"I am also sorry if that is how you see it, CS - not sure you do, but your response to gnu makes me concerned that is a possibility."

No Janie, no offence taken here. To put some of my comments into context from a young age I learned from my mother - a care worker who worked with a lot of physically disabled people who had learned helplessness, a trained homeopath and an animal healer - to try to take personal responsibility for my health. There have been both good and bad results from that, the good being that I learned the resilience and self-reliance necessary to manage a very serious health condition (not asthma) with minimal medical support, the bad being that I can be resistant to seeking medical support when it's appropriate to do so. I hate having to go to the Dr's or take medication for anything and will always look to alternative forms of self-help as a first resort. While I still believe that personal research and self-help methods can be self empowering, it's not always the best way forward. Particularly if like many people, myself and other members of my family included, you become too stubborn to relinquish control and accept outside help at all. Like most things there is a happy middle space and accepting help, doesn't necessarily equate to accepting helplessness.