A bit about asthma

Hello everyone, today we are looking at a serious medical condition called Asthma, a conditioned I am sure most people have heard of. I have a sister, Jeannie who has had bad asthma since she was very young.

Asthma is a serious and long-term condition that affects 1 in 9 Australians. Sadly, more than 400 Australians die of asthma each year.  

There is currently no cure, but in most cases, asthma can be well managed and people with asthma can live a full life. 

Having asthma means you have sensitive airways. Your airways can become inflamed or swollen when you are exposed to certain things referred to as your triggers.  

There are 3 changes that can happen in your airways when you are triggered. These are your airway walls become thicker from swelling, while filling up with mucous, this causes your airways to feel tight from the mucous on the outside of the airways squeezing.

These changes in your airways make it hard to breathe. You may feel like you are breathing through a very thin tube.  

Asthma affects people of all ages and is common in both kids and adults.  

It’s not something you can grow out of, and just because you don’t currently have any symptoms doesn’t mean that it’s gone. You can be diagnosed with asthma for the first time at any age or stage of life. 

Not all asthma is the same. Through more research we are learning that asthma can mean different things to different people. This means you will need different treatments or medicine to suit your type of asthma. 

The type of asthma you have depends on how your asthma presents and what triggers your symptoms. It can be helpful to describe your asthma by type, also known as phenotype. Your asthma might fall under one or several types and fall across the range from mild to severe.  

There is a dozen different types of asthma they are as follows: 

1. Allergic asthma – caused by allergens such as pollen, dust, mould and some food items.

2. Non-allergic asthma – the cause of your asthma symptoms is not from an allergy trigger like dust mites or pollen. Also called non-atopic asthma.  

3. Thunderstorm asthma – mainly caused by allergies to rye grass pollen, during thunderstorms in certain areas. 

4. Seasonal asthma – asthma that appears at certain times, such aa during Autumn when there is a change in the weather temperatures, or Spring when there is more pollen around and of course Winter due to the cold air, wood smoke and some viral illnesses.

5. Occupational asthma – caused by workplace triggers such as chemicals, animal proteins, fumes, air quality, dust etc. 

6. Aspirin–exacerbated asthma – caused as a reaction to taking aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicine, such as ibuprofen. 

7. Exercise-induced (bronchoconstriction)– usually caused by physical activities this, however, can also affect people who do not have asthma. 

8. Childhood asthma – sometimes asthma only happens as a child and then seems to disappear. It can, however, come back later in life. 

9. Adult or late onset asthma – You may have had symptoms previously as a child. Or you may start having symptoms for the first time as an adult when a diagnosis is made. 

10. Nocturnal asthma – symptoms that worsen at night. Possible causes include change in temperature, dust mites, heartburn or sleep cycle. 

11. Mild asthma – very few symptoms, no night-time waking and no flare-ups in the past year. 

12. Severe asthma – also known as brittle, steroid resistant or difficult-to-treat asthma. Describes asthma that is managed with highest maximum inhaled asthma medicines, but asthma symptoms stay uncontrolled. This is despite treating all other factors that could affect asthma control. It can take the form of allergic, eosinophilic asthma or non-eosinophilic asthma.

I can remember when Jeanie was in high school, she was told to run around the sports field during a P E lesson, she told the teacher that she suffered from severe asthma and wasn’t sure if she could do it. He snapped at her to just do it and that she would be fine, she nearly collapsed and was in a right state by the time she was done. She had to go to sick bay and the school rang mum who took one look at Jeannie and went off her head demanding to see the teacher who she tore strips off. I don’t remember if Jeannie ended up in hospital that night, but she may have as she did have to go to hospital a number of times, due to an asthma attack.

I can remember one night during a bad thunderstorm mum had to ring the ambos as Jeannie was in a really made way, mum told me years later that she was worried if they would make it ok as the ambulance shook due to the strong wind and the rain was extremely heavy. Jeannie was placed in an oxygen tent, she was that bad, it wasn’t the only time she was placed in an oxygen tent due to an asthma attack.

Jeannie never goes anywhere without an inhaler, she would have one in her handbag, in the car, in the bedroom, in the kitchen and if possible in a pocket.