17 Dec Asthma and allergies don’t take a holiday!
As you pack up the family and head off on your well-deserved summer break, remember, no matter how far or how wide you roam, asthma and allergies go on holidays with you!
Even if you’re just travelling locally, doctors and pharmacists can be hard to find on short notice over the holiday and New Year period.
So, National Asthma Council Australia’s Sensitive Choice has developed a travelling and holidays factsheet to help parents, kids and seasoned travellers breathe easy over summer.
Top Asthma Travel Tips
- Visit your doctor before you go: This will help ensure your child’s asthma is under control when you leave. Tell your doctor your destination in case precautions are needed.
- Security matters: For a safe trip through international airport security and customs, carry a letter from your doctor confirming what your asthma medication is for and how often it needs to be taken.
- Stock up on asthma medicines: Where possible, take along all the medication you need, plus extras. Keep medicines in their original packaging with the prescribing label attached. Leave spare inhalers at home just in case you come back without them.
- Carry your reliever with you: Keep your child’s reliever inhaler handy so you can get to it quickly in an emergency, but don’t leave it in a hot car. If you are flying, remember to pack it in your hand luggage, not in checked luggage.
- Take your written asthma action plan: Alert your friends and family to your asthma triggers. If you are visiting relatives with dusty homes, open fires or pets, and they are triggers for your allergies, let them know.
- Give holiday homes a deep clean: Stored bed linen and blankets can become musty or dusty and can trigger asthma symptoms. Air them well before making beds.
- Be prepared for an emergency: Find out where you can get medical help and keep the details with you, along with the contact details of your GP at home.
- Check your medical insurance: Check that it specifically covers your family member’s asthma – see our travel insurance factsheet.
For more information on healthy living with asthma, check out the Sensitive Choice website.
