#god that sounds about right
here is a fun fact! asthma used to be considered at least partially a mental illness, and still sometimes is. in terms of pokemon this is reflected somewhat in wally, who just mysteriously improves his asthma as he gains more confidence in ruby, sapphire, and emerald. this is also why his pokemon is a ralts, because his asthma is portrayed in part as a mental condition.
in the manga wally undergoes intensive, specialized physical therapy to train his lungs because the other stuff is such bullshit
this is also why asthmatics are often portrayed as scared, weak, shy, nerdy, quiet, etc in media, especially old movies
Asthma is also highly comorbid with anxiety and trauma, on account of the whole ‘you could die choking at any moment and everyone around you thinks you’re a whiny brat for saying so’ thing.
Worse still, panicking during an asthma attack (like panicking during any medical event) worsens outcomes. Panic often causes breathing difficulty in its own right, and can both trigger asthma and worsen it. Same for the blood pressure spikes panic causes.
Combined with the fact that childhood asthma can spontaneously resolve during puberty, right around the same age that many children become 'rebellious’ rather than 'reserved’, and you end up with a perfect cocktail of disaster.
One where people treat asthma as a temporary personality flaw and sign of immaturity, in the exact way that makes it WORSE overall.
