Posted 9/17/2014 8:11 AM (GMT 0)
I've had Exercise Induced Asthma since I was a child, but it went untreated until I was a teenager. I was a chubby kid, so teachers and parents didn't believe me when I told them I couldn't breathe whenever I exercised. They would say that I was just "out of shape." But I could never get in shape, because I always had to stop exercising since I couldn't breathe. This was traumatic for me, since I was embarrassed to tell anyone that I thought I had a problem. I would lie to my PE teacher about how much I ran just so I could stop and catch my breath. I was constantly avoiding any exercise that had extensive running. I did this for so long that now that I'm an adult I have a VERY difficult time consistently exercising. My asthma is under control, but I think I trained myself to avoid exercising at all costs for fear of feeling all those horrible feelings when I was a kid...and for fear of not breathing. So that is my problem. How do I, as an adult, get over the trauma I suffered because of my EIA? Is it possible to retrain my brain? Has anyone else experienced this?