Asthma (Part 1)

This is Part 1 of a series about Asthma and how to control it. Click this link for Part 2

What is it?

Asthma is a common, long term condition.  People with asthma have very sensitive airways; if they breath in something that irritates these airways, they become inflamed and tighten.

What are the Triggers?

The following are some triggers that may lead to an attack (there are many more):

Viral Infections                  Exercise

Pollen  Animals                  Dust Mites

Stress and anxiety             Cigarette smoke

Food

What are the Symptoms?

Triggers can lead to tightness in the chest, wheeziness making it hard to breath and speak.^[3] For some people climbing stairs can feel like a marathon. Having an attack is extremely frightening as the person struggles to breath. Having had a recent attack myself, I thought I was going to die, I couldn’t explain to my family how I was feeling because I was unable to speak, I was extremely short of breath and I was very scared.

This is a life threatening condition and every day three families in the UK lose a family member due to an attack. ^[1]

Seek Medical Advice

There are very good treatments available for Asthma. Receiving the right treatment and taking the medication correctly can control the symptoms of most people so they can live normal lives. ^[3]

In the UK, 5.4 million people are currently receiving treatment. This is 1 in 11 children and 1 in 12 adults. ^[1]

This is equal to 1 in 5 UK homes having someone there with asthma. ^[2] This leads to the NHS spending £1 billion a year treating and caring for people with asthma. ^[1]

My next blog will look at asthma and weight loss.

Watch this space!

Reference

1 Asthma UK

2 HMSTC (Hertfordshire MS Therapy Centre)

3 British Lung Foundation

Wendy Attew, Senior Moving and Handling Consultant

Read More: Top Tips for Manual Handling