It’s a New Year, and of course with that comes Resolutions. Many people vow to lose weight on New Year’s, and while that would be nice, my goal is different-  I want to take control of my asthma.

I’ve had asthma for as long as I can remember, but it really started getting bad at the end of high school. That’s when I finally had to start keeping my rescue inhaler on me at all times, and since then it’s gotten worse. In college, I used that rescue inhaler multiple times a day, despite the fact that you’re only supposed to use it a maximum of twice a week.

A couple of months ago, I went to the doctor to finally get it under control. He gave me a preventative inhaler to be used twice daily, a daily steroid medication , and a new rescue inhaler that I’m hoping works better than the old one I had so that I can use it once & not multiple times.

Since getting the new prescriptions and adding an air purifier to my bedroom, my asthma has gotten a lot better. That said, I don’t like having to take three medications every day just to be sure I can continue to breathe. I have started looking into ways to treat my asthma naturally in the hopes that one day I won’t need the medication.

The other night, I couldn’t fall asleep so I started doing research on my phone. I discovered that Vitamins A, B12, C & D are the ones that are thought to help with asthma symptoms. Most of those are found in fish, milk, and eggs: three things I almost never consume. I don’t eat seafood, so I still can’t add in fish, and I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t drink milk. So I needed to find a new way to add those vitamins into my routine.

All this research reminded me that I needed to refill one of my prescriptions so while I was thinking about it, I quickly refilled it from my phone using the Walgreens app. I love using Walgreens for my prescriptions because it literally takes about two pushes of a button to refill a prescription right from my phone! I tend to forget to refill them a lot so it’s nice that I can do it the minute I remember instead of having to wait until I can call it in or get to the computer. &Since Walgreens sends me an email alert AND sends a push notification to my phone when my refill is due, I usually don’t forget for too long.

The next day, I went to Walgreens to pick up my prescription. {View the Google+ story of my shop here!} While I was there, I decided to pick up some supplements to start treating my asthma naturally. We bought the Walgreens Finest brand because after doing some research online for the best vitamin brands, they actually came highly recommended even more than a lot of the big name brands! &With my Balance Rewards card, most of them were Buy 1 Get 1 50% off- on top of the already very competitive price.

Justin & Shane went with and Justin wanted to get some fish oil supplements in addition to my vitamins, too.

They didn’t actually have any Vitamin A though, so once I got home I opened the Walgreens app back up & searched through there. I still didn’t find Walgreens’ Finest brand, but they did have 11 options so I purchased one & had it shipped to me so I don’t have to go back again.

While I’m sure it’ll take some time to see a huge difference, I’m proud that only a week into the New Year, I’ve taken such a big step toward my goal of finally conquering my asthma. I won’t be stopping my prescriptions any time soon {or without the consent of a doctor} but I am hoping to bridge the gap between what my medications can do &how bad my asthma really is. I’m hoping that by the end of the year, things that currently trigger my asthma {like using household cleaners, going outside in the cold, and even eating certain foods} will no longer give me pause.

What is your New Year’s Resolution?

Note: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias® and Walgreens #cbias #SocialFabric