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Cayt McDougall doesn’t take feeling well for granted. For 20 years, she felt like her life was ‘on hold’, with complex airway diseases, including asthma, limiting her ability to enjoy being active with her children.
“Breathing should be something that happens automatically. When you have to focus on every breath and adjust your life around your asthma, it’s exhausting,” she says.
“At my worst point, I couldn’t even walk to the letter box. I lost my sense of smell and taste, and chronic inflammation impacted my hearing.
“As a trained classical singer, I had to stop singing, which is one of my passions. My breathing issues weren’t just a physical problem but were impacting my mental health.”
Cayt also had to move regularly because of her husband’s career in the defence force, which meant her doctors changed frequently.
“Each doctor had a different, often conflicting idea of why I was sick.
“Many just offered me short-term, ineffective treatments for my symptoms, making management even more challenging. Eventually, my asthma would simply become resistant to treatments.”
It was only when Cayt moved to Victoria and started to see clinical immunologist and respiratory physician Professor Jo Douglass AO at the Royal Melbourne Hospital that she began to experience real improvements.
Prof Douglass is also the co-lead of the Snow Centre for Immune Health.
“Jo has taken a holistic approach to treating the various immune-mediated conditions I experience, rather than just focusing on the asthma or other individual aspects,” Cayt says.
“She was able to match me to clinical trials of new biologic medicines that target the specific signalling proteins that drive allergies and asthma – and they’ve really helped!”
Cayt has felt better over the last 18 months than she had for 20 years.
“I’ve regained my sense of smell, I can eat a wider range of foods, and I have even been able to start gardening and singing again, which is fantastic.”
“While there are some side effects, the treatment has also cleared up my chronic eczema and dermatitis – these conditions were never a health priority compared to my breathing difficulties, but it’s wonderful to be able to comfortably wear shoes and makeup these days!”
Having developed resistance to other asthma treatments in the past, Cayt isn’t sure how long the current treatment will be effective but is determined to enjoy her good health.
“It’s really frustrating when you know that a particular medicine has worked well for others but I’ve come to realise that asthma is a really complex condition, and it’s really individualised as to how different people respond to treatments.”
The immune system is really complicated. We don’t know why some people have a more balanced immune response while others don’t.
There is still so much we need to discover to diagnose and treat immune conditions effectively.
The Snow Centre for Immune Health, co-led by WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, has been established to unlock the secrets of our immune system.
The centre brings together leading Australian and international researchers with a shared mission to transform how we research and treat the immune system.
Worldwide, over 300 million people have asthma, including 1 in 9 Australians. Asthma is among the conditions in focus for the centre, along with potentially debilitating chronic disorders such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Prof Douglas says it’s challenging to determine which medication will be most effective for individual patients. “Patients often have similar symptoms, but they can respond differently to treatments. It can be quite the journey to find them the right medication.
“One of the great potentials of the centre will firstly be to find ways to better use currently available treatments.
“And in the future, I hope we’ll discover pathways that we’ve never been able to target before. By pursuing these with research we can develop new treatments.”
Cayt says until recently she had felt restricted to do all the things she loves. “I always felt like my wings had been clipped – now I can fly again!
“It will be wonderful if progress could be made in matching patients to the right treatments because finding the right personalised treatment can be life changing.”
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Header image: Cayt McDougall
