16:00
Dr. Ajay Srivastava
ASTHMA:-Asthma is a disorder that causes the airways of the lungs to swell and narrow, leading to wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.
Asthma Homeopathy treatment:-· Pulsetila works well if symptoms are spasmodic; the patient feels a lot of weight and anxiety about the chest; there is sudden wheezing, difficulty breathing, and a feeling of suffocation, which is made worse if the patient moves or is warmed; and the cough creates retching and vomiting. Ipecac might be called for when the cough is continuous and the chest seems full of phlegm, yet nothing is coughed up. The extremities are covered with cold sweat.
·Spongia tosta is strongly indicated by a barking cough during an asthma attack. Labored breathing has a sawing sound and little mucus is produced. The person may feel best when leaning forward or when sitting up and tilting the head back. Warm drinks may be helpful. The problems usually begin before midnight while the person is asleep.
·Chamomilla can be used when the patient has a hard, dry, irritating cough that starts after becoming overexcited and angry or being exposed to moving air. The cough is often worse around 9 p.m. and may continue into the night. The person may be highly irritable and agitated, and acts hypersensitive.
·Pulsatilla is indicated if wheezing starts after a person eats rich food or gets too warm. Tightness in the chest tends to become worse during the evening and at night, and is relieved by fresh, cool air. Coughing with gagging and choking brings up yellow-colored mucus. A person who benefits from this remedy is likely to be emotional and changeable, desiring comfort and attention.
Some other common homeopathic medicines for treating asthma include lachesis, sulphur, ignatia, hepar-sulph and tuberculinum.
Daily Precautions For Asthma Patients:-
Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiratory system and may turn even fatal at times. It is therefore important for the asthma patients to take proper care and precautions regularly. Asthma patients suffer from attacks that enforce the system to breathe with difficulty. Wheezing, choking, gasping for breath and suffocation are the symptoms of asthmatic attack.
The attacks may last up to several minutes and leave a person thoroughly exhausted. There can be severe organ damage due to problem in respiration during the asthma attack. Also the system may suffer from lack of oxygen for a longer duration of time. It is therefore imperative to exercise proper caution and avoid the onset of an attack to the extent possible.
Some easily followed precautions everyday may keep an asthmatic without suffering an attack. These precautions are:
1. An asthmatic needs to follow routines. This is because it is generally seen that people do not suffer the agony of an asthmatic attack if they continue to live their life in a regular way. The problem arises mainly when the people go out of their way and break all the routines. The system thus gets unnecessarily pressured and reacts badly by manifesting the symptoms of the disease in the oddest of ways and without many warning signs. Sometimes the body does give the warning signs but the person may ignore them completely.
2. Daily morning walk does wonders to the system. But in the case of asthma patients the benefit from early morning exercise is enhanced manifold. This is because the early morning is the time when the air is pure and at its best. Exercising the lungs with the early morning air does wonders to the asthmatic lungs and respiratory tract.
3. Daily morning exercise schedule needs to be followed religiously in case of an asthma patient. Not only does this help in exercising the whole system but it also makes a person live a more disciplined and regularised life. This is because if a person gets into the habit of getting up early, in all probability he would try and sleep early too and his routine will automatically be set and fixed.
4. The daily diet of an asthma patient should be kept simple and nutritious. He should take care of not eating heavy meals as they would tax the system unnecessarily. Care should be taken to keep the meals small and frequent if need be, rather than consuming standard heavy meals at set hours. Also the food should be cooked with less oil and spices to keep it easily digestible. The diet should be mainly vegetarian with less of fats and carbohydrates. Sweets should best be avoided at night time. Dinner should be consumed at least two hours before sleeping so that the stomach is almost empty before sleeping. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables should be enhanced. Snacks should be mainly in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables only and fatty, oily and salty or sweet snacks should be avoided completely.
5. Asthma patients should avoid smoking completely. Smoking fills the system with many toxins and the respiratory system gets flooded with them. These toxins are major irritants to the respiratory tract and create an undue pressure on the system that may be too much for an asthmatic to handle. An asthmatic may get more bronchial spasms and is more likely to be affected with respiratory infections if he continues to smoke.
6. An asthmatic person should also not indulge in drinking too much. This is because drinking causes a person to lose sense and become more prone to breaking disciplines of routine and diets. An asthmatic may become careless with his diet and may tend to overeat to counteract the influence of alcohol if he indulges in drinking too much.
7. Asthma patient's surroundings should be kept neat and tidy. As far as possible clutter should be completely avoided to steer clear of dust induced allergies that may create an attack. Clutter in the surroundings inhabits several mites and allergy causing organisms. It is therefore necessary that the furniture and other stuff should be arranged in such a way, which allows proper dusting and cleaning on a daily basis.
8. Asthma patients may have difficulty with the atmospheric pollution also. It is very important to assess whether the patient may be allergic to any particular kind of allergen present in the atmosphere around his place of dwelling or occupation. Sometimes certain professions support the excessive usage of one kind of toxin or the other, in which case a change in profession or occupational conditions may remain to be the only option.
