psychological consequences of asthma.

hiya nick here,

i would like to see an in depth study into the psychological consequences of severe asthma.i had my first attack when i was 6 weeks old and over the next 18-19 years i had a further 3000 attacks (roughly) half of which were severe.i now suffer from panic attacks which i believe are 'echo's' of all the attacks i had that imprinted themselves on my nervous system.I am learning to beat these panics now

but i think that had this been understood and recognised by my doctor i would not have spent several years of my life relying on benefits.Even if my doctor had recognised this i don't think the 'altrnative' therapy required to teach me not to panic exists within the N.H.S.

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hi Bristolian,

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a rough time over the last 20 years both with your asthma and with the psychological consequences. I am myself a mental health professional (and someone with asthma) from both the psychology and psychiatry points of view and my current work is in helpign children with cancer to deal both with their ""normal"" fears and struggles through their illness and with consequences of the illness such as panic attacks or post traumatic stress disorder. I therefore have looked pretty closely at the literature and clinical evidence in this area, and there is a great deal of evidence to show (no surprise!) that people who have had lifethreatening illness, particularly of an unpredictable and persistent type (brittle asthma a perfect example) may suffer psychological consequences both immediately and sometimes long term. Anxiety symptoms, flashbacks and depression are all well known following severe illness particularly if ITU has been involved. Not everybody has these problems but they are fairly common and often under-recognised. Most hospitals and outpatient services have some services, psychology, psychiatry, counselling, psychotherapy, or all of these (comes under the umbrella of ""liaison psychiatry"", and it is a prominent requirement in the National Service Framework for children in hospital or with medical problems to have these services readily available. It's not set out as clearly for adults yet, though obviously it should be, and sadly many adults do not find it easy to access services.

I'm sorry to hear that you weren't able to have your panic/anxiety problems addressed sooner, as there certainly are services in the NHS to treat these disabling problems on the NHS, usually in a mental health service context, or if you are lucky as an integrated part of the respiratory team. I must say that some (and I do mean only some) GPs are not very good at taking anxiety symptoms seriously, yet, unfortunately though, and respiratory physicians also vary widely in how comfortable they are in recognising and addressing psychological issues. Do feel free to PM me if you would like any more info about studies that have been done or services that you should be able to access. I'm really glad to hear that you are learning to beat the panics - I'd be interested to hear what you have found that helps you, if you feel able to share it.

I hope your asthma is under better control now too?

Take care

EJ