With World Asthma Day on May 1st and Asthma Awareness Week running from April 30 to May 6 this year, we look at asthma basics including what it is, what triggers it and how you can manage it.
According to the charity Asthma UK there are 5.4 million people receiving treatment for asthma in the UK, including one in 12 adults and one in 11 children – that means around one in five households is affected.
Yet despite it being such a common health problem, experts still don't know exactly what causes asthma.
What they do know, however, is that your risk of developing it is higher if asthma runs in your family (if your parents have it, you're twice as likely to be asthmatic than someone who doesn't have a family risk, for instance). And if you have a family history of other allergies, including eczema, your risk of asthma is higher too. Other factors that are believed to play a part in asthma include smoking. Unsurprisingly smoking triggers asthma symptoms, but it can also affect a child's risk of developing asthma. Some studies even suggest that babies born to mums who smoke while they're pregnant have a higher risk of developing asthma. Being obese is thought to increase your risk for asthma too, as do modern lifestyle factors including diet and indoor environments (for instance dust mites are known to trigger asthma symptoms).
What is asthma?
Asthma is the result of your airways becoming irritated and inflamed, and you may find it difficult to breathe or you may cough and feel your chest tightening. The irritation is caused by a trigger such as cigarette smoke, dust mites, mould, animal fur, feathers or even breathing cold air or doing exercise.
Some medicines, including aspirin and ibuprofen, can trigger asthma, as well as certain foods that contain substances called sulphites, including fruit juice, processed meals, prawns and jam. Stress may also be a trigger for asthma. And at this time of year, pollen can be a particular problem for asthmatics too.
If you work in an environment where there is a lot of dust and/or fumes, for instance, you may also suffer from work-aggravated asthma or occupational asthma. But whatever type of asthma you have, it may become milder or even disappear over time, or come and go at different times throughout your life.
Asthma treatments
The bad news is there is currently no cure for asthma. However the good news is that there are treatments that are very effective at helping to control the condition. These usually come in the form of inhalers and there are two types – preventer inhalers (these are usually brown) and reliever inhalers (usually blue).
The preventer medicine works over time to reduce the amount of inflammation in your airways, while the reliever medicine works quickly to relax the muscles in your airways, which means you'll find it easier to breathe. Inhaling your medicine means it works really quickly as it goes straight to your lungs.
If you have asthma your GP or asthma nurse should already have shown you the correct way to use your inhalers – as well as when to use them. If you're not sure you're using your inhalers properly, just ask your pharmacist – they can give you all the advice you need.
Depending on how severe your asthma is, you may also be prescribed other medicines such as steroid tablets or other drugs. Your pharmacist can tell you more about these medicines, as well as what side effects may be associated with asthma medicines.
Attack plan
Even if you're really careful about taking your asthma medicines, there is always a chance you will suffer an asthma attack at some point. Every seven minutes somebody is put in hospital because of an asthma attack – indeed, attacks kill more than 1,100 people each year in the UK.
According to Asthma UK, here are the five steps to take in the event of an asthma attack:
Lifestyle help
It should come as no surprise to learn that minimising your exposure to your asthma triggers is an effective way to keep your symptoms at bay. So if dust mites are a problem, cut down on the number of soft furnishings at home, use dust mite covers on your bed, switch to wooden flooring instead of having carpets and when you dust, use a damp rather than a dry cloth.
Cleaning products and air fresheners can also trigger asthma symptoms as they release chemicals that can cause breathing difficulties in susceptible people. Thankfully many natural cleaning products are now available, though these too can be a problem for some. So use as little of the product as possible and make sure your windows are open while you're cleaning. And if you can, avoid products that come in spray form – use liquid or solid products instead.
Giving up smoking is obviously going to help too, as will taking steps to avoid pollen during the spring and summer months (see page 14 for tips on reducing your exposure to pollen). If animal fur triggers your asthma, make sure your pets are not allowed in some rooms – such as your bedroom, for instance.
Meanwhile eating a healthy, balanced diet with at least five portions of fresh fruit and veg each day is important for anyone's health, including those with asthma. And while exercise can trigger symptoms in some sufferers, experts stress that this shouldn't put anyone off staying as active as possible – the trick is to go slow and increase your fitness levels gradually.
FIND OUT YOUR ATTACK RISK
If you have asthma, there's help online that can predict how much at risk you are from having a serious attack at any given time.
Just log on to asthma.org.uk/tripleA and answer the questions that come up. Your results will be colour coded like traffic lights – red means you have a highly increased risk of a serious attack while green means your risk is normal.
Whatever your result, you'll be presented with advice on how to control your symptoms. According to experts at Asthma UK, the test is designed to make people sit up and take notice, and ultimately they hope it could prevent many people being hospitalised with an asthma attack.
For more information on all aspects of asthma, visit asthma.org.uk
Yet despite it being such a common health problem, experts still don't know exactly what causes asthma.
