So... I officially don't have asthma anymore

Hey there! Long time no topics...

...but for good reason, you see.

(long read, ahead)

Rewind to 1998: I'm in the hospital, again. My airways are almost closed and my parents aren't there yet. I had always been very active in sports and anything physical, but had always been held back from really participating with the other kids in school. It wasn't because I wasn't allowed to, that's not what I mean by 'participate'; I simply couldn't compete how I wanted to.

There was a race during gym period, we had to run about a block away and back (this was within the first years of grade-school, mind you). My best friend was incredibly athletic, he was part of every sports team, great a track-and-field, a great runner, and very competitive. I was like him - competitive.

The race began, we all took off, my friend was in the lead as usual. I already knew I had asthma, and at the time my allergies were heavily effected by the outdoors, too, but I didn't want to lose again. So I pushed myself to go faster, and even though my lungs were burning, I made it to the end of the block, turned around to head back to the finish line, and woke up in the hospital.

That was the first time I was hospitalized due to asthma, not the first time for allergies.

Fast forward to the High-school graduation. Nobody knew what they wanted to become, what their careers would be. I asked around and everyone I knew just said "I'm going to figure it out in college/university". I thought that was kind of stupid, considering you go to post-secondary with your goals in mind - or so I thought. I had known what I wanted to be since before I entered school.

I had two options in my mind: I wanted to make films, any kind of film, be it documentaries, or blockbuster hits. Or, I wanted to be a soldier.

I was named after my great uncle who had given his life in World War II after his plane was hit, and him down with it. I thought it was an incredible honor to give your life protecting your country, or simply your family and values. I thought that seeing the battlefield is something few people now a days get to see, and although it would bring horrid images, I wanted to experience everything.

I applied for the Vancouver Film School and decided to become a director. Not long after I applied I got a letter in the mail saying that I was accepted! and even faster than I received that mail my father said we couldn't afford for me to go there. The tuition was very high at the time, magnitudes greater than any other school near me, it was a very prestigious place to go, after all.

I wasn't actually upset. "Who the hell goes to school for film anyway? You just need to make a name for yourself is all", I thought.

I put it off at the time and decided to pursue my other career choice. It's not that it was lesser to videography in anyway, despite being the second option. At the time everyone was talking about post-secondary education, so I was persuaded to look into it.

I send in my military application around summer of 2007... and I never heard back from them.

I know now that this isn't terribly unusual. With the advent of social media and other websites that I didn't know about or hadn't been created back then, I know now that applications get misplaced pretty frequently. Which I still find to be odd...

Nevertheless, one thing lead to another and I started doing random jobs, getting married, traveling, and all sorts of things. Then over the span of the last few years those jobs seemed to be far less reliable than I had thought. I eventually got laid off, my province went into a recession, my wife and I lost our house and vehicle, and now I'm working two equally unreliable jobs every day just to eat.

So I decided to re-pursue that path again. I just sent my second military application in on Christmas 2017. Not only was this an opportunity where I can finally have a real career, one in which doesn't simply stop in winter, one whom provides benefits, a future, and an actual way to progress and be competitive, everything all my other and current jobs don't accommodate.

But I forgot one crucial thing.

You can't be a soldier with asthma and allergies.

I had known this when I applied, but after doing a lot of research on the military forums, asking family who's in the military, looking at reddit posts, and looking on the government website, no one could answer the questions I had.

Nevertheless, I did read many applicants being rejected for having a very severe allergy, or even a hint of asthma. Although no one definitively stated that you couldn't join, it certainly seemed unpromising. What I did see were answers upon answers of "Well, you miss all the shots you don't take" and "You have nothing to lose by applying, the worst thing they can say is 'no' and send you on your way, but the best thing they could say is 'yes' ".

So I applied, and a few weeks earlier set up an allergy/asthma test.

The application process for the Canadian Military Regular Forces goes as follows:

~ Apply
~ Wait for an unknown amount of time
~ Get a response saying that your application was approved/rejected, set up an aptitude test appointment
~ Wait for a known, usually long amount of time for that appointment (often several weeks to months)
~ Do the official aptitude test that will determine if you qualify for your occupations you're applying for, if you fail, you're rejected.
~ Set up a medical exam
~ Wait for a known, usually long amount of time for that exam (often several weeks to months)
~ Complete medical exam, pass or fail
~ They do a criminal background check
~ Wait an unknown amount of time to be offered a job, or never receive one

Sounds fun right?

