This month we look at Asthma and its causes and make some suggestions on therapies and diet changes that may help.
What is asthma?
Asthma is an episodic constriction of the bronchial tubes. It is a common disorder of both children and adults, often regarded as mysterious and frustrating to treat.
What are the symptoms of asthma?
The condition is marked by wheezing (especially on expiration), coughing, and difficulty in breathing. Asthma can appear and disappear without warning. If an attack is severe enough, it can kill.
What are the causes of asthma?
The immediate cause of an asthmatic attack is tightening of the muscular bands that regulate the size of the bronchial tubes. These muscles are controlled by nerves, but what triggers the nerves to make airways constrict inappropriately is not clear. The triggers for asthma can be primarily allergic or emotional or induced by exercise or respiratory infection, or it can occur with no obvious causes. It is also now being considered an inflammatory disorder- more research on this will follow.
The “hygiene hypothesis” is a proposed explanation for why allergies and asthma are now epidemic, especially in developed countries. The hypothesis holds that children who grow up in crowded and dirtier environments are less likely to develop these ailments than youngsters raised in cleaner, more protected environments. The idea is that the developing immune systems of less privileged kids are exposed to lots of germs from an early age and so become stronger and more protective of health. The hypothesis recently got a big boost in credibility. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center compared the antibodies in the blood of laboratory rats and mice, which grow in a virtually germ-free environment, with those of wild rats and mice. All of the wild rodents had higher levels of IgG and IgE, classes of antibodies associated with immune and allergic diseases, but the wild rodents’ antibodies did not tend to bind to the rat’s own cells, as did the antibodies produced by the hygienically raised rodents. Instead, the wild rodents’ antibodies efficiently and effectively attacked invading organisms. The research was written up in the August, 2006, Scandinavian Journal of Immunology.
What is the conventional treatment of asthma?
Treatment of asthma has two aspects: management of acute attacks and long-term control or prevention, basically inhalers and drugs!
Most bronchodilating drugs are stimulants that increase sympathetic tone and anxiety. Theophylline, derived from tea, has a long history of use, but may not be as safe as doctors used to think. It can cause dramatic personality changes. Other drugs of this class can be inhaled to relieve and prevent attacks. These inhalers work, but they are often addictive, since the bronchial tubes are likely to become constricted again when one dose wears off (the same pattern occurs when these drugs are sprayed into the nose to relieve nasal congestion). Other inhalers contain steroids. If the steroids are not absorbed into the system, they can be safe and effective.
Oral steroids (prednisone is the commonest) are very dangerous for asthmatics, because it is too easy to become addicted to them, and toxicity from long-term steroid use is devastating. Try to avoid ever going on oral steroids. If you do have to take them, get off as soon as possible. In general, the less medication you can take, the better. Allopathic drugs, being suppressive in nature, tend to perpetuate asthma and may reduce the chance that it will disappear on its own.
What therapies can we consider for asthma?
• Eliminate milk and milk products, substituting other calcium sources.
• Eat organically grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible.
• Eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils that might contain trans-fatty acids, all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods).
• Use extra-virgin olive oil as your main fat.
• Increase intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
• Always drink plenty of water to keep your respiratory tract secretions more fluid.
• Experiment with eliminating (one at a time) wheat, corn, soya and sugar for six to eight weeks to see if the condition improves.
• Eat ginger and turmeric regularly for their anti-inflammatory effects.
• Have some manipulative work done on the chest to break up restrictive patterns in nerves and muscles that develop in chronic asthma. The best systems are osteopathic manipulation, especially from a practitioner of cranial therapy, and deep-tissue massage.
• Minimize contact with respiratory irritants, such as smoke, dust, moulds, and volatile chemicals. Remove sources of offending materials from your home, install a good air filtration system, or consider moving if the air is generally bad where you live.
• Visit a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine (the traditional healing system of India). These systems are sometimes able to offer significant help through more specific dietary adjustments and herbal treatments.
Yoga
Yoga is an all-around stress-relieving technique with gentle stretches and a slower pace than other workouts. Even better, recent research revealed specific benefits from yoga for asthma relief. In an eight-week study of 57 adults with asthma, those in the yoga group showed a significant improvement in lung function and a reduction in asthma symptoms when compared with a control group.
Many of the back bend poses of yoga work to open out the chest and lung area and improve poor and stooping posture which can exacerbate conditions like Asthma. The deep breathing exercises of yoga also improve lung function and reduce stress and anxiety, often linked with Asthma as Asthmatics tend to breathe very shallowly and quickly. The average person is said to only use 1/3rd of their lung capacity – just imagine the benefits if you could learn to use 100%!
If you want to learn more then why not book your place on Yoga Backbends – opening the heart & body for Spring with Carole Baker
Sunday 15/03/2015 From: 10:00 – 12:30
After the long cold winter months we have spent curled up on the sofa…we need to open ourselves up again! A back bend is a stretch for the front of the body, which is why we refer to them as heart opening postures. They warm the body, increase energy and invigorate us, bringing flexibility to our central axis of support and also strengthening weak back muscles. Come and explore the many different back bends yoga offers and find new ways to open up your heart, explore your fears and improve your posture and breathing. Modifications and props used for all levels including beginners. £20 concessions available.
