WHILE most of Tamworth is celebrating the fragrant arrival of spring, Tara Hudson and her family are bracing for a seasonal strike of asthma attacks.
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Six-year-old Lydia is a chronic asthmatic, while her brothers Matthew, 7, and Braydan, 3, suffer asthma when the seasons change.
“It does get quite scary when they’re gasping – I find that terrifying,” Ms Hudson said.
She said the children’s asthma flares up in winter with the cold weather and it was best to keep them indoors on gusty spring days to protect them from pollen, dust and smoke.
She said it was vital to develop an asthma plan with GPs and the hospital, which details the amount of Ventolin to give through a spacer, depending on the frequency and severity of the episode.
“I swear by it,” she said.
“You’ve got to take it very seriously.”
Lydia knows what to do if she feels tight in her chest and finds it difficult to breathe.
“I take my puffer,” she said.
The family are well-known at the hospital, as her children have been admitted many times when their puffers failed to ease their breathing.
But she said their asthma was “under control” and her children are well supported by their school community.
Seven million Australians have asthma or allergies, and springtime leaves them sneezing, wheezing and nursing itchy eyes.
Seasonal pollens, windy days, dust and temperature changes can cause airway inflammation and trigger asthma or allergies.
National Asthma week ends on Sunday.