Me, Alpha1 and a little bit more

In my first Blog I made a very ( very ) brief introduction what Alpha1 Antitrypsin Deficiency actually is, I could  talk about Alpha 1 the whole  Day , Symptoms , Problems , Health Issues , at which Stage is the Research etc etc etc .
I'm a so called MZ Type and no one really knows why some MZ Types get the full blown symptoms ( COPD , Liver Disease etc ) and some go through their whole Life without knowing that they have it. One mayor factor is Smoking , there is no question about that Smoking and being a Alpha 1 ( Regardless which Type ) is a extremely bad Idea .  There is a kind of a Big Research worldwide going on what the other Factors are , so I don't know  if I ever will get COPD or Liver Damage .
My Mother had the full blown Symptoms , however I have to say She never stopped Smoking ( Something i thankfully never started )  which was very likely a major Factor for her declining Health
So now about me , my next Birthday will be my 40th birthday and if you would have asked me 6-7 Years Ago, I would have guessed that I will be a very sick Person by the Time I hit 40.
6-8  Years ago, I had constantly Bronchitis , I had one cold after the other , I was nearly constantly on Antibiotics, my Body was never able to recover and even when I did not had a Bronchitis I had a constant cough and Mucus Problems and to top that off I was not Overweight I was OBESE and lastly what I did not realize at that Stage was that I was very Stressed the whole Time !!

So over the Years I changed my life bit by bit and my current Health Status is, I would say nearly perfect . I still have a few too many Kilos on my Body but I haven't had a Cold or Bronchitis in over 2 Years, that alone is amazing .
I also started to to Exercise in every shape and Form , lastly I took up running and now comes the part that still upsets me , even though I'm Training kind of Hard, I can't run fast , in every 10K Race I'm doing I'm the one who is running in the Back , just in front of the Walkers . If other Runners hope to break the 5 min /Km Mark I hope to break the 7:30min/ Km.
 I had races where Walkers have been faster than me .
I have to say that took a huge amount of willpower not to be too disappointed about that, I'm guessing a lot of People who Read that just think what a Wimp and that might be true,  but what I want to say with this is , if you are an Alpha 1 and have no obvious Symptoms you still might be very different to the runner next to you who is same age , same Weight , He /She might get quite a bit faster over the Finish Line

If I look at my annual Lung functions Tests I can clearly see that it is going a bit downhill , I don't know yet where it will stop but I have sworn to myself I will do everything in my Power to keep as healthy as Possible.
I have therefor certain Rules in my life which I rather strictly follow these Days :
Stress , I do NOT allow negative Stress , I have changed Jobs , I actually have changed the country ( More about that in another Post  )  , basically I have changed my whole Life .
These Days I enjoy my Job , I enjoy my Life and if I  have sometimes a Stressful workday it is not negative Stress
I think this was the most important Change in my Life , I really believe that Stress is a mayor Health Factor
Everything else fell afterwards  into place , it took ages to loose Weight to change eating Habits but when my Stress was gone I had time to concentrate on this. it took  over a span of over 5 Years to get where I'm now. I hope that I will be at the end of this Year on  normal Weight but if not then I accept it and will continue to improve my eating habits.
Sport is these Days a major factor in my Life and that is what this blog will be about the Alpha (MZ)  who took up Sport and wants to blog how far I can get . I want to know how far I can improve with my Age and will compare this with my annual Health Check