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38 ALLERGIES ALLERGIC ASTHMA: DOUBLE TROUBLE My first memory of an allergic asthma reaction is from when I was maybe three or four years old. We were visiting family friends in the country, and their property was surrounded by hay, or at the very least, tall pollen-infested grass. Shortly after arrival, I remember chasing my older brother and the other kids into said grass. And well ... things got scary very quickly. Moments later I was wheezing and remember being carried inside, gasping for air. That was the beginning of my long battle with allergies, asthma included. What is allergic asthma? According to Dr Scott Claxton, Sleep and Respiratory Physician at GenesisCare in Perth, “asthma is a heterogenous disease of the small-to- By Margaret Mielczarek. medium air passages in the lungs”. When the walls of the airways become inflamed, this makes them irritable, he says, leading to muscle spasms in the airway making it difficult to breathe. “The inflammation leads to the thickening of the walls of the airways and increased mucous production, causing asthma symptoms such as wheeze, breathlessness chest tightness and cough,” Dr Claxton said. “In allergic asthma, the driver to inflammation is exposure to inhaled substances (allergens).” Dr Simon Bowler, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland and Director of Respiratory Medicine at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane, adds that, while “asthma comes in many phenotypes (the expressions of the illness)”, allergic asthma “is one of the commonest” forms of asthma and is “the form of asthma that is most common in young people (but it can occur at any age)”. “Allergic asthma ... relates to allergy being an inappropriate reaction to an otherwise harmless substance. In the lungs that inappropriate reaction is manifested by an acute reaction and then a delayed reaction after exposure to allergens,” Dr Bowler said. Allergic asthma contributors As with most allergies and intolerances, not just one thing triggers allergic asthma. Dr Claxton lists some common triggers to look out for, typically including inhaled substances or ‘aeroallergens’: • Pollens • House dust mites • Moulds • Pet fur. RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • JUN 2020