I was recently sent a link to a fic where someone asserted that through Dean’s sweet words & adoration & mere presence, he was able to comfort Wyenne out of an acute asthma attack induced by extreme stress & physical exertion.
Hey, Jenny McCarthy?
People cannot meditate themselves out of or be hugged and smooched and loved out of an acute cascade of physiologic reactions related to a chronic condition. If people could, we wouldn’t need medical intervention and medication regimens and standby medications for emergent situations, now would we?
Can “pros” at this chronic disease jam sense the onset of a “Hoo-boy, something’s cooking!” episode - a.k.a., the onset of an acute event, which is what was described in your tale of insipid ignorance - related to a chronic condition? Like an arrhythmia kick-up, or early migraine symptoms such as auras, or a glucose level drop/rise, or - hey! - airway tightening, and get the jump on it to a degree, get themselves out of a given location if an avoidable external factor is part of the problem, get their “pocket med” on standby, maybe prevent it from completely whooping their ass, dodge an ER visit? To be sure!
But, how to put this... like, um, so, lol:
We 👏 can’t 👏 psych 👏 ourselves 👏 out 👏 of 👏 medical 👏 emergencies
Because - say it with me, now - if we could, then it wouldn’t be an emergency.
When people start sucking wind due to a stressful situation and there’s a chance that no medication or medical intervention is needed, and they can walk themselves through it/be walked through it by another person via comfort or distraction or employing some sort of mental strategy or breathing exercise or change of location or WHATEVER, that’s a panic attack.
Panic attacks are the physical manifestation of psychological stressors/anxieties. Panic attacks can be caused by the stress of a medical condition. Not all panic attacks result in hyperventilation. Not all gasps from surprise/shock or periods of rapid breaths, such as during intercourse, will result in an asthmatic having an acute episode. Asthma isn’t the only cause of respiratory distress. Certainly, an acute asthma exacerbation is respiratory distress, and a panic attack can roll into an acute asthma exacerbation - jeez, increased stress in general can roll into, for instance, a legit cardiac-related episode, not to mention a smattering of other things, all depending on the patient and their specific medical history.
That’s because pathophysiology is a humdinger of a rollercoaster ride, and there are myriad things that can serve to trigger a variety of bodily responses resulting in/complicating a host of conditions, including - you guessed it! - asthma.
Asthma is a complex condition, but to broadly sweep, here are a few items that Dean, in all his green-eyed glory, can’t do f*ck all about: Airway inflammation! Take away an allergy and/or suck all the perfume or smoke or other particle trigger from the air! Deliver oxygen! Stop smooth muscle spasms! Alleviate bronchoconstriction! Dilate airway! Undo genetic predisposition! Halt mucus secretion! Reverse cell infiltration! Disappear a viral infection! Turn his lips and tongue into a nebulizer to buy enough time to get the person to a hospital!
If you are present when a loved one - hell, a complete stranger - is in the throes of an acute asthma attack, by all means, be a calm presence for them while their meds kick in, or while en route to the ER, or while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Sure, hold their hand if it comforts them, and breathe in-and-out slowly, that’s a great thing for them to have in their line of sight. But understand this: it’s not that they don’t want to take the ol’ “slow, deep breaths, sugarsnacks!” advice - I assure you, they do - it’s that they can’t.
And to suggest that they can to the hundreds of folks that have read such a scenario, and reblogged these assertions to be read by who knows how many more, is irresponsible at best, dangerous at worst. I mean, unreal. Let’s go ahead and tell insulin-dependent diabetics Sam can massage away a glucose spike, and that a quickie with Dean in Baby’s backseat will remedy that aortic dissection right fast, and that a big ol’ patented Winchester Special group hug’ll clear up a ruptured appendix in just one squeeze.
You are out of your element, Donny. So before you take on another endeavor containing a topic outside your expertise?