The average processing time takes 6-8 months, but often 11 months to several years. Or! if you're very very lucky, it will take 3-4 months from application to BMQ (Basic military qualifications [bootcamp])

From what I read, in order for you to get that shorter time-frame, you need to do two things:

1) Score very competitively on the Aptitude Test
2) Call the recruitment office an annoying amount of times (at least once per 1-2 weeks) to get a status update on your file (this also ensures it's not lost and everything is on track, and they aren't waiting on you to do something, like provide more references and stuff)

So I thought, "Well i'll just get my allergy and asthma test done now so my application doesn't get held back once the medical exam tells me I have to get one anyways to prove I'm occupationally fit".

That test was today.

LO A BEHOLD!!!!!! I NO LONGER HAVE ASTHMA!!!!!

TAKE THAT GENES!!!!

This is particularly important because I had read several places that even if you have a very minor case of asthma, they will reject your application. I haven't been able to officially confirm that from a Canadian forces medical tech, but it's enough to scare the # out of me.

Now... that leaves all my other issues, being several allergies. The most problematic of which are fish and nut allergies.

The allergy test confirms that I'm still allergic to about 1/2 of the major nuts you'd find in common foods and about 95% of fish, although the severity has been significantly reduced from instant death to "maybe I can just wait out the symptoms?".

Nevertheless, it's a huge win for me.

My Aptitude test has been booked for 3 weeks from now, and I'm doing my best to study as hard as possible for it.

It's going to be a very, very stressful next 5-6 months.

wish me luck!

Dont see any pointers in there for those out there with it ( I dont, although I deserve it lol).

a reply to: Ghost147

Good luck on your tests!!! I'm sure you'll do fine...

The biggest win is already in the pocket, here's to your good health...

Peace

Good luck becoming a solder. You can die from that too you know. Or get asthma again breathing all the smoke.

Wait, is this an Army recruitment spot?

Hey asthma sufferers, sign up, they'll look the other way.

a reply to: intrptr

Yeah I'll take asthma over seeing my buddies legs blown off, over blowing up babies, or having limbs blown off.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
a reply to: intrptr

Yeah I'll take asthma over seeing my buddies legs blown off, over blowing up babies, or having limbs blown off.

I won't take asthma, or return a vegetable from 'taking' an IED.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Dont see any pointers in there for those out there with it ( I dont, although I deserve it lol).

Ran out of characters

There is, at the moment, no absolute way of getting rid of Asthma.

That being said, what I have done may have reduced mine, but there's no real way to confirm it.

I have always been a very active person, regardless of my conditions. I still joined sports teams, although generally stuck with indoor sports. I still went out to the cabin and went water-skiing, tubing, wakeboarding, and canoeing, despite being allergic to the pollen in the air and the algae in the water.

For the past 4 years I've had a gym membership and have gone 5-6 days a week every week with increasing intensity and switching up routines every few weeks to keep my body guessing. I don't eat fast food, my wife and I cook every meal we eat from whole foods.

Before those 4 years of the gym I worked out at home for the same number of days per week.

I attempted to reduce the amount that I was using medication, slowly, and only if I ever desperately needed it. I stopped taking it by the recommended doses and gradually reduce it.

When I ever had any episode, I would attempt to work through it, slow deep breaths, in clean air, when possible.

It is possible that all of those things could have helped me, and it's equally possible that I simply grew out of it and had not influenced when I did at all.

However! There are two research companies, one in Australia and I don't recall the other location that have produced two different ways to cure both allergies and asthma.

One way is through gene therapy, which had shown a lot of success in mice.

The other way is through a pill which is essentially a capsule of sap-like substance that contains the allergen protein within that sap. The body reads the sap as non-invasive, and when it dissolves and the protein is released, it too is read as non-invasive and is immediately not a trigger anymore.

Neither are currently in Human Testing, but hope to be within the next 2-5 years

originally posted by: intrptr

Good luck becoming a solder. You can die from that too you know. Or get asthma again breathing all the smoke.

Wait, is this an Army recruitment spot?

Hey asthma sufferers, sign up, they'll look the other way.

I was never afraid of dying from allergies or asthma. The worst thing about having it was living with it while it prevented me from doing what I wanted to do.

I am equally unafraid of dying for my values

So what cured your asthma?
And there's a test for it? What did they test?

Congrats to you!

I've lived with very mild asthma and seasonal and mild pet allergies for all my life.

This past winter, my asthma has been kicking my butt. I got that stupid flu bug which aggravated it and the cold dry, air we've had on and off hasn't helped at all.

A *lot* of coughing. Wish mine would just evaporate and go away.

I'm glad someone got free of it because it's a pain in the tail, and I'm really glad you got free of it to pursue something you are interested in.

originally posted by: Ursushorribilis
So what cured your asthma?
And there's a test for it? What did they test?

