Considering there are a staggering 5.4 million asthmatics in Britain,
it could be assumed that the majority of us are pretty clued-up on the
serious lung condition asthma. Unfortunately, the results of a new
survey suggest this could be far from the truth.
Research conducted by supermarket giant Asda showed that whilst 94%
acknowledge asthma as a serious health condition, 1 in four respondents
could not recognise key symptoms associated with asthma. In fact, 17%
incorrectly believed blocked sinuses are a sign of the lung condition.
An additional 15% of those surveyed
simply thought feeling dizzy was asthma-related and 13% bizarrely
assumed having itchy eyes was somehow a key symptom of asthma. In
reality, the primary common symptoms of asthma are having a shortness of
breath, wheezing (accompanied by a whistling sound), chest
tightness/pain/pressure, coughing (especially at night or early in the
morning).
Sufferers usually find their symptoms to be particularly worse at
night time, after exposure to cold air, exercise-induced, or brought-on
by a reaction to an allergen – similar to hay fever sufferers.
Other wrong assumptions held by Brits include thinking there is a
permanent cure for the lifelong condition; incredibly a third of us
believe this to be true. Moreover, 15% merely think that asthma is
something that only ‘unfit’ people have.
This is clearly untrue though and many are obviously forgetting the countless famous asthma sufferers who
have reached the top of their field, such as the multimillionaire and
recently retired footballer David Beckham and cyclist Laura Trott, who won gold at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games in the Team Pursuit and Omnium events.
However, asthma attacks still cause around 1,140 deaths each year and
a substantial number of those could have been avoided with more
awareness about the condition and how to efficiently control it. Only
37% of Brits have a decent knowledge about asthma medication or can
differentiate between the purpose of blue and brown inhalers.
Unfortunately, this perhaps demonstrate a worrying lack of awareness
about the fact a person’s asthma can be better controlled with regular
and correct utilisation of brown preventer inhalers such as the commonly
used Qvar Beclometasone and Easi-Breathe
inhalers. Over time, the brown preventers are effective at reducing the
need for blue inhalers – which are taken immediately to relieve asthma
symptoms and essential in treating asthma attacks.
Visit the ‘Asthma and Allergies’
area of the Medical Specialists Pharmacy website for a full list of all
the preventer and reliever inhalers we provide for suitable patients.
If you have already been prescribed an inhaler, have lost your
inhaler, or run out and cannot get a prescription immediately, we are
able to supply you an inhaler to help your asthma symptoms. You can
undergo a quick and easy confidential online consultation with one of
our GMC-registered Doctors and if suitable, they will write you a
prescription which is passed to our in-house RPSGB–registered
Pharmacists and dispensed to a location of your choice, all within just
24 hours!*
*Allow extra time for overseas deliveries.
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