As Erica Rimlinger tells it
I was 19 years old when my first asthma symptoms appeared, but I didn’t know they were what they were. I thought I just couldn’t shake a bad cold. I had a cough that prevented me from laughing during the day and sleeping at night. I felt chest tightness, shortness of breath and was panting.
Growing up, I was a healthy child, but my father and brother both had asthma. As children, we didn’t find it scary because we didn’t know how dangerous asthma was. As an adult, I knew what was going on and panicked because I couldn’t breathe. I ended up in the emergency room a few times a year and was hospitalized for symptoms at least once a year. Each time I was prescribed a steroid called prednisone. I took it and thought it was great. I could breathe. I took it for a while and then stopped when I was supposed to.
The problem was that my symptoms never lasted long. I saw an allergist who prescribed prednisone again. I’ve tried at least half a dozen inhalers and every new treatment I’ve been offered. I was always willing to try anything that would help. Sometimes the medication stopped my symptoms for short periods of time, but I always ended up going back on prednisone, which was supposed to be a short-term medication. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had been taking prednisone almost continuously for almost 20 years.
Prednisone has a lot of side effects, and I experienced a lot of them. I was constantly hungry, gained weight, had mood swings, became nervous and had so many sleepless nights. And then there was the fear because I knew that my medication couldn’t really control my condition.
I knew my asthma could come back at any time, and it did. I’m a person who loves to laugh, and I was afraid of laughing too hard because it might lead to a cough and an asthma attack. As a proud Puerto Rican, I love salsa dancing, and I couldn’t do that. With asthma it was just too scary.
I even hated walking. I run a residency program and part of my job is giving hospital tours to the new doctors. I’m a social person, but I was afraid to walk and talk. I contacted one of the doctors at work about our shared asthma diagnoses. She told me that she could always tell when my asthma was bad just by my voice and my energy level.
Dennisse and her husband Simon
During one of my hospital admissions, I met a highly respected asthma specialist who happened to work at the hospital. I asked him if I could be his patient. I had the best relationship with him that I have ever had with any doctor. He really listened to me.
We tried one treatment after another. I was patient: I gave a medication three to six months until it worked. My asthma specialist, who I saw much more often than my primary care doctor, was one of the doctors who trusted my experience and listened when I told him that a medication wasn’t working. He didn’t doubt me or try to convince me.
Some medications worked for a while, but wore off after a few months, and I ended up taking a higher dose of prednisone again, frustrated that nothing was working for me. Once, after a particularly disappointing drug trial, I even asked if I could get a lung transplant.
Then, about seven years ago, I saw one of those “Ask Your Doctor” commercials about a new drug that was administered by injection. The next week I was in my specialist’s office, wheezing and coughing like always, and asked if I could try it. I needed a blood test to see if I could handle it, and after clearing that hurdle, I also cleared the insurance hurdle.
After the first few shots I knew it worked. I knew because I could talk without coughing and walk without wheezing, and I had managed to slowly wean off the prednisone. After about five months, I felt better than I had in years. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. I had been taking prednisone for so long at this point that the mere thought of stopping taking it was a dream.
After seven years, the new medication still keeps me symptom-free and full of life. Since then I no longer need prednisone.
I’m older now, but I feel like my younger self. I’m dancing salsa again and I’m not afraid to go out, even without an inhaler. I can enjoy walking and talking at work. I have a large, fun family and friends who I can now laugh wholeheartedly with without holding back for fear of an asthma attack.
Asthma is scary – I have uncles and aunts who have died from asthma attacks in recent years – but I know that hope can sometimes be scary. I want other women to know my story so they can lose their fear and hope for an asthma treatment that works for them. I am living proof that people, even with severe asthma, can live lives without symptoms or fear and can dance like they haven’t in years.
This educational resource was created with support from Sanofi and Regeneron.
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Our “Real Women, Real Stories” are the authentic experiences of real women. The views, opinions and experiences shared in these stories are not endorsed by HealthyWomen and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of HealthyWomen.
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