Recognizing and Combating Asthma-Related Depression

Asthma/Depression Interventions

Now that you know why your symptoms are present, what are you going to do about them?  Hopefully, you see the need to fight back against your symptoms rather than lying down and accepting your current state.  In life, you cannot change much, but you can always change yourself.  Here’s how:

• Monitor. Self-monitoring is one of the most important skills you can develop.  Self-monitoring means that you have the ability to understand yourself, your thoughts, your feelings and your triggers.  If you cannot grasp what makes your depression flare, what triggers your asthma or what your feelings are in a given situation, you will have a much poorer prognosis.  Self-monitoring is easy once you begin to note the value in it.  To begin, check-in with yourself periodically throughout the day.  Ask yourself about yourself.  How are you feeling?  What are your thinking about?  How are your symptoms?  The more you do it, the better you will become?  The only piece of caution is that depression can skew your perceptions so be sure to take level of depression into account.  You may need to grade yourself on a curve.

• Educate. Did you know about the link between depression and prednisone?  Did you know that depression can worsen asthma symptoms?  Just because you have a chronic medical condition, or two, does not mean that you automatically become an expert in the field.  Expertise is acquired through education as well as experience.  No one can take away your experience so it is time to add the education.  Consult with your doctor to learn more about your symptoms and conditions.  Talk to others with asthma for more firsthand experiences and delve into literature from the best sources online and in print for the medical point of view. Education will limit depression by making asthma seem less overwhelming and less powerful.  It will also improve self-monitoring since you will know what to look for.
• Relax. Having a clear, calm mind is a fantastic way to fight depression.  A clear mind allows you the opportunity to add more positive thoughts while denouncing the irrationally negative ones.  Having a calm body puts yourself in a better situation to prevent and treat asthma when attacks occur.  How relaxed are you right now?  Your education has illustrated that stress makes both depression and asthma worse.  Relaxation comes in many shapes and forms from spending time with friends to yoga to specific relaxation techniques learned in psychotherapy.  Good options exist for those who seek them out and stick with it.

• Treat. Speaking of psychotherapy, counseling is a great option for someone with depression and asthma.  A therapist can assist with the above tasks while providing so much more.  Consider the comparison between type-2 diabetes and asthma.  Both are chronic medical conditions that require close monitoring and treatment.  Both are highly associated with mental health issues like depression and anxiety.  Recent studies show that therapy, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy, is effective in improving diabetes symptom management while reducing mental health symptoms.  A therapist can help you by teaching you how to help yourself.  If you aren’t already in therapy, consider it.  If you are in therapy, work with your therapist to restructure your sessions making asthma more of a focus.
• Maintain. With any chronic medical condition, becoming discouraged is a significant threat.  You may feel like your best efforts are going unrewarded and nothing will ever improve.  This sounds like depression talking.  Symptoms can and do improve regularly.  Stay the course to get the results you are seeking.  They may not come as quickly as you envisioned, but the lasting results need more time to take root.  Flowers spring from the ground a few days after the seed was planted but die by fall.  Trees take weeks to break through but the product lasts a lifetime.  Maintaining your plan will foster a tree.

Conclusion

Discounting the impact of your asthma on your mood could be a huge mistake.  Rethink the way you see your symptoms and your mental health.  If there is room for improvement, take it.  You may not know how good life can be.  Controlling asthma and depression can help you breathe a little easier.