THE film opens with two teenagers getting ready for school. Packing his bags, Jack goes about the house coughing and wheezing. In contrast his brother, Stephen, is quietly busy in his room checking his asthma level with a peak flow - monitor and taking his preventative medication through an inhaler. Throughout the day, Stephen is shown taking part in normal school activities, including football and swimming, while Jack, who looks tired and out of sorts, awkwardly turns to his inhaler for help before jumping into the swimming pool. Later, the two boys are at a disco and while Stephen is dancing the night away, Jack is standing aside looking miserable.
The above scenes are taken from the new Asthma Society video, Breath of Life. The message is clear: teenage asthmatics should keep taking their medication so as to be able to enjoy life to the full.
"One of the biggest problems we are now facing is trying to encourage teenagers to continue to take their preventative medication when they are showing no signs of wheezing and coughing," says Oran O Muire, Asthma Society administrator.
"Non compliance with treatment during the teenage years is a problem across a range of childhood conditions of which asthma is by far the most common," says Dr John Murphy, consultant paediatrician at the Children's Hospital, Temple Street, Dublin. "Teenagers want to conform to their peer group, and a denial of their asthma by not using their inhaler is the best way of achieving this."
With the huge increase in asthma during the 1980s, the number of teenage sufferers is now reaching unforeseen levels. There are up to a quarter of a million asthmatics in this country and it is estimated that up to 15 per cent of all schoolchildren suffer from asthma.
As Breath of Life also points out, having and using an inhaler can seem uncool to someone passing through the self conscious teenage years. The discipline of regular inhaler use can also be a complete drag at a time when carelessness is often part of a desired image. However, a meticulous, organised approach to medication is, according to the Asthma Society, still the best approach to keeping asthma under control.
Bernie Griffin, a mother of an asthmatic, remembers well when her daughter, Sandra, once stopped taking her medication. "She was about 10 at the time and had been having three to four asthma attacks every week. Then, following a change of medication, she didn't have an attack for four to five weeks. During this time, she was constantly asking me: `Can I go to school without my inhaler?'"
"Sandra was playing in the school band and felt very self conscious of having to use her inhaler before music class. Finally, I gave in and two days later she ended up in hospital with a very bad asthma attack." Sandra Griffin is now 18 and the shock of this attack is so strongly etched in her memory that she has never gone without her medication since.
"Most of us don't finish a course of antibiotics so it's not surprising that teenagers sometimes forget to take their inhaler," says Susan Mulrane, asthma nurse in the Children's Hospital, Temple Street. "Education is the best approach and we talk to children and teenagers about their asthma and how and when to take their preventative and reliever medication. We show them how their airways become very inflamed when they are having an attack. It's important they know that it is not the day they forget their medication that they may have an attack but four or five days later.
"Some teenagers will stop playing sport or going into situations where they need their inhalers but we would encourage them to check their asthma with a peak flow monitor and check their technique and routine of taking their preventative medication before making any big changes to their lifestyle," continues Mulrane.
WHILE there is no single factor associated with causing asthma, are a number of triggers which may bring on an attack. Unfortunately, many of these - such as smoking and drinking alcohol - are desirable teenage activities. Passive smoking is also a problem. The high pollen count in May, coupled with the stress of exams, can also be a trigger, as can sudden over exertion while the asthmatic is not taking adequate preventative measures. Another trigger which is sometimes not generally acknowledged is the interference of other medication - especially aspirin containing drugs - with asthmatic treatment.
Having an uncontrollable attack is every asthmatic's worst nightmare and although recent research has found that the number of fatal attacks has not increased in this country between 1980 and 1992, there are still more than 100 asthma associated deaths annually.