I explain what could have helped in my second post (two above your own). However, there isn't really anything that could confirm what I did actually helped or not.

In theory, being consistently active, pushing your body and eating well should reduce the symptoms if not rid it, but to my knowledge that alone hasn't been scientifically backed.

EDIT: Forgot to answer your second question.

The test is essentially a physical, and a lung function test. It was actually quite less intense than I had previously thought it was going to be (like running on a specialized treadmill while hooked up to a machine that records your breathing and lung capacity). However, with the tests we did do and the doctors knowledge that I haven't required an inhaler for years, among other factors, he concluded that I don't have it.

originally posted by: ketsuko
Congrats to you!

I've lived with very mild asthma and seasonal and mild pet allergies for all my life.

This past winter, my asthma has been kicking my butt. I got that stupid flu bug which aggravated it and the cold dry, air we've had on and off hasn't helped at all.

A *lot* of coughing. Wish mine would just evaporate and go away.

I'm glad someone got free of it because it's a pain in the tail, and I'm really glad you got free of it to pursue something you are interested in.

I feel you, but there are a few promising research companies out there producing a legitimate cure that's off to human trials soon. So perhaps you won't need to suffer much longer?

a reply to: Ghost147

Well cheers to you for beating it!

Good luck man. Asthma was the only thing that kept me out of the marines. sometimes I wonder how things might have gone differently, but it is what it is. Right after I got rejected 9/11 happened, so either my asthma saved my life or my asthma robbed me of a chance to get a decent college education.

Anyways, be careful. Literally every friend I have that went into the military that wasn't a smoker got out of the military with a pack a day habit. A lot of smoking going on, so if that tends to aggravate your lungs you'll need to be careful.

originally posted by: Slanter
Good luck man. Asthma was the only thing that kept me out of the marines. sometimes I wonder how things might have gone differently, but it is what it is. Right after I got rejected 9/11 happened, so either my asthma saved my life or my asthma robbed me of a chance to get a decent college education.

Anyways, be careful. Literally every friend I have that went into the military that wasn't a smoker got out of the military with a pack a day habit. A lot of smoking going on, so if that tends to aggravate your lungs you'll need to be careful.

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure you would have made a great soldier

I'm not one to pick up bad habits or any vices for that matter. I have a few American friends that were in the military, one a marine who was definitely one that picked all that up. Fortunately, talking with all of them in regards to life after deployment feels like a big eye opener and has let me know a lot about mental struggles, dealing with civilian life again, so on and so forth.

It's a very different view of things, getting the change to speak with veterans. It all makes me more excited to get the change to join

a reply to: Ghost147

I am equally unafraid of dying for my values

What about other countries values, i.e., not to be invaded by you? Aren't those 'values' the same as yours?

a reply to: Ghost147

Not to dampen the excitement, but I served in the U.S. military and had asthma so severe that I, too, was hospitalized on numerous occasions as a child because of asthma attacks.

By the time I was in my mid- to late-teens, any true signs of asthma, other than shortness of breath every now and again during football practice (in 95+ degrees in the middle of summer in direct sunlight every day), were gone.

When I decided at 19 to join the Army, my recruiter told me to say that I didn't have asthma on my application, so I did--symptomly (a word?) speaking, I really didn't...and I was even a smoker at the time (cigarettes and...a certain other thing).

I passed everything (barring a red/green color deficiency) and went to basic and advanced training in South Carolina from May through September, in some of the muggiest, hottest sh*t weather ever, and never once had an asthma issue.

I then got stationed in Germany, and all it took was one strong thunderstorm to blow through, and I found myself awake at 2am barely able to breathe because of asthma, to the point where I would find myself falling asleep and then waking up because I had stopped breathing. Ever since that moment, which I assume was kickstarted by some unknown allergen that my body was not accustomed to, I have been on a daily inhaler, and the government pays be a disability check every month (30%) because serving where they sent me reignited something that was dormant. I also have access to the VA system of healthcare because of it.

Now, I don't know what your odds are of being shipped all over the world like we self-proclaimed world police are, but just understand that asthma can rear its ugly head again at any time, and if it does, you do NOT want to be caught in a place where you don't have relatively immediate access to rescue inhalers and medical treatment.

I truly hope that it is a non-issue for you for the rest of your life--dealing with asthma again, even though it's well-controlled, just sucks.

Luckily, neither of my children have shown symptoms of it, but I still hold concerns that it could show up at any moment. I would never wish asthma on anyone.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Ghost147

I am equally unafraid of dying for my values

What about other countries values, i.e., not to be invaded by you? Aren't those 'values' the same as yours?