9. Asthmatics should also be very careful of not getting mentally excited too much. This is because the mental aggravation may lead to appearance of asthmatic symptoms in patients. On a daily basis it is better not to accumulate taking decisions, whether in the personal life or in the professional life. The work should also be handled as far as possible on a daily basis to avoid excess stress and anxiety.
10. In order to manage asthma it is very necessary to accept the disease and the limitations attached with it in one's daily life. If proper discipline is maintained a patient can have a long and problem free life
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:-Asthma is caused by inflammation in the airways. When an asthma attack occurs, the muscles surrounding the airways become tight and the lining of the air passages swells. This reduces the amount of air that can pass by.
In sensitive people, asthma symptoms can be triggered by breathing in allergy-causing substances (called allergens or triggers).
Common asthma triggers include:
- Animals (pet hair or dander)
- Dust
- Changes in weather (most often cold weather)
- Chemicals in the air or in food
- Exercise
- Mold
- Pollen
- Respiratory infections, such as the common cold
- Strong emotions (stress)
- Tobacco smoke
Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) provoke asthma in some patients.
Many people with asthma have a personal or family history of allergies, such as hay fever (allergic rhinitis) oreczema. Others have no history of allergies.
Symptoms:-
Most people with asthma have attacks separated by symptom-free periods. Some people have long-term shortness of breath with episodes of increased shortness of breath. Either wheezing or a cough may be the main symptom.
Asthma attacks can last for minutes to days, and can become dangerous if the airflow is severely restricted.
Symptoms include:
- Cough with or without sputum (phlegm) production
- Pulling in of the skin between the ribs when breathing (intercostal retractions)
- Shortness of breath that gets worse with exercise or activity
- Wheezing, which:
- Comes in episodes with symptom-free periods in between
- May be worse at night or in early morning
- May go away on its own
- Gets better when using drugs that open the airways (bronchodilators)
- Gets worse when breathing in cold air
- Gets worse with exercise
- Gets worse with heartburn (reflux)
- Usually begins suddenly
Emergency symptoms:
- Bluish color to the lips and face
- Decreased level of alertness, such as severe drowsiness or confusion, during an asthma attack
- Extreme difficulty breathing
- Severe anxiety due to shortness of breath
- Sweating
Other symptoms that may occur with this disease:
- Abnormal breathing pattern --breathing out takes more than twice as long as breathing in
- Breathing temporarily stops
- Tightness in the chest
Signs and tests
Allergy testing may be helpful to identify allergens in people with persistent asthma. Common allergens include:
- Cockroach allergens
- Dust mites
- Molds
- Pet dander
- Pollens
Common respiratory irritants include:
- Fumes from burning wood or gas
- Pollution
- Tobacco smoke
The doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to the lungs. Asthma-related sounds may be heard. However, lung sounds are usually normal between asthma episodes.
Tests may include:
- Blood tests to measure eosinophil count (a type of white blood cell) and IgE (a type of immune system protein called an immunoglobulin)
- Peak flow measurements
· Ipecanum is similar to Arsenic alb., and is especially useful if the disease is chronic, the patient is older and the labored breathing is habitual and dry. It is used when the attacks occur between midnight and 2 a.m. The patient’s dry wheezing may progress to a cough that brings up frothy, whitish fluid. He or she feels exhausted yet experiences a lot of anguish and restlessness, fearing suffocation if he or she lies down. There is a general sweat, and the person can be thirsty, taking frequent, tiny sips. If the patient falls asleep again, he or she is awakened with soreness and burning pain in the chest and heat in the head. Warmth often brings improvement. Arsenicum follows Ipecac well, and is especially useful in those who are anemic.
· Carbo vegitable is helpful when symptoms include a tense, constricted feeling in the lower part of the chest, with pressure in the stomach. The patient finds some relief by belching, and the patient must loosen his or her clothing. Problems are often worse in the morning. It might be useful when gastric disturbances bring on the asthmatic attacks, and during simple spasmodic asthmas. Both mental exertion and physical effort can make symptoms worse, while warmth and sleep often bring relief. Overindulgence in sweets, spicy food, stimulants and alcohol are common. If there is a lot of abdominal irritation and much flatulence, Nux vomica might be combined with Lycopodium and Carbo vegetabilis.
· Kali bic might help patients who experience attacks at about 3 or 4 a.m., with a feeling as if there were no air in the chest. The patient feels compelled to sit up to breathe, and bending forward while sitting brings some relief. The patient coughs up stringy yellow mucus.
· Natrum mur treats general symptoms including a worsening of asthma when exposed to mold and dampness; attacks occur at about 4 to 5 a.m.; and the patient sits up and holds the chest with the hands while coughing. Wheezing and breathing difficulties are aggravated by exertion. The patient usually also has loose bowels after each attack.
