My experience with respiratory health

This month has made me realize the dangers of tobacco smoking and given me reasons to protect my respiratory health from secondhand smoking, which we see as nothing but deteriorating our health. This week's topic made me remember the issue I had with my respiratory health while growing up and the experience I had with my father and a friend of mine.

There are few cases we treat as minor but can lead to death if care is not taken while growing up. I found out that I reacted to dust, odor from a strong perfume, and cooking oil during cooking, which causes me an incessant cough that sometimes leads to choking and makes it difficult to breathe. With my childish mentality, I do see it as too good to live in a dusty environment or use strong perfume, and this made me excuse myself from anything that has to do with sweeping either at home or at school. It became so serious that I had to be taken to the hospital, and my parents were told I don't have asthma, just that I am allergic to these things I reacted to, and they were told to keep me off these things to protect my respiratory health.

My parents had to follow me to school to explain to my teacher, which made them exclude me from the sweeping roaster at home. I don't go near dusty things, and if I'm to go outside, I make use of a nose mask. The doctor then told my parents I could outgrow the allergy if my body developed tolerance to an allergen the more often I was exposed to the substances. When I gained admission into junior secondary school, I got tired of walking with a nose mask and excluding myself from places just to avoid dust, so I took this risky decision, which I knew it was. I don't walk with a mask, and I mingle with friends. I also tried sweeping, and whenever I noticed I was feeling the symptoms of a cough, I quickly withdrew. I kept on doing this until I no longer coughed, sneezed, or reacted to things I usually do. I explained to my parents, and I was taken in for a checkup again. I was told my lungs are okay, and since I wasn't reacting to it anymore, it means I'm okay. This gave me the peace of mind I've been seeking because I see some of my classmates with an inhaler, and I don't want that.

When I came of age, I realized I inherited this allergy from my father. Up until today, my father still reacts to the odor of strong perfumes, dust, the odor of strong detergents, and sometimes cooking ingredients, which causes him to cough and sneeze incessantly for days with a blocked nose. Breathing for him at that point became impossible; he had to breathe through his mouth because it was impossible with his nose, and he also had thick phlegm while trying to clear his throat. One day I said to him jokingly, "Thank God I'm not a male child; I would have taken so much after him." I tried to do some research on his allergy, and I was told it has no cure and the only solution is for him to always stay away from things that trigger it. Sometimes I do get scared because whenever he has this allergy, it comes with serious headaches that don't allow him to sleep because he won't be able to breathe properly until he is relieved, and that may last for days and sometimes more than a week. We only help him by taking things that trigger it far away from him and keeping the houses as clean as possible so that he can breathe in the fresh air.

Two years ago, a friend of mine was hospitalized, and I went to pay a visit when I saw a machine with a mask passed across his nose. Initially, I thought he was placed on oxygen. I became scared and wondered what could have happened to him. Then I asked the nurse in charge what the machine was, and I was told it was a nebulizer machine that helps to ease his cough and pass medication into his lungs in the form of a mist inhaled. When he was fit to talk, I asked him what his condition was, and it was then that I knew he had asthma since childhood, which he has been managing, but recently, during the time he was hospitalized, it became so serious that phlegm was stuck in his throat and breathing became difficult, so he came to the hospital to get it sorted out and protect his respiratory health.

When you feel and notice some symptoms of difficulty breathing, do not overlook them or count them as unnecessary; these things require our utmost attention to preserve our lives and put our respiratory health in check because once the lungs can't function well, breathing becomes difficult, and once you can't breathe, death sets in.

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