Case Studies: Asthma
Learn how to help breathing problems
March/April 2004
By Christopher Hobbs, L.Ac., A.H.G.
 |
Ginkgo has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergenic properties.
Christopher Hobbs
|
Of all the diseases and symptoms I’ve helped people with throughout my years of clinical experience, breathing problems are among the scariest. During the last year of my mother’s life, I watched helplessly as she literally gasped for breath, the result of 50 years’ heavy cigarette smoking. Whether or not we smoke, these days, the health of our lungs is constantly under attack. Pollutants in the air, secondhand smoke and chronic respiratory allergies, perhaps related to environmental and psychological stressors, all equal peril for the body system that provides the breath of life.
RELATED CONTENT
Limonene, a compound that new research identifies as a useful tool against asthma, is found in oran...
NUTRITION SUPPLEMENT Vitamins, Minerals, and More...
More and more people suffer from it, but phytomedicines may help them breathe freely...
When stress hits, control it immediately with this Instant Calming Sequence....
Consider one of these mind-body approaches to help manage your stress....
More Americans than ever before now suffer from asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The increase in asthma cases and deaths affects all ages, spans every racial group and occurs nationwide. Although methods of prevention and treatment are improving every day, asthma remains a chronic disease in which modern drugs are often ineffective.
My heart really went out to one of my recent asthma patients. Marion came in for several months for acupuncture treatments, and we assessed her underlying pattern based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. Marion said that when she first realized she had asthma, she stopped taking breathing for granted. “I was afraid I would stop breathing when I was asleep and kept waking up, sometimes gasping for air, even though I had no symptoms for days before,” she said. “The anxiety that created in me was intense, and I’ve had prescriptions for drugs to control anxiety for several years.”
I also remember Bill, another patient with severe asthma, who had become very sophisticated with the use of inhalers and other drug therapy. He had an amazing memory for all the different asthma drugs, and as is often the case, I learned a lot about the modern treatment of asthma from my patient.
Bill was a stoic type and wouldn’t talk much about his occasional struggles just to get a good breath of air. He grew up in downtown Los Angeles, and although he was never a smoker, he had been tested and found to be allergic for a variety of environmental triggers. “I reacted to everything on the menu,” he told me with a laugh, followed by a cough.
Asthma: A Modern Epidemic
Asthma is an immunological disease that causes difficulty in breathing. The bronchioles in the lungs are narrowed by inflammation and spasms in the lining of the airway wall. A person with asthma may experience wheezing, shortness of breath and poor exercise tolerance. The disease affects more than 20 million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Asthma has become a modern epidemic: Nearly 4,500 deaths were attributed to asthma in 2000, with 2 million emergency room visits and $12 billion costs in the United States annually.
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Next >>