Asthma costs the nation 1 billion
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
Asthma can occur at any age and is not necessarily passed down through family genes. It affects one in four children and one in six adults, but with proper management adverse effects can be controlled, says Asthma New Zealand deputy director Debra Leutenegger. Wellington Regional Asthma Society workers are ?in and out? of their Porirua offices all the time attending to the needs of Asthma sufferers and teaching them how to beat the wheeze. ?We are very busy and usually can?t keep up with the work load,? says Mrs Leutenegger. Educating people on asthma prevention and common misconceptions is a big task for the charitable organisation. ?People with asthma normally have two inhalers, one is a preventer that works slowly and quietly over time to keep the lungs healthy, and the other blue inhaler that works on the muscles to relieve symptoms,? says Mrs Leutenegger. Asthma sufferers need to continue using preventer medicine even in times of good health to keep attacks at bay, she says. ?If the asthma is under control you don?t need the blue inhaler. ?Good management is the most importation part,? says Mrs Leutenegger. People can suffer from asthma at any point in their lives ?from one to 80? and spring provides one of the triggers: pollen. Normally it takes a large amount of a trigger to cause asthma, says Mrs Leutenegger. ?Triggers can be a bad cold of flu, we had two asthma sufferers die from the swine flu,? she says. The causes of asthma are still unclear, but studies show children raised in overtly clean environments may be more susceptible, as are premature births and children given too much paracetamol at a young age. Asthma costs the country ?close to a billion dollars per year, if you account for the complete burden of asthma, time off work, and hospital time,? says Mrs Leutenegger. New programmes to insulate and warm homes are a good step but also a ?catch 22? because the neediest are missing out and can?t afford to run heat pumps. ?That is part of Asthma New Zealand?s thing; we give free advice to everyone and remove the barriers to access,? says Mrs Leutenegger. For more information on Wellington Regional Asthma Society visit www.asthmasociety.org.nz or contact 2374520
