When it is controlled, the condition of the lungs returns to normal. If it is not complicated by other diseases you need not fear that your asthma will gradually destroy your lungs. This is not likely. Emphysema is a different disease. It occurs in a different place in the lungs, in the tiny air sacs deep in the lungs called alveoli.
Some people have asthma and emphysema at the same time.
Emphysema can develop whether or not you have asthma, especially if your lungs are exposed daily to cigarette smoke. Nothing you did or failed to do caused your asthma. You simply have over-sensitive lungs. Feeling guilty is a common problem for many, many people with chronic illness. It has become a special problem for people with asthma because of the widespread, mistaken belief that asthma is somehow caused by the victim, or in the case of children, by his or her mother.