·Antimonium tartaricum (Ant.t), a remedy used by conventional medicine for asthma, can also be used as a homoeopathic treatment for certain symptoms. The keynote for using this option is the presence of fine rattling or crackling sounds in the chest. The chest also seems full of phlegm that the patient cannot cough up. The patient must sit up at about 3 a.m., has great difficulty breathing, and feels suffocated. Antimonium tartaricum is especially suited to young children and the elderly
·Chamomilla can be used when the patient has a hard, dry, irritating cough that starts after becoming overexcited and angry or being exposed to moving air. The cough is often worse around 9 p.m. and may continue into the night. The person may be highly irritable and agitated, and acts hypersensitive.
·Pulsatilla is indicated if wheezing starts after a person eats rich food or gets too warm. Tightness in the chest tends to become worse during the evening and at night, and is relieved by fresh, cool air. Coughing with gagging and choking brings up yellow-colored mucus. A person who benefits from this remedy is likely to be emotional and changeable, desiring comfort and attention.
Some other common homeopathic medicines for treating asthma include lachesis, sulphur, ignatia, hepar-sulph and tuberculinum.
Daily Precautions For Asthma Patients:-
Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiratory system and may turn even fatal at times. It is therefore important for the asthma patients to take proper care and precautions regularly. Asthma patients suffer from attacks that enforce the system to breathe with difficulty. Wheezing, choking, gasping for breath and suffocation are the symptoms of asthmatic attack.
The attacks may last up to several minutes and leave a person thoroughly exhausted. There can be severe organ damage due to problem in respiration during the asthma attack. Also the system may suffer from lack of oxygen for a longer duration of time. It is therefore imperative to exercise proper caution and avoid the onset of an attack to the extent possible.
Some easily followed precautions everyday may keep an asthmatic without suffering an attack. These precautions are:
1. An asthmatic needs to follow routines. This is because it is generally seen that people do not suffer the agony of an asthmatic attack if they continue to live their life in a regular way. The problem arises mainly when the people go out of their way and break all the routines. The system thus gets unnecessarily pressured and reacts badly by manifesting the symptoms of the disease in the oddest of ways and without many warning signs. Sometimes the body does give the warning signs but the person may ignore them completely.
2. Daily morning walk does wonders to the system. But in the case of asthma patients the benefit from early morning exercise is enhanced manifold. This is because the early morning is the time when the air is pure and at its best. Exercising the lungs with the early morning air does wonders to the asthmatic lungs and respiratory tract.
3. Daily morning exercise schedule needs to be followed religiously in case of an asthma patient. Not only does this help in exercising the whole system but it also makes a person live a more disciplined and regularised life. This is because if a person gets into the habit of getting up early, in all probability he would try and sleep early too and his routine will automatically be set and fixed.
4. The daily diet of an asthma patient should be kept simple and nutritious. He should take care of not eating heavy meals as they would tax the system unnecessarily. Care should be taken to keep the meals small and frequent if need be, rather than consuming standard heavy meals at set hours. Also the food should be cooked with less oil and spices to keep it easily digestible. The diet should be mainly vegetarian with less of fats and carbohydrates. Sweets should best be avoided at night time. Dinner should be consumed at least two hours before sleeping so that the stomach is almost empty before sleeping. Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables should be enhanced. Snacks should be mainly in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables only and fatty, oily and salty or sweet snacks should be avoided completely.
5. Asthma patients should avoid smoking completely. Smoking fills the system with many toxins and the respiratory system gets flooded with them. These toxins are major irritants to the respiratory tract and create an undue pressure on the system that may be too much for an asthmatic to handle. An asthmatic may get more bronchial spasms and is more likely to be affected with respiratory infections if he continues to smoke.
6. An asthmatic person should also not indulge in drinking too much. This is because drinking causes a person to lose sense and become more prone to breaking disciplines of routine and diets. An asthmatic may become careless with his diet and may tend to overeat to counteract the influence of alcohol if he indulges in drinking too much.
7. Asthma patient's surroundings should be kept neat and tidy. As far as possible clutter should be completely avoided to steer clear of dust induced allergies that may create an attack. Clutter in the surroundings inhabits several mites and allergy causing organisms. It is therefore necessary that the furniture and other stuff should be arranged in such a way, which allows proper dusting and cleaning on a daily basis.
8. Asthma patients may have difficulty with the atmospheric pollution also. It is very important to assess whether the patient may be allergic to any particular kind of allergen present in the atmosphere around his place of dwelling or occupation. Sometimes certain professions support the excessive usage of one kind of toxin or the other, in which case a change in profession or occupational conditions may remain to be the only option.
9. Asthmatics should also be very careful of not getting mentally excited too much. This is because the mental aggravation may lead to appearance of asthmatic symptoms in patients. On a daily basis it is better not to accumulate taking decisions, whether in the personal life or in the professional life. The work should also be handled as far as possible on a daily basis to avoid excess stress and anxiety.
10. In order to manage asthma it is very necessary to accept the disease and the limitations attached with it in one's daily life. If proper discipline is maintained a patient can have a long and problem free life
Posted in 
