When does asthma become hardluck?

The following was originally published at healthcentral.com/asthma on 11/30/12

When does asthma become hardluck asthma?

Hardluck Asthma is asthma that doesn't get better in response to conventional therapy.  These are your asthmatics who do everything right, they are gallant asthmatics, yet continue to have trouble with their asthma.  So when does asthma become Hardluck Asthma anyway?  

Many  asthma experts will now contend that if you're a gallant asthmatic, if you do everything right, then you should easily be able to maintain control of your asthma.  This is not so true for the Hardluck Asthmatic, who will continue to be a challenge for their doctors.  

So when does asthma become hardluck? Well, the answer to this is complicated, and if I had an exact answer I'd be rich.  And if I were rich I probably wouldn't be writing this blog.  However, I do have some theories to share. 

First of all, if you have pure asthma, that is, asthma that is uncomplicated with any other disease, then you should be able to obtain control of your asthma by being a gallant asthmatic.  In this way, I will define control as per the asthma guidelines: 

1. You use your rescue inhaler less than 2-3 times in any two week period, or
2. You are able to live a relatively normal life despite having asthma

So if you have pure asthma, and you see your doctor at least once a year, and you take your asthma medicine exactly as prescribed, you should be able to obtain a pretty good level of control.

Now, the challenge comes into play if you have any of the following conditionsin addition to your asthma:

1. Allergies
2. Chronic Bronchitis
3. Emphysema
4. Lung scarring due to poorly controlled asthma
5. Cystic Fibrosis
6. Heart failure
7. Some other similar disease

All of these conditions can exacerbate and make worse your asthma.  

So if you have Hardluck Asthma (or perhaps we should call it unpure asthma), your doctor has to try to diagnose and obtain control of not just your asthma, but your other condition as well. This makes you an asthma conundrum (a difficult case to manage).  

So when does asthma become Hardluck Asthma?  It's when you have unpure asthma.  Thoughts? 

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