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Hi everybody,

Med students are weird. I have a friend who has a fairly uncommon condition called Diabetes Insipidus, which is completely unrelated to the blood-sugar-related Diabetes Mellitus. When it comes up in conversation, most muggles do the socially acceptable thing and utter a token “oh, that must suck” before changing the topic to rugby and boobs. Med students, on the other hand, want to know everything about it: cause, treatment, prognosis, family history … chronic conditions are fascinating! Except asthma. Asthma is the Ranfurly Shield of chronic diseases: nobody cares about it unless they’ve got it.

The reason people don’t care is that asthma’s so frigging common here in New Zealand. One in six adults have it, making it more common than the number of Tuesdays in a typical week. There is a lot of interesting research looking into why it’s so common. The more credible theories centre on the role of viral infections, and the way our excessive cleanliness affects the ability of children’s immune systems to distinguish “self” from “other.” The less credible theories focus on ancient cults, demonic possession and gay marriage.

Despite asthma’s prevalence, as a society we’re not great at accepting it. Even though it’s the cheapest, easiest and most effective way of treating asthma, sufferers don’t like taking medications through their spacers because they’re fat and ugly – the spacers, that is – and because they draw the attention of the other five in six people. Worryingly, many asthmatics don’t use their preventer inhalers because they don’t see the point, don’t understand how preventers work, or just don’t like having to take medication every day.

For most people, asthma is manageable and is more of a nuisance than a “chronic disease.” It isn’t an entirely benign condition, though, and severe attacks can be fatal. My homework for one in six of you is to learn what your meds do (particularly if you’ve got a preventer) and know your treatment plan, including what to do if you’re sick or have a severe attack. The other five of you can relax and breathe easy this week.