Asthma. A pain in the arse if I'm honest.

Most of you know that I have asthma.
This is not something I had as a child but looking back I have suffered on and off since my late teens. Coughs that wouldn't go away and left me fighting for breath, but back then I was pretty fit (and a lot slimmer) and so got away with it.

It wasn't until I was 30 that I was officially diagnosed with adult onset asthma.

Now I won't lie, this sucks royally at times.

Just when I was getting the kids all to school and had time to look after me I end up stuck in the house not able to breath.

So far I have had a handful of "real" attacks (most of my asthma is like having a none productive cough, so you can't talk for any length of time or at all if your walking).
An attack is frightening. I always thought you wouldn;t be able to breath IN but its not like that at all. Its breathing OUT that is hard.
So you breath in a lungful of air and then you cough but nothing comes out, and soon your skin is prickling like someone is sticking you with needles all over as you try to force air OUT of your lungs so you can take another breath.
Before I was diagnose I found myself sat on the edge of the bath one night coughing non stop. I couldn;t breath, my vision blurred and went dark at the edge's, I thought "Wow! I'm either passing out or dying!" but wasn't too upset at the time, all I could think of was breathing.

Asthma happens when the hairs in your lungs get inflamed. You then produce mucus in response to this and this is what makes it hard to breath. Your airways narrow and you feel like you are drowning. You can read about it and see diagrams HERE.

People have different triggers to asthma from perfume, cat hair, dust, pollen, pollution, colds and viruses and also food/ drink sensitivities.

For myself I know that too much coffee doesn't help me, dairy is a BIG no no, even a weeny bit can cause an attack if other factors are in place. Also if I have a cold I will at some stage soon after get an asthma attack. I also get wheezy in the summer when the broom is in bloom and funnily enough so does my horse LOL.

I thought I was ok this time.

Since my last asthma period in March 2009 I have been on different meds, got healthier and fitter, eat more organic food and cycle and walk lots. I thought I had it all in hand.
But week before last I had a cold...a really little sniffly one...hardly registered. And the last couple of weeks I'd slipped into the habit of a coffee or two a day rather than herbal teas, and THEN on Monday I brought some chocolate that I thought was milk free but turned out to have butter milk in it (it was right next to cocoa so I had thought it said cocoabutter milk which is ok!).

With all those triggers lined up I didn;t have a chance of avoiding one. My meds, which at least kept me from a BIG attack haven't helped much, so I am back up to the Doctors to chat about it.

Trouble is I REALLY don't want to go down the road of Oral steroids.

At the moment I am on an inhaler that opens the airways (to use as and when) and one I have to take twice a day which has a stronger airways opener and also a steroid to strengthen my lungs. Its a fairly mild one but I didn;t want anything higher.

Looking online I think I need to go for some vitamins. Some extra vit C and D some Magnesium and some B vits, that way I can help stave off any colds. Also I need to be extra vigilant about checking labels and also avoiding coffee, especially if other triggers are present.

If anyone has any ideas or sites to share that can steer me down a more natural route please share them.
Your the best ;)