Help with Asthma
Every 10 seconds someone has an asthma attack! 3 people die every day from an asthma attack. 1 in 11 children and 1 in 12 adults suffer from asthma.
The main symptoms of asthma are wheezing, coughing, feeling breathless, tight chest sensation, and a chronic dry night-time cough. Conventional medication usually involves 2 main inhalers: ‘brown and blue’.
The brown one is a corticosteroid which aims to decrease the inflammation within the bronchi or tubes in the lungs. This needs to be used regularly twice a day to prevent asthma attacks from occurring. Often this often causes oral thrush as a side effect, and most patients find this a chore as they have no immediate benefit. This one is often called the ‘preventer’.
The blue one is a short-acting beta-2 agonist. This works quickly within minutes to relax the muscles in the bronchi enabling the patient to breathe easily once more. This one is often called the ‘reliever’. The effect lasts for about 4hrs and gives patients immediate relief.
Asthma, hayfever and eczema are all linked to the same dominant gene. You may not suffer with all 3 conditions, but you will be susceptible to the them all. It is common for children to have childhood eczema and then develop asthma in later years.
In Chinese medicine the skin, bowels, and lungs are different sides of the same triangle with the emotion being grief. Asthma is a chronic condition with serious or fatal repercussions.
Here are 5 tips I would recommend:
1. Avoid dairy. Dairy can be ‘mucus-forming’ so most alternative practitioners will advise this at least for the short term. Luckily, there are lots of widely available dairy alternatives now.
2. Consider supplements. You may find these supplements useful: essential fatty acids like omega-3, Co-Enzyme Q10, Vit A 100,000iu, Vit B complex, Vit C, Vit E, and magnesium.
3. Breathing exercises. Many people find these helpful to strength the lung muscles and decrease stress. They can help to regulate breathing patterns, are free and accessible to all. Even children can do finger breathing! My Mental health E-book has more details.
4. Managing stress and triggers. Knowing what your triggers are and taking steps to reduce exposure to them can help. Stress can play a big part here too, so things like meditation, yoga, gentle exercise can be beneficial to decrease stress.
5. See a homeopath! Homeopathy offers us lots of wonderful remedies to help with the symptoms of asthma as well as dealing with the root cause.
Charity for support: www.asthma.org.uk
