Treating Asthma Without Drugs

[Be Well]

Maybe other people have ideas or things that work, I'll start with some that help me, and will post more later. Not going to write an article but just a list of things that have helped me.

Food that aggravate:

Avoiding gooey cold foods - in Ayurveda foods that aggravate "Kapha" (where our English word "cough" comes from) - are bad for asthma. Foods that cause more congestion according to the Ayurvedic system are foods that are cold in temperature, or in energy, gooey, sticky, fatty and/or sweet. So these are foods I have rarely or never, or in strict moderation, and I find that if I indulge, my asthma is worse for a couple of days or so.

Also seasonal eating helps - avoiding cold foods when it's cold, rainy or snowy and eating them only in hot months is best.

Ice cream
Yogurt (I have rarely, and mix it with water to make a drink - lassi - with a bit of spice or fruit)
Sour cream - (I have rarely, usually in potato salad when it's hot out)
Cold cheese or foods with tons of cheese
Foods with cream sauces
Cold gooey desserts in general
Lots of bananas
Cold smoothies or other cold drinks - I find that drinking things room temperature or warm works much better
Orange juice unless diluted and drunk hot - yes, hot - like hot lemonade, hot orangeade!


I'm sure there are more foods that aggravate asthma - best is to experiment and listen to your body.

Foods that help

Hot foods like hot soup
Hot spicey foods - within reason and tolerance and taking other possible conditions into consideration
Good spices in general for asthma - cinnamon, cardamom, ginger both root and powder, black pepper, jalapenos or cayenne or other chilis if tolerated

Some of these spices help liquify mucus for better elimination, others dry it up (like black pepper) and they all help the lung function.
Easy to digest foods suitable for constitution - if food stagnates in the innards, lungs are likely to get more congestion. So small meals or whatever it takes to digest foods well. Chewing helps, too!

Drinks

Some teas and drinks are very helpful for asthma, I'll list ones I know of.

Coffee is said to be a bronchodilator, so I use it occasionally but for regular coffee drinkers it may not have such an effect

Spicy teas, either black tea with spices added or just the spices

Ginger tea in particular - peel and grate or mince fresh ginger root, simmer with the lid and drink with a bit of honey or sugar, can add a bit of lemon juice or milk (NOT both!!!)

Chai type tea - I just made some today, proportions vary so try what works. either use whole spices and simmer for about 45 minutes with lid on, or use powdered and just steep for some minutes and stir and drink with sweetener and hot milk:
Ginger - I used dry and fresh
Black Pepper - I used pepper corns
Cardamom
Cloves
Cinnamon

Sometimes I add Fennel. Traditionally mixed with hot milk and sweetened. Very good in cold weather - helps lungs, digestion and circulation.

Hot lemonade - could be made with grapefruit or orange juice, and some peel grated in (organic only as regular citrus peels have really bad stuff on them). I make mine with bottled organic lime juice as it is more tolerable to me than lemon (previous long ago ulcer) and fresh ones are too expensive for me. Adding a pinch or two of powdered ginger makes a tasty drink that helps the lungs.

A special Ayurvedic herb called variously Long Pepper or Pippli (or Pippali) is excellent for the lungs. Make a tea with just Pippli or add it to other drinks. Later I will describe a special healing tea that has helped me immensely. Also will give my essential oil Lung formula.

 

[Be Well]

Have to run out the door soon and will post later about essential oils But here is one other important thing:

Avoid Triggers!

Half the battle or more at least with my asthma is avoiding triggers. I also can get other symptoms besides asthma from many of these but since breathing is a life or death situation, the asthma factor is vital. Many asthmatics are aggravated by perfumes and fragrances, and many may well find relief by eliminating these from their environments.

Artificial perfumes, fragrances and ANYTHING that contains them. It is harder and harder to avoid these as they are everywhere and increasing.

A subset is finding cleaners, detergents, soaps and other household products that are fragrance free.

Petroleum products - anything made from petroleum is very aggravating for me - so when DH needs to use WD40 or the many other petroleum by products he uses daily, he has to use them far away from me, and clean up well before he's around again. No dirty work clothes in the house, for instance.

Other miscellaneous chemicals like pesticides and herbicides.

Mold - if someone lives in a climate that has a lot of mold, try to de-humidify or otherwise prevent mold. There are few treatments that work when mold is already gotten a foothold, and many treatments aggravate mold!

Household bleach - I really damaged my lungs with this, using to treat mold! (didn't work very well anyway). I researched chorline bleach and it damages healthy lungs, bad for children, best to find alternatives. I use Sun Oxygen cleaner for laundry, works well.

Dust - many asthmatics are allergic or sensitive to dust. Household dust doesn't bother me much (fortunately, I have plenty of it!) but straw dust, dust from dry dirt, etc often causes reactions. When I mix my herb formulas (powdered herbs) it creates a lot of herb dust, and I have to wear a dust mask. Having dust masks on hand for such tasks, or even regular house cleaning if dust is raised, is very helpful.

Smoke - whether from cigarettes, cigars, pipes, outside burning leaves or whatever - usually aggravates asthmatics. Sometimes people with asthma smoke and claim this does not bother them, but if they were to quit and then clean out their lungs, they would find that they are much better off without inhaling smoke. We do have a woodstove but since the smoke goes outside (usually...!), I'm fine with it. If the air outside isn't moving and a lot of woodsmoke hangs in the air, then I can't go outside until it clears.

