It may lead to a mental illness, such as fear of an exacerbation of the disease, mental disorder, or depression.

What can be done to encourage the patient, remove fears and make him feel comfortable, even if he will never fully recover again? Here are some helpful tips that the German Wällerlag website quotes German psychologist Doris Wolf:

1. The patient’s relatives must know well about the disease: as well as learn about its psychological and physical consequences, so that only the approach to knowing the patient’s feeling and what is happening to him can be approached.

2- The patient’s family must accept the condition of the patient and his feelings: It must be known that when a person has a chronic disease, he will go through several stages. These stages are very natural, interspersed by from time to time feelings of sadness, regret and longing for the old days and dissatisfaction, and parents should search for other strategies to help their sick relatives if they remain stuck in the first or second stage of these stages

3- The stage of trauma and denial: After diagnosing a severe illness, the patient may try to act as if he will restore his normal life soon, and he cannot or does not want to admit the existence of a turn that may change the course of his entire life. He does this so that he does not feel loss and does not feel suffering and psychological pain. Parents at this stage must first accept the patient's view temporarily at the beginning and talk to him about it at a later time, as hope should not be removed from him at this stage because this may lead to his psychological weakening. Note that even the doctors themselves do not know whether or not the disease will recover quickly.

Let them speak comfortably without interruption nor correction.

I’m an asthmatic myself (since childhood) and have been an “asthmatic language learner” myself once upon a time. I’ve also been a teacher for several years. In my experience, language learning should not be impacted by being an asthmatic... stuttering, having bad concentration etc. are to my knowledge not directly related to asthma (stressors may provoke an asthma exacerbation yes, but the stress experience itself is not caused by the asthma...) When people in a classroom situation are experiencing “asthma interference” in language training, such as having to catch up in breath, it is an indication that their medication needs adjusting... (to prevent these symptoms). They should go see their doctor...

Dear Fadel, Ahmed, and Stefaan,

Thanks for your interesting contributions to my question.

Dear Stefaan,

I am asking because I am a teacher and I have some students who suffer from Asthma. I have noticed that they feel tired when they speak. Plus, their comprehension is slow when I compare them to others.

Dear Mohammad,

It makes perfect sense to me that these students feel tired when they speak, but they shouldn’t be having this problem if they are on the right medication regime... Also it is a common problem that asthma severity tends to fluctuate throughout the year, as it is often linked to (seasonal and/or other) allergies. I have had these problems myself (as have many others) and allergies do tend to drain one’s energy and cause fatigue, but with proper medication the worst of it can certainly be prevented. I can imagine that this can have an influence on following a class, in particular if the right medication regime has not been found yet (in severe uncontrolled asthma there are often nightly exacerbations as well, which of course add to feeling tired) . I’m not sure about comprehension however... in my experience this is not really related, but perhaps in poorly controlled asthma with fatigue problems it could play a role... In any case, nothing the language teacher can fix - they should see their doctor about it...

Good luck with your students,

Stefaan

Dear Stefaan,

I really enjoyed reading your comments. I agree with you that poorly uncontrolled asthma with fatigue problems can play a serious role in this regard. However, we as teachers should also do something to help. Therefore, I have decided to share my question here as an attempt to get some useful responses like yours.