Hi Ana Val,

Asthma is a very common condition in our industrialised world. Some statistics from eg. Australia say that: "1 in 4 children, 1 in 7 teenagers and 1 in 10 adults" have asthma.

Based on these figures (and I’m no mathmatician), if CAH occurs in 1:10,000 people then for adults we would expect 1,000 of those people to have asthma. So CAH people would be just as much subject in those proportions as the general population is to having asthma.

However that being said I have no idea whether there is an increased risk due to genetic influences; cross-overs between one mutation influencing another mutation. I don’t believe there is any literature suggesting such.

In my case, I found out only a couple of years ago (after a lifetime of lung problems) that I am a Cystic Fibrosis carrier. In fact I have a CF deletion on one allele, which means no function on that half at all but full function on the second allele which technically means that I am not affected......but what if there are other as yet undiscovered influences whereby me having eg. CAH also causes a manifestation of symptoms more marked than in a person without CAH or another genetic condition.

I had my first catastrophic asthma attack this year and was in hospital for nine days. Even though it was almost four months ago I’m still struggling to regain confidence and equilibrium. This afternoon I have to go to the asthma clinic for follow-up and tomorrow the respiratory specialist for Spirometry and consultation, so management is certainly ongoing.

As far as what we can do in this situation, I think we have to moderate our own lifestyle...not be so frantically caught up in pressure and stress of living. Be very participatory in our monitoring and treatment management and understand what is happening. Be on top of it in other words.....and ultimately realise that we are mortal. Despite all the wonderful medical support we receive we can die of these things - just like thousands die everyday from much more preventable things like starvation, in other parts of our globe.