I kicked depression WITH A NEW DIET

After years of asthma attacks and depression, Karri Kirkwood, 43, found a cure through food

- ASHLEIGH PAGE

Wheezing, I pulled myself up the stairs, one step at a time. Stopping at the top I leant against the wall to try to catch my breath, puffing on my inhaler.

It was December 2019 and I’d been feeling ill for days. Fits of coughing, fever, aches and pains, it felt like the flu but much, much worse.

Having suffered from asthma since I was a child, my chest often felt tight and wheezy, particularly if I had a cold, but this felt different. Every breath was a struggle, no matter how many times I puffed on my inhaler. I could barely walk, let alone stand, shower or even dress myself.

Eventually taken to hospital, doctors tried to find an answer for my poor health before finally diagnosing me with a rare pneumonia they hadn’t seen before. Recuperating in a respiratory ward, I was finally allowed home after nine days. But I was still very weak, unable to walk more than a few steps before tiring.

I was prescribed steroids to get my asthma back under control, but they didn’t seem to be helping and eventually doctors put me on lifelong biological injections as I’d been left with eosinophilic asthma, a rare and severe type that only affects 4% of asthmatics.

I’d always struggled with my weight with my weight since I was a child, with my doctor even telling my mum to put me on a diet when I was aged eight, but now the weight fell off me. Unable to eat properly or exercise, I felt dreadful. And having been on antidepressants on and off since I was 19, my mental health took another huge hit.