[Mars]

So apparently I may have asthma. . .

I feel weak, unattractive, ashamed and pathetic. I feel like I shouldn't have children. I know that's an incredibly offensive thing to think. . . but at the moment, its how I feel.

I can't think of a reason why I'd be wrong in thinking that.

Got back from a run. . . couldn't breath. My (doctor) sister did the peak flow test, gave me an inhaler, told me to go get diagnosed because she couldn't officially.

[General Battuta]

Everybody has asthma, it's incredibly common. Some estimates say 10% of everyone in the world has asthma.

I have asthma, I'm a genius and in good shape, I do weights and cardio just fine. You know who has asthma? Bill Clinton. A bunch of Olympic swimmers. JFK had asthma. Alex Zulle, an olympic cyclist, had asthma. List goes on.

You'll be fine. It's also not purely genetic so don't worry about kids.

[Mars]

Everybody has asthma, it's incredibly common. Some estimates say 10% of everyone in the world has asthma.

I have asthma, I'm a genius and in good shape, I do weights and cardio just fine. You know who has asthma? Bill Clinton. A bunch of Olympic swimmers. JFK had asthma. Alex Zulle, an olympic cyclist, had asthma. List goes on.

You'll be fine. It's also not purely genetic so don't worry about kids.

W00t! Thank you! Definitely what I needed to hear XD

Had no idea about the Olympians.

I guess its just weird to not quite trust my body the way I have. . . with the exception of mono I've never had anything go wrong that wasn't quickly over.

[Shivan Hunter]

I'm still waiting for brain uploading.

[StarSlayer]

I wrestled in highschool, it's far and away the most physically demanding and rigorous sport offered.  I'd  wrap up football season in damn good shape and it was like starting from square one when it came to wrestling.  One of my friends was one of the team captains, he ended up State Champion in his weight class, placed on or near the top of every tourney his senior year and he had asthma. 

Besides, work hard and you too can have hard science fiction like abs same as tutta

[Dilmah G]

Don't worry about it man, asthma's really a non-event these days with inhalers and all that, and it won't stop you from keeping in shape, as you can see from the posts above. The only time I'd be worried is if you're trying to join the the forces or the local Police Department, and if you're not doing either then you're basically safe.

[General Battuta]

You can get into the armed forces even with asthma (mostly you lie about it) and then get a discharge whenever you like by discovering your Reactive Airway Disease!

[Nuclear1]

Yeah, I've had a few friends that that's happened to.

[Dilmah G]

You don't have to lie about it, most logistics roles and non-direct combat roles don't require you to be asthma free anymore IIRC. However if someone was planning to enter aviation and lie about it, I'd advise them to read up on the effects of high altitudes upon asthma sufferers. If someone was planning to enter Infantry, well, don't even bother, if the enemy don't kill you, your mates will after they have to drag your ass to cover when you suffer an asthma attack after inhaling the contents of a smoke grenade during a break contact drill.

In short, the roles that still have the restrictions there have them for a reason. You'd be a real c*nt to put your mates in the line of fire knowingly because you didn't declare that you were an asthmatic.

[General Battuta]

It's something to worry about in theory, but in practice you can read memoirs of plenty of perfectly seasoned soldiers who had asthma. Conscription dug up far sorrier cases than them.

One of the better reads I had during the height of the Iraq was the memoirs of a bitter, PTSD-riddled infantryman who'd come away from his last tour in the army advising everyone who picked up his book to stay the hell away. After a number of years over there he finally figured out he had asthma and was discharged. Didn't noticeably bother him beforehand.

[Shade]

I have asthma. It's not something that'll keep you from leading a perfectly normal life, if treated - Indeed, depending on various factors it may go into remission so that you'll go months without ever feeling it. I'm having one of those periods right now, in fact, and haven't needed medication for almost half a year, even though I know with near-certainty that the spring pollen-onslaught is going to get it going again.

On that note, environmental factors are what seem to cause it, not genetics. For me, it's cigarette smoke, pollen, and certain levels of cool+damp air, the middle of those presumably because I also have mild allergies. When either of those are around, my asthma will flare up with near certainty, but take them away, and a couple weeks treatment (treatment being inhaling twice a day, no pills, needles or other nastiness) later I can breather almost normally again even before I get my daily doses.

So seriously, don't fret it. It's like the most common condition in the world, and it's treatment is probably the least uncomfortable there is.

PS. I served in the army. And they knew about the asthma too, when they recruited me Asthma wasn't a problem at any point, since inhalers are small and easy to stash.

[Pred the Penguin]

I have asthma... I think. I used to be in pretty good shape, now I'm just a lazy ass. Asthma never has been the real limitation for me.

[Dilmah G]

It's something to worry about in theory, but in practice you can read memoirs of plenty of perfectly seasoned soldiers who had asthma. Conscription dug up far sorrier cases than them.

One of the better reads I had during the height of the Iraq was the memoirs of a bitter, PTSD-riddled infantryman who'd come away from his last tour in the army advising everyone who picked up his book to stay the hell away. After a number of years over there he finally figured out he had asthma and was discharged. Didn't noticeably bother him beforehand.

Well I'd say people whose asthma wasn't so good would probably have collapsed in a wheezing mess during basic training, if not at the School of Infantry, leaving the asthmatic blokes who could hack it. Either way, it's not a chance I'd encourage people to take.

PS. I served in the army. And they knew about the asthma too, when they recruited me Asthma wasn't a problem at any point, since inhalers are small and easy to stash.

That's interesting, which army did you serve in?

[General Battuta]

Well the whole point of this thread is that the fact that you have asthma doesn't mean you can't take a physical challenge (like basic training). It doesn't turn you into an invalid, as those Olympic athletes should attest to.

[Dilmah G]

Oh of course, I was an asthmatic as a kid and I was one of the best cross-country runners at my school, but the point I was making was that those roles I said earlier are the only ones that being an asthmatic might stop you from filling. I doubt Mars was into them anyway.

[PsychoLandlord]

One of my best friends has asthma, and routinely whoops my ass in Kung-Fu. I think you'll be fine.

[Dilmah G]

Yeah man, asthma ain't no big deal.

[Mars]

You people are all legit awesome. 

[Mikes]

I'm still waiting for brain uploading.

So you can eventually talk to yourself on your deathbed?

[Nuclear1]

So I can watch myself die.

/trippy