Intrptr, values aren’t the exclusive reason why I have a drive to join my armed forces. And to note, Canada doesn’t “invade countries”.

There are a plethora of motives behind my reasoning that simply do not abide by other people’s views. That’s what makes subjectivity so varying.

I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make, if you’re anti-military or not, or what vindication you’re attempting to show. Nevertheless, I didn’t start this topic to open up a military bases debate where we can share all of our opinions on war, the history of it, or the morality of it.

If you’d like to discuss it, feel free to open up anthe thread regarding it, let me know it exists, and I’ll have a conversation with you there

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
a reply to: Ghost147

Not to dampen the excitement, but I served in the U.S. military and had asthma so severe that I, too, was hospitalized on numerous occasions as a child because of asthma attacks.

By the time I was in my mid- to late-teens, any true signs of asthma, other than shortness of breath every now and again during football practice (in 95+ degrees in the middle of summer in direct sunlight every day), were gone.

When I decided at 19 to join the Army, my recruiter told me to say that I didn't have asthma on my application, so I did--symptomly (a word?) speaking, I really didn't...and I was even a smoker at the time (cigarettes and...a certain other thing).

I passed everything (barring a red/green color deficiency) and went to basic and advanced training in South Carolina from May through September, in some of the muggiest, hottest sh*t weather ever, and never once had an asthma issue.

I then got stationed in Germany, and all it took was one strong thunderstorm to blow through, and I found myself awake at 2am barely able to breathe because of asthma, to the point where I would find myself falling asleep and then waking up because I had stopped breathing. Ever since that moment, which I assume was kickstarted by some unknown allergen that my body was not accustomed to, I have been on a daily inhaler, and the government pays be a disability check every month (30%) because serving where they sent me reignited something that was dormant. I also have access to the VA system of healthcare because of it.

Now, I don't know what your odds are of being shipped all over the world like we self-proclaimed world police are, but just understand that asthma can rear its ugly head again at any time, and if it does, you do NOT want to be caught in a place where you don't have relatively immediate access to rescue inhalers and medical treatment.

I truly hope that it is a non-issue for you for the rest of your life--dealing with asthma again, even though it's well-controlled, just sucks.

Luckily, neither of my children have shown symptoms of it, but I still hold concerns that it could show up at any moment. I would never wish asthma on anyone.

Thanks for the sobering information, and I’m sorry that had happened to you.

What you experienced is caused “thunderstorm asthma” (creative name, huh?) there was actually big news recently, stemming from Australia, where a thunderstorm rolled in and caused a lot of people to experience the crap that is asthma, severe enough to kill several people.

I’ve personally never experienced that before, and although I don’t feel like I have asthma anymore, I am still paranoid that an event could trigger it again, too. I still have an inhaler that I haven’t used, and I’m considering getting those allergy shots to build up an immunity to the allergens which have the ability to affect my respiration, as well.

I am aware that it is possible that it can return, so I’m going to attempt my best to be prepared if that event occurs

a reply to: Ghost147

Interesting...I did a quick search on that, since I've never heard that term.

What sucks, though, is that for most people who experience it (if they don't have asthma), it doesn't seem to be permanent. With me, it awoke the dormant volcano of sh*tty breathing, and it hasn't consistently left me alone since, and that was back in 1999.

Like you, though, I was very active in team sports (football, track) and weightlifting (two-time benchpress champ for Kern County, California!), and that seems to have coincided with the reduction and eventual loss of asthma symptoms in my body. I definitely think that there's something to what you're saying, because I definitely notice a need for an inhaler more during my ebbs of cardio activity compared to the flows. I got to the point where I ran a half-marathon at a 7:51 pace without needing an inhaler...now I can't run two or three miles without starting to wheeze or needing an inhaler prior to the run.

Keep being active, man, and hopefully you can keep this bastard of a disease beaten down and out of your life.

ETA: One thing about Germany--you sleep with the windows open because there was no air conditioning in the barracks, so that's probably what allowed all of that smaller-than-usual pollen and mold to creep into my lungs and reignite the asthma. If that's the case, I have no problem with the government paying for my asthma meds and a bit extra for the daily and apparently permanent disability that now exists (again) inside of me.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Have you tried allergy shots?

I haven’t at the moment, but it should release any respiratory-based allergies that cause asthma attacks.

My doctor stated that for the first 6 months it’s 1 shot per week, then after that it’s one shot per month for 2-3 years. And by that point it’s possible that you will no longer be allergic to those respiratory allergens.