GSK, one of the world’s leading research-based companies, recently launched ASTHMAlaya Ka Ba Talaga? campaign to help create awareness about the disease just in time for the World Asthma Day celebration.
The ASTHMAlaya Ka Ba Talaga? campaign seeks to encourage asthma patients to be more proactive in consulting their doctors on how they can achieve asthma control.
I have a family history of Asthma. My mom and my siblings do have this respiratory ailment. I’ve seen them suffer from Asthma, so I know how hard it is. Luckily, I’m the only one who does not have it and I’m praying that I won’t develop it later on in life. Even when I was still practicing as a nurse, I encountered several patients being admitted due to Asthma. Most of them survived but some of them did not make it(Severe attack).
Common symptoms include constant wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing often late at night or early in the morning. Asthma can be triggered by dust, changes in weather (often cold), animals (pet hair in particular), exercise, tobacco smoke and stress.
Unfortunately, Asthma cannot be cured but it can be controlled and treated.
“Asthma is a recurring inflammatory disorder in the airways of breathing, which undergoes variable expiratory flow and reversible bronchoconstrictions. In people with asthma, the airways are chronically inflamed. Certain triggers can make the inflammation worse and cause a narrowing of the airways”, shares Dr. Melvin Pasay, a pulmonologist and Medical Affairs Manager of GSK.
According to the Global Asthma Report, an estimated 300 million people worldwide are affected by asthma.¹ In the Philippines, approximately 11 Million or 1 out 10 Filipinos are suffering from this debilitating disease.² This incurable disease burdens patients with a sense of imprisonment and constant restraint preventing them to live their lives to the fullest.
So how do you know if you need asthma control? It’s easy, if you are an asthma patient who experiences daytime asthma symptoms (coughing or wheezing) more than twice a week, wakes up at night due to asthma, uses an asthma reliever more than twice a week or have any activity limitations due to asthma, you may have uncontrolled asthma and need to immediately consult your doctor.
As Dr. Pasay profoundly put it, “Our message is clear; “You don’t have to serve a life sentence of limitations because of Asthma, be in control and be ASTHMALAYA!”
For more updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/winagainstasthma/, or for more in-depth information, you can check out GSK’s website. https://health.gsk.ph
