‘IT’S NOT COVID’ – Being Asthmatic in a Covid Winter

Living in a Covid-19 world sucks. I don’t think this is something that we need to argue about. More and more of my friends and colleagues have been struck down, as have students I’ve been working with. Globally cases are soaring and everything seems to be a little bit crappy. (Note the use of casual British understatement!)

Yet even before Covid-19 there has been a family of viruses that plagues humanity, especially us asthmatics, year on year without fail. A virus family without a cure, without a care and without a conscience. A family of Rhinos that rampage through our immune systems like the proverbial virus in a pharmaceutical shop!* It turns us into violent (-ly sneezing), mucus-filled balls of misery and makes us crave foul-tasting medicinal hot drinks and single-handedly take out half a forest’s worth of tissues.

I am, of course, talking about the common cold (a large number of which are caused by a variety of Rhinoviruses and other Coronaviruses).

Fair warning, some of this piece is a pity-post because when I started writing I felt like hell and wanted to vent my frustration into the universe. Woe is me etc. etc.** Underneath that, however, is actually quite an important point about those of us who live with chronic lung conditions such as asthma or COPD and how we often struggle through the Winter months at the best of times. This is made even more complex by Covid-19, mask-wearing and unpredictable weather caused by global warming.

A bit of context. I have be asthmatic pretty much all my life. I was diagnosed even before I have my first memory I think*** and it is just something that I live and deal with. I dream of a day when I will finally be able to breathe like a normal person. Alas, short of the singularity, that seems unlikely, but a girl can dream. Anyway, to a greater or lesser extent, asthma has been a pain in my proverbial chest-cavity for an exceptionally long time and I would absolutely not recommend it. (It was actually quite a challenge when I was a child as my father smoked a pipe and I am pretty sure that didn’t exactly help the situation.)

Unsurprisingly, winter is the most difficult time of year. Cold mists constrict the chest, while artificial heating removes all consistency in temperature, and closed windows cause a built up of dust and stale air. Oh, and let’s not get started on rain. It isn’t all bad – I paint a somewhat bleak picture, but I do love the snow and there is nothing better than a walk in the crisp freezing-cold of a dry winter afternoon. If I were ever to live in a warner country I would truly miss this time of year.****

It isn’t easy though, speaking honestly. Asthma is one of those conditions that is so common that people tend to go ‘oh, it’s just asthma’ but in 2016/17, 77,124 people were hospitalised in the UK, while in 2017, 1,484 people died from asthma-related illness (according to Asthma UK). This is not helped at all by the ‘common cold’ and the sometimes devastating effect it can have.

I’ve had more than my fair share of wheezing my way to the bathroom and coughing up half a lung just for daring to try and talk in the morning. I can sit and do literally nothing while my chest rattles and I struggle for breath. On top of which, conventional asthma medication does next to nothing to help with symptoms caused by an external virus.

My asthma is mild – relatively speaking.

So when Covid-19 first reared it’s (actually rather pretty, for a virus) head, I was naturally very worried. Once it became apparent that this wasn’t just any old flu, but actually something to take notice of, my anxious ears began to prick. I was actually lucky, health-wise, during the Winter of 2019/2020. My main concern was finding a job after leaving teaching and when I did I thought I would be settled and sorted. Then the cases, the deaths, started to rise.

Fear. Genuine fear for my life. Before there was a vaccine, before there was any hope. I was careful and I followed the rules. Did I really think I would die? – No, probably not. Did I think I could be very very unwell for a long time? – Definitely. I was lucky.

Many people weren’t.

As mentioned already, for asthmatics and the like, winter can be challenging. ‘Any old flu’ can really do a number on you. So Covid was a whole new level. For some reason I actually resisted self-imposed isolation and social distancing. I think I didn’t quite understand how bad it was, I was new to a job and wanted to show my willingness to work even in tough times, working from home sounded like a pain; and truly many people still reckoned it would all just blow over in a couple of weeks.***** Eventually lockdown started to happen, masks were everywhere. We all kinda know the rest.

What I didn’t, though possibly should have, and expect was that during much of 2020 and the winter of 2021 I was actually healthier in some ways than I’d ever been – illness-wise. Masks, sanitiser and social distancing meant that I didn’t have a cold or anything for the best part of two years. It wasn’t until December 2021 that I became really unwell thanks to a combination of staff-room illnesses and a stress-weakened immune system.

Despite this, I still cough and wheeze on a fairly regular basis. It’s part of how my lungs (don’t) work. I also sometimes really struggle to wear masks due to being literally unable to breathe.****** God forbid you coughing in front of someone nowadays!!! *cough cough wheeze* It’s not Covid, I promise, I just can’t breathe properly! *cough cough*

Some people look at me like I’ve just pointed a pistol at their face and asked them if they have a taste for lead poisoning!

I’m not sure how much of a point I’ve really made with this piece. We all know how challenging Covid has been. Asthma, meanwhile, is a bastard that has made the last two years much scarier for some of us. Sometimes, then, it is just nice to poke a little bit of fun at the big things. If you enjoyed reading this at all then I’ve probably done something right. If not, well there’s no accounting for taste! 🤪

Perhaps I don’t really need to make much of of a point at all. With one exception, perhaps:

Please, during the winter months spare a thought for those in your life whose lungs are uncooperative, who are coughing and wheezing all over the place – they might well need you do to them a solid and pass an inhaler!!!

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* This isn’t a thing is it…? Have I mixed up my proverbs again?!

**I’ll definitely feel better after doing so, right? Right?!

*** There are actually two candidates for this. Either it is one morning when I drew a masterpiece on the brick wall of the living room in chalk while my parents were sleeping – much to their delight. Or when I inadvertently downed a whole glass of whisky thinking that it was apple juice (it took me until my 20s to actually appreciate good blended whisky).

**** I do want to have Christmas in Summer at least once in my life, though! Maybe when I am rich and famous…

***** Couple of years later and look at us now! How little we knew what lay ahead. And still don’t.

****** Unlike you, Karen, who just wants to make a fuss for nothing! You know who you are! (I still will wear a mask if asked, by the way, because I’m not a selfish idiot.)