2008 Woodie Awards
Students with Asthma speak out
Tamar Campbell
Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Pulse
Getting people to talk about their personal lives can be incredibly difficult. However, when I told people that I wanted to talk with them about their chronic illnesses, many were quick to volunteer their time and stories.
I met with people on campus and off; through e-mail, phone calls, and even one memorable instant messaging system. But with almost all of my interviews thus far, a common thread has been revealed. Almost everyone I spoke with had dealt with people who did not understand or recognize the severity of their illness.
For some reason, people assume that in order for someone to be sick, they must look sick. After all, cancer patients wear headscarves and wigs. Someone sitting in a wheelchair or wearing a cast has an obvious sign that they are under a doctor's care.
But while in the hospital patients may often have IVs or other medical paraphernalia, outside of the hospital someone with a chronic illness often will not have an IV, oxygen tank, etc. In fact, people suffering from a chronic illness try hard not to look sick. Nobody likes to hear "you look sick" on a daily basis. Make-up, sarcasm and a bit of subterfuge can carefully hide the fact that something is not quite right.
Yet at the same time, if somebody looks too healthy, the illness sometimes becomes invalidated. After all, if a person doesn't "look sick" how can they be sick? Easily.
Just because you cannot see the seizure, the asthma episode, the middle-of-the-night trips to the hospital, the chest pains or the giant horse-pills does not mean that they are not occurring. So please, read on with an open mind and - more importantly - with an open heart.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that can block a person's airways and make breathing difficult. The bronchioles are tubes that bring air into the lungs. In people with asthma, these airways are constantly inflamed and are sensitive to certain triggers. These triggers cause the muscles surrounding the airways to tighten and mucus production to increase. These effects are usually temporary, but the constriction causes wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and difficulty getting enough air.
I met with people on campus and off; through e-mail, phone calls, and even one memorable instant messaging system. But with almost all of my interviews thus far, a common thread has been revealed. Almost everyone I spoke with had dealt with people who did not understand or recognize the severity of their illness.
For some reason, people assume that in order for someone to be sick, they must look sick. After all, cancer patients wear headscarves and wigs. Someone sitting in a wheelchair or wearing a cast has an obvious sign that they are under a doctor's care.
But while in the hospital patients may often have IVs or other medical paraphernalia, outside of the hospital someone with a chronic illness often will not have an IV, oxygen tank, etc. In fact, people suffering from a chronic illness try hard not to look sick. Nobody likes to hear "you look sick" on a daily basis. Make-up, sarcasm and a bit of subterfuge can carefully hide the fact that something is not quite right.
Yet at the same time, if somebody looks too healthy, the illness sometimes becomes invalidated. After all, if a person doesn't "look sick" how can they be sick? Easily.
Just because you cannot see the seizure, the asthma episode, the middle-of-the-night trips to the hospital, the chest pains or the giant horse-pills does not mean that they are not occurring. So please, read on with an open mind and - more importantly - with an open heart.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that can block a person's airways and make breathing difficult. The bronchioles are tubes that bring air into the lungs. In people with asthma, these airways are constantly inflamed and are sensitive to certain triggers. These triggers cause the muscles surrounding the airways to tighten and mucus production to increase. These effects are usually temporary, but the constriction causes wheezing, shortness of breath, coughing and difficulty getting enough air.
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