Sometimes very cold air will bother people with asthma, so when going outside in the cold, good to have a thing scarf to cover the nose and mouth and breath through it to warm up the air intake. A thin wool scarf works best for me if I need this.

Carpets - wall to wall carpet fibers break off when walked on and the tiny fibers float in the air and get inhaled, this can further aggravate people with asthma. Plus carpets house many bacteria, dirt, and mold, and the cleaning method often causes the mold to bloom, and has strong fragrances added. The formaldehyde in carpet glue and backing further affects the lungs. I cannot live with wall to wall carpet and people with bad asthma should look into this. Which brings me to:

Formaldehyde - a biggie. It is carcinogenic and contributes to many ailments, especially auto-immune ailments that seem to have no direct cause. I cannot be around raw plywood or worse yet, particle board, chip board, OSB, etc. They reek of formaldehyde which makes up a large part of the glue they're stuck together with. Many products and household items contain or are manufactured with formaldehyde and this is another place people can look for triggers. Even new fabric is sized with formaldehyde or has a residue from manufacturing. Sewers should always wash fabric before sewing (I wash it 2 or 3 times, until it doesn't smell) and new clothes, bedding etc should always be washed before wearing.

I may think of more triggers - sounds formidable - but since asthma is one of the top ten causes of death last I checked, it can be a life threatening condition, and suffocating to death is something I want to avoid if at all possible. Interestingly, I am not aggravated by pollen at all, something which many people are. My asthma was basically chemically induced - and I lived in a valley with many plywood factories that spewed tons of formaldehyde into the air, and learned from a local doctor that the valley had the highest rate of asthma and respiratory illnesses in the nation!


(Later I will post products and recipes of things I use for cleaning and other tasks that do not aggravate my asthma and might help others.)

 

[kilagal]

Sounds good. And I am always looking for recipes for good cleaning products..

 

[Be Well]

I'll do cleaners tomorrow. Recuperating from very painful dentist visit yesterday, so sort of brainless today.


Using Essential Oils to open the Airways

Since essential oils are plant based, the aromas from EOs are generally well tolerated by people with asthma and can help open the airways, relieve congestion, help expel any excess mucus build up, and reduce the spasms that cause the bronchials to close up. They also help relieve the anxiety from not being able to breathe! Here are the ones I generally use, and I often mix up 2 oz at a time to have on hand and make for clients. I usually follow a specific recipe but this will do, many people may not have all of these, so you can mix and match, just use what you have. I don't like NOW brand oils, although some people do, I use mostly Essential Oil University as they are very reasonably priced, good quality, and often have several types of each oil - for instance, they have cheaper Eucalyptus from China, better from AU, organic if you have more money, etc. Their US Peppermint oil is the best I've ever used, btw.

Eucalyptus - I fill a bottle half full of Eucalyptus. Then I add about 2 eyedroppers of each of the below:

Spruce
Fir
Pine
Peppermint
Camphor

And one eyedropper of the below

Basil
Birch or Wintergreen
Rosemary
Himalayan Cedar (NOT Atlas Cedar or any other Cedar!!!)

And a half eyedropper:

Thyme
And sometimes Ginger

Then, top off with Eucalyptus.

That helps tremendously with breathing - I carry a small bottle with me whenever I go out anywhere and might encounter triggers. Here's how I use it:

Sprinkle on clothing

Wear around neck in a small bottle with open neck, another way I haven't done is to make a wooden "coin", rough it up a bit and sprinkle EOs on it, wear around neck on a ribbon

Dispensers: I have a small electric one with a fan for home, there are many kinds both cheap and dear - I like the diffusers but they are pricey.

Car dispensers - there are various kinds, ones that plug into the lighter and ones that dangle from knobs

Use in steam - very good especially if your lungs are not feeling up to par, or you are starting to get sick or have a cough:

Fill a good sized bowl half or 2/3 full of VERY hot water, and sprinkle some of the above oils in the water, hold your head over the bowl and use a towel to make a tent. If the heat is too intense, just lift the towel a bit. The EOs are very volatile - they evaporate quickly - so after some minutes you might need to sprinkle in some more. This definitely helps open airways and is also useful for head congestion as well as lungs.

In massage oil - the above EOs can be mixed in a carrier oil (strength depending on need) and rubbed well into the chest and upper back, this helps penetrate and is good when ill, too.

 

[CedarSDS247]

My daughter has asthma. A few months ago her insurance company decided they were no longer going to cover her medication and she is allergic to the alternative med. (which they have no problem covering) So we have been trying to find ways to relieve her symptoms without the meds. It gets much worse in the winter because our our area gets so cold and dry. Keeping a humidifier going really seems to help. I do all my dusting while she is at school so she isn't irritated by anything that gets stirred up. We removed the last of the carpet in our house. Also we keep her away from any smoke and do not allow smoking on our house at all. Even the smell of it on someone's clothes can be a trigger.
Another thing that we have done in the past for our horses when they had respiratory problems is make a mullen tea. Mullen grows all over around here. We just dry the leaves and boil them in water. It really helps the horses and Amish people have used this remedy for years. So I think the next time she has a flare up we may try it.
Thanks for all the other great ideas too!