When a patient goes to a doctor with his problem, the doctor will do an examination and perform certain test and reach a diagnosis. The doctor will say ” You have malaria ” or ” You have diabetes .” This pronouncement is distressing, but it is not dis-believable. But many a times when a diagnosis of asthma is made, the patient would find it hard to believe that he/she actually has asthma. What is it about asthma that patients find it difficult to accept it ? There are many reasons behind this. It makes an interesting analysis. Let us look at the reasons closely. Acute vs.
chronic diseases : Malaria is an acute disease. It comes and it goes. It can be cured. Asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure are chronic diseases. They are there forever. The patient has to live with it. Therefore psychologically it is harder to accept this reality. Diagnosis is not cast in stone: Many diseases have…
