For anyone who has been experiencing respiratory symptoms in the past week, just be aware that the recent “thunderstorm asthma” event in Victoria has been triggering not only asthma attacks but other symptoms as well. I’ve been battling a virus for the past 6 weeks and about a week ago started to present with whooping cough like symptoms and excessive production of fluid in the lungs. I initially didn’t make the connection because I wasn’t experiencing asthma attacks. Thankfully I was rescued by my GP who made the connection.. Thoughts and prayers go out to the people who have lost their lives as a result of this freak event and their families..

Take home message: Trust your gut instinct. I knew something wasn’t right with my health and I needed to get checked out by my GP.. So thankful I didn’t ignore the warning signs and assume my symptoms were just a result of the virus or my lung condition. My outcome could’ve otherwise been very different.

Keep on researching about your illness, because you never know where that next pearl of hope is going to come from that’s going to take you forward on your journey. Do keep in mind that not all research is credible. For this reason I’ve come up with a bit of a checklist to help sort the good from the bad.

Is the author of the article an authority and does it list the qualifications/credentials of the author?

Is there evidence of referencing?

If it’s a piece of research, has it been peer reviewed?

When was it published? If it isn’t recent is it still relevant?

Is the article/research written objectively? Some articles can appear biased.

Can the author’s claims be backed up?

Does the information support or relate to your current understanding of the condition?

I hope this helps. Oh and another tip for finding those nuggets of health info is to make contact with other people with your condition e.g. on forums & online support groups. While everyone is different. and what works for one may not work for another, you never know what you may stumble across in making contact with others with a shared experience.