Media coverage of Asthma

is it just me or is everyone else sick of the poor coverage of asthma on television!! i am sick to death of the media showing asthma as just a minor irritant the with just two puffs of an inhaler is gone. It may be like that for alot of asthmatics unfortunately for some of us it isnt and it takes many days/weeks of intense treatment to get us back to a maintainable state. It is this poor coverage that makes our illness so hard to explain to people. RANT OVER!!

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Yeap I am sick of it too. I have been battling know for over 2 months with my asthma and today I have been informed by my GP that he is not happy with the progress I have made in the past 5 weeks of being on salmeteral. He is know doing a 2 week peak-flow record with me and if no significant improvement it is off to the hospital for admittion until they can send me home with a nebuliser and asthma that is at least 10% better than it is at present. He has also given me yet another course of preds as well to see if that will also help. Something needs doing with regards to media and asthma they really need to show how bad it can be and maybe even promote the worst case of an attack just to open peoples eyes more that don't have expoerience with asthma that infact asthma is a killer

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sorry to hear about your predicament. My biggest problem is how so many people out there dont know asthma Kills people i lost my mother many years ago to asthma and my condition is just as bad. I just get better care. If your condition is as bad as you say my local pct does a nebuliser loan scheme maybe you should see if your trust does something similar or you can buy them for as little as £50 talk to your gp he will be able to help you just have to know what questions to ask. What other medication has he got you on has he got on you a decent reliever i think salmeterol is very old school and there is better medication out there you should ask him about symbicort its worked miracles for me its just expensive and some gps wont prescribe it because of that!

[yaf_user681_23350]

I was just going to post something similar!Was just getting well fed up of the coverage on TV, + showing a child using an inhaler incorrectly. It's unfortunate that the election is in the way, giving us even less coverage than normal.

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Sky website coverage - Not helpful.

I have just commented on the Sky News web site, pointing out just how bad the media coverage can be. It shows an inhaler being used, but upside down. This is ironic, considering the article is about adults not knowing how to help children with asthma. Take a look at the link to the article.

tinyurl.com/relahni

<link tiny-fied by Peaksteve>

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TV shows tend to be really bad, simply because it doesn't make great TV drama. However today being world asthma day, AUK's very own Rosie Newbigging was on BBC Breakfast @ 7.50 this morning to raise the issue on what to do for children who have an asthma attack, referring to that unfortunate incident on the news about a child in a school not so long ago who died.

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Nivlek - wow. I've never been a big fan of Sky's news reporting, and this is why! Certainly one for me to pass on to the AUK media team. Good comment on the article, BTW!

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Thank you Andynorthnotts. I am in the center if notts so will have to ask about loaning a neb for know until I can buy my own. I already have a nebuliser saving funds nice and slowly building so I can buy one of those portable turbo boy nebs. I have been on the symbocorts in the past and sadly I reacted badly to that so can't go back on it again. At the moment GP has me on 400mg 4 times daily plus when required on Salbutamol, 400mg Clenil modulite twice a day and at lunch if I feel tightchested or as if the borwn hasn't worked I can have another 200 and then that's the max on that for the day and also 50mg Salmeterol twice a day. I am also on 20mg cetrizine tablets for hayfever which is to be take 1 tablet twice a day but I don't really take the second tablet at night on that as I found at the moment the 1 tablet is doing the job so I have the second tablet to fall back on when I need it if at all

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The lack of awareness is quite frankly, scary! Does anyone watch Eastenders? Okay, it's brilliant that they are showing a character with asthma, to try and improve awareness but did they have to choose a character that everyone laughs at and doesn't take seriously??!! After an episode where she had an unrealistic asthma attack ( oh the other thing is she holds the inhaler out of her mouth when puffing) my mate says to me- ''oh did you see eastenders last night, how funny was Heather Trott panting away on the pavement!'' I was a bit upset with her comment and I told her that, but she didnt realise because she had no idea about the condition-she though it was the same as panick attacks!

As for the rest of the media, blimey, yea lets all just take a couple of puffs and we are cured with a canister of Water and air.. breathing excercises everyone-no need for inhalers it's all in our heads! And unfortunately Thats what most people think that Ive come across who are unaware of asthma.

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The media dont take asthma seriously and nor do large organisations! Nor do the media or large organisations take disabled people seriously. They just seem to think we are lazy or not being serious. It is really annoying and disturbing.

plumie

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There was alot of press coverage yesterday which would have done a lot of good, all though we have a long way to go and keep up the momentum. i was on the local radio discussing asthma and schools. we need to stay strong and foccussed its a long battle

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what asthma uk should have done is is try and use yesterday to get some of the asthma specialists consultants on the tv alongside somebody is seriously ill with asthma. To get people to realise that asthma is more than just a mild condition for many people. The question is why do more adults know what rare conditions like lupos are? and its simple its not fashionable to give air time to conditions that are common or aren't cancer or heart disease its darn frustrating!!!