We rarely make it through major holidays without Asthma Girl flaring up at least once, and usually badly. Something about the excitement of leaving town, the thrill of the holiday itself, the different environment, the decreased sleep–I could go on with more reasons, but what doesn’t set asthma off? The list is short.
This year we’re staying home and AG should be just fine, but thinking about past Thanksgivings with a sick kid got me wondering about the asthma/stress link.
You ever notice how kids with asthma tend to have nervous personalities?
I mean this seriously. Of my two daughters, Asthma Girl is definitely the more sensitive, easily stressed one. I have, out of her hearing, been known to describe her as *squirrelly*. Her emotions are right there at the surface, and she is way more likely to freak out about something (read: everything) than her little sister is.
Now, I know stress is one of the triggers for an asthma episode, but I’m talking about the reverse relationship. I’m wondering if having a nervous personality possibly predisposes a person to developing asthma. Stress hurts your health, after all, and nervous people usually internalize too much, so the link could be there.
Plus, doctors have made a similar case before, albeit in an extraordinarily inaccurate way. You may not know this, but the medical community in the early 1900’s thought asthma had a mental/emotional cause and not a physical one. In fact, no one knew that asthma patients have inflamed lungs until the 1960’s. (read more asthma history here if you like) On a related side note, can you imagine wheezing your way through a severe flare, practically suffocating, only to have the doctor say *Oh, it’s all just in your head. Just calm down, and you’ll breathe just fine*?
The point is, I wouldn’t be surprised if scientists one day figured out some personality markers that asthma sufferers tend to have in common. Asthma has a definite physical cause–the hyper-reactivity of the bronchial system–but what causes that? No one really knows, for sure, although we know some of the risk factors. Maybe stress plays a larger role than we realize, or maybe the stress itself is rooted in a physical cause.
And now, I should probably shut up since I’m entering scientific realms that surpass my college biology and amateur asthma research. The fact that these simple conjectures have probably been considered and tossed out years ago by better minds than mine has not escaped me. Nor does the fact that, really, it doesn’t matter in the end. Our kids have asthma, we treat them with the correct meds, and we wait for those people who get paid to do so find the better meds, the more successful treatments, the vaccines, and the cures. And we hope, of course.
Always, we hope.