What they do know, however, is that your risk of developing it is higher if asthma runs in your family (if your parents have it, you're twice as likely to be asthmatic than someone who doesn't have a family risk, for instance). And if you have a family history of other allergies, including eczema, your risk of asthma is higher too. Other factors that are believed to play a part in asthma include smoking. Unsurprisingly smoking triggers asthma symptoms, but it can also affect a child's risk of developing asthma. Some studies even suggest that babies born to mums who smoke while they're pregnant have a higher risk of developing asthma. Being obese is thought to increase your risk for asthma too, as do modern lifestyle factors including diet and indoor environments (for instance dust mites are known to trigger asthma symptoms).
What is asthma?
Asthma is the result of your airways becoming irritated and inflamed, and you may find it difficult to breathe or you may cough and feel your chest tightening. The irritation is caused by a trigger such as cigarette smoke, dust mites, mould, animal fur, feathers or even breathing cold air or doing exercise.
Some medicines, including aspirin and ibuprofen, can trigger asthma, as well as certain foods that contain substances called sulphites, including fruit juice, processed meals, prawns and jam. Stress may also be a trigger for asthma. And at this time of year, pollen can be a particular problem for asthmatics too.
If you work in an environment where there is a lot of dust and/or fumes, for instance, you may also suffer from work-aggravated asthma or occupational asthma. But whatever type of asthma you have, it may become milder or even disappear over time, or come and go at different times throughout your life.
Asthma treatments
The bad news is there is currently no cure for asthma. However the good news is that there are treatments that are very effective at helping to control the condition. These usually come in the form of inhalers and there are two types – preventer inhalers (these are usually brown) and reliever inhalers (usually blue).
The preventer medicine works over time to reduce the amount of inflammation in your airways, while the reliever medicine works quickly to relax the muscles in your airways, which means you'll find it easier to breathe. Inhaling your medicine means it works really quickly as it goes straight to your lungs.
If you have asthma your GP or asthma nurse should already have shown you the correct way to use your inhalers – as well as when to use them. If you're not sure you're using your inhalers properly, just ask your pharmacist – they can give you all the advice you need.
Depending on how severe your asthma is, you may also be prescribed other medicines such as steroid tablets or other drugs. Your pharmacist can tell you more about these medicines, as well as what side effects may be associated with asthma medicines.
Attack plan
Even if you're really careful about taking your asthma medicines, there is always a chance you will suffer an asthma attack at some point. Every seven minutes somebody is put in hospital because of an asthma attack – indeed, attacks kill more than 1,100 people each year in the UK.
According to Asthma UK, here are the five steps to take in the event of an asthma attack:
- Take one to two puffs of your
- reliever inhaler immediately. Sit down and try to take slow,
- steady breaths. If you do not start to feel better, take
- two puffs of your reliever inhaler (one puff at a time) every two minutes. You can take up to 10 puffs.
- If you do not feel better after taking your inhaler as above, or if you are worried at any time, call 999.
- If an ambulance does not arrive within 10 minutes and you are still feeling unwell, repeat step 3.
Lifestyle help
It should come as no surprise to learn that minimising your exposure to your asthma triggers is an effective way to keep your symptoms at bay. So if dust mites are a problem, cut down on the number of soft furnishings at home, use dust mite covers on your bed, switch to wooden flooring instead of having carpets and when you dust, use a damp rather than a dry cloth.
Cleaning products and air fresheners can also trigger asthma symptoms as they release chemicals that can cause breathing difficulties in susceptible people. Thankfully many natural cleaning products are now available, though these too can be a problem for some. So use as little of the product as possible and make sure your windows are open while you're cleaning. And if you can, avoid products that come in spray form – use liquid or solid products instead.
Giving up smoking is obviously going to help too, as will taking steps to avoid pollen during the spring and summer months (see page 14 for tips on reducing your exposure to pollen). If animal fur triggers your asthma, make sure your pets are not allowed in some rooms – such as your bedroom, for instance.
Meanwhile eating a healthy, balanced diet with at least five portions of fresh fruit and veg each day is important for anyone's health, including those with asthma. And while exercise can trigger symptoms in some sufferers, experts stress that this shouldn't put anyone off staying as active as possible – the trick is to go slow and increase your fitness levels gradually.
FIND OUT YOUR ATTACK RISK
If you have asthma, there's help online that can predict how much at risk you are from having a serious attack at any given time.
Just log on to asthma.org.uk/tripleA and answer the questions that come up. Your results will be colour coded like traffic lights – red means you have a highly increased risk of a serious attack while green means your risk is normal.
Whatever your result, you'll be presented with advice on how to control your symptoms. According to experts at Asthma UK, the test is designed to make people sit up and take notice, and ultimately they hope it could prevent many people being hospitalised with an asthma attack.
For more information on all aspects of asthma, visit asthma.org.uk
