger?! This means they emit something into the air! Gross! Other common triggers are dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke, etc. After exploring possible triggers, the students and I would discuss strategies to pre-empt our reaction to the triggers (such as premedicating), speaking up if they need to avoid the triggers altogether, and how to breathe through an asthma attack while we wait for our meds to work.
Figuring out my mental health triggers is proving harder, but no less important. I wish I had a poster where I could circle the things that make my mental health worse like I did for the asthma triggers in my asthma classes. Instead, I will need to be ok with taking a little more time to understand what spirals me. I’ll keep at it though because understanding those triggers gives us power to employ the same kind of strategies that help prevent an asthma attack. For instance, we can find ways to prepare our selves so we can be fortified to the stressor, we can speak up when we need some space, and we can learn ways to breathe through the stress while we either wait for it to pass or wait for other emergency helpers to kick in (such as meds, therapists, or other social supports)
Have a plan for long-term support AND emergency needs
With my asthma, I take different forms of medicine. I take a “controller” medicine every night and then, when needed, I have an emergency inhaler. Sometimes as well, I have to take an additional steroid if the air quality levels are bad for an extended period of time.
I have to admit, when it comes to my mental health, I’ve been hesitant to take medicine. However, if I’m treating my mental health issues the same way I do any other physical ailment, then avoiding using helping medicines could be making my mental health recovery journey more difficult than needed. Either way, I think that this is a good example to remind me that there are several types of treatment for my mental health. Some treatments may need to be a nightly medicine regimen. Other treatments may include an emergency plan for rough days where I cannot avoid the stressors or triggers for my mental health. This leads to the part I’m still working on… not letting the stigma behind having mental health troubles get in the way of my healing.
Keep shame out of it
When I was first diagnosed with asthma, there were many activities I could not take part in. My lungs had been severely weakened and damaged due to the sickness that had landed me in the hospital. My body simply could not keep up with the activities that my 5th grade self wanted to take part in. I was able to build up my stamina over time, however, for a while, I needed to keep my inhaler close and I would take it before any physical activity.
I still remember a boy in my class teasing me about my inhaler. He would point to me and then do the action of shaking an imaginary inhaler in his hand. He would then pretend to take puff after puff, pulling his shoulders up to his ears, and rolling his eyes into the back of his head. It was mean and I would get so embarrassed. There was one time that I didn’t take my meds when I should have because I didn’t want him to see. I got sick enough that day that I had to go home early and couldn’t go back to school for a couple of days while I recovered. Additionally, other kids would sometimes say that I was faking it. You see, the hard thing about asthma is that by the time other people can see your symptoms, you are in a dangerous place. The asthmatic is the one that has to advocate for the reality of their struggles because most of the time, they are only noticeable on the inside.
Can you see the mental health/illness parallels here? How often do we try to just push through it because we don’t want to be seen as less capable or broken? How often do we discount the reality of our struggles because other people cannot “see” them? I know that more than once, I have chosen to not tend to my mental health needs because I didn’t want to be seen as less capable. It’s easy to also think that if I’m having a rough time with my mental health now, that it will never get better. However, mental health stamina can also be built over time.
At the American Lung Association, we learned that the only way to make sure your asthma never gets better is by stopping all physical activity and avoiding all potential triggers (aka live in a bubble). You may be able to avoid an asthma attack this way, but you won’t actually improve your condition at all. It can be tempting with mental health struggles to want to do the same thing. Block out the world and live in a bubble. However, that isn’t helpful either. It takes a balance of acknowledging you have this condition without succumbing to it completely. Learning how to take the shame out of my asthma took a while, but the more I stated it as a fact that I could treat, the less control it had over me.
I’m hoping that I will grow to see my mental health needs the same way I do my asthma. At this point, my lungs are strong. However, there are days that they need a little help. This does not make me out of shape, less human, or incapable of all sorts of incredible things. It does mean that I need to monitor and manage it.
Now, I’m not afraid to whip out my inhaler when I need it (trust me, explaining why you’re in the emergency room is a million times more embarrassing then taking a couple of puffs when you’re feeling tight). I’ve also gotten pretty good at explaining why my voice may sound a certain way (due to allergies), or why I’m not going to pet your really cute dog. I’m learning that when I speak up for these things well, most people are really understanding. However, every once in a while, someone is still scared that my scratchy voice could mean I’m going to get them sick and/or that I just hate dogs (which, I don’t).
I’ve seen similar parallels when I explain my mental health needs. Most people have been really understanding and helpful. Sometimes, however, they don’t understand my lived experience and may be critical. Either way, how my body reacts to its asthma needs and its mental health needs are something that only I can hear and advocate for. It’ll take work to get comfortable with advocating for my mental health, but being a highly functional asthmatic has shown me that it’s doable.
Thanks for reading with me today. I hope you take some time to validate your mental health needs today.