Treatments for Bronchial Asthma
Ayurvedic: Ayurvedic approach of treatment is determined by particular dosha imbalance experienced by the asthmatic people. Patients need to participate actively and be willing to alter diet, lifestyle and habits for the treatment to be effective.
The ayurvedic treatment includes two main strategies:
Purification therapies (panchakarma) - to eliminate the vitiated doshas.
Herbal therapies - to help re-establish normal physiological function in the affected tissues and organs.
The purification therapies include oleation and fomentation procedures, laxative procedures and therapeutic vomiting procedures.
The herbal therapies include the ayurvedic preparations such as AgastyaRasayana, SitopaladiChurna, Swasha-Kasa-ChintamaniRasa, Kanalwsava etc.
These treatments reduce symptoms, eliminate impurities, and reduce anxiety, increase disease resistance and harmony in the patient’s life.
Dietary: To relieve symptoms associated with Bronchial Asthma, here are a few suggestions from the Healthji Team:
Drinking water and beverages which are at room temperature or luke warm, will be beneficial for you as it will avoid wheezing.
Eating small frequent meals i.e. about small 6 meals in a day will be more comfortable than eating 3 big meals. As it will be easy to digest and also you will not feel bloated. Note that half-full stomach will put less pressure on the Diaphragm, hence making breathing easier than after a huge meal.
It is advised to have dinner two hours before bed-time, so that you digest your meal well before sleeping. This will ease breathing and also avoid acid reflux commonly associated with Bronchial Asthma.
Include a lot of fresh fruits and raw vegetables in the diet as these are a good source of antioxidants which strengthen the immune system from within.
According to Ayurvedic Nutrition; herbal teas made of ajwain, tulsi, clove, pepper, ginger, black pepper, cinnamon and honey are beneficial to ease wheezing/congestion associated with Bronchial Asthma.
Also, mentioned in Ayurvedic science, regular clearing of bowels will also relieve symptoms associated with Bronchial Asthma. Hence, if there are any signs of constipation, kindly take a laxative like isabgol or tripahala or consult your physician to suggest one.
Maintain a food diary and record your day’s record for a few weeks and how you felt after eating/drinking them. This will help you find which food items/beverages trigger an Asthmatic attack in your case.
Walking in fresh air at a comfortable pace is suggested for all patients of respiratory complications to increase breathing stamina. Yoga and Pranayam is definitely beneficial.
Please consult a Dietitian to check your weight for height and analyze your diet. In case you are overweight, reducing a few kilos will also help ease wheezing and breathing discomfort.
Home remedies
Boil 10 garlic cloves in 30 ml of milk and take it once daily. It is an excellent medicine for the early stages of asthma.
A teaspoon of turmeric powder with a glass of milk 2-3 times a day can be taken. It is highly beneficial, if taken empty stomach.
Mix some lemon juice with ginger and take it once in a day.
Mix, honey 1 tablespoon, onion juice 1 cup and black pepper 1/8 tablespoon.
Mix mustard oil with camphor oil and massage it over the back of chest during the attack.
Blend radish, honey and lemon juice together in a blender. Mix for 20 minutes and cook in small pan on less heat. Take one teaspoon in the morning daily.
Express the juice from garlic. Mix 10 to 15 drops in warm water and take internally.
Mix few leaves of holy basil with honey and consume them every morning. It is effective to keep asthmatic attacks away.
Inhale steam twice a day from boiling water mixed with Ajwain. It will dilate the bronchial passages.
Drink a glass of 2/3 carrot juice, 1/3 spinach juice, 3 times a day.
Boil 4-5 cloves in 125 ml of water. Add one teaspoonful of honey and drink the mixture twice or thrice a day.
Homeopathic Solutions for Bronchial Asthma
Please find a brief explanation of a few remedies offered by Homeopathy:
ARS ALB - This remedy works brilliantly in asthma. If the asthmatic attacks occur mostly periodically at midnight or 2 am; breathing is much oppressed and there is great anguish. The Doctor advices Patient must sit up – he feels he might just loose his breath on lying down or going into a cold environment. The patient cannot walk fast for want of breath. Often there maybe an associated spasmodic cough. Suffocating, deep and short cough which gets worse midnight onwards. Constricted feeling in the chest, a burning sensation. At times there is tenacious mucus. The patient might also complain of general debility and feels better by heat. He might complain of night sweats and general anxiety.
IPECAC - One of our leading remedies for bronchial asthma – with a dry or wet cough. At times there is a great accumulation of mucus – sensation of a danger of suffocation due to mucus filling up the bronchi which further stimulates a spasmodic cough. Though the chest seems full of phlegm – it somehow does not yield to coughing. Ipecac also works well in the initial stages of bronchial asthma where the cough is spasmodic but dry and the accumulation of mucus has not yet begun. The patient at times may complains of nausea accompanying the cough (nausea is a chief symptom for which Ipecac is used) There could be deathly, distressing, constant nausea -- nothing seems to relieve this nausea.
SPONGIA - There is a sense of obstruction in the air passages as from a sponge in the throat, a plug like sensation. Sore pain low down in the chest with incessant cough – often dry, barking cough, hollow croupy, wheezy, asthamatic cough. Coughing day and night – somehow patient is better after eating or drinking something. Dyspnoea with weakness in the chest – hoarseness of voice and a sense of strain – the patient feels she can hardly talk after a slight exercise. Short respiration – awakens from sleep with a sense of suffocation. Burning, soreness, rawness in air passages and throat.
ANTIM TART - This remedy works well where there is a great amount of accumulation of mucus in the airways. There is coarse rattling of this mucus and the patient finds it impossible to bring up the phlegm. The patient feels very prostrated and sleepy. Here again there is intense nausea and vomiting but unlike in Ipecac – there is relief after vomiting. The chest seems full of phlegm, a lot of coughing with gaping.
BLATTA – Can be given frequently during a bronchial attack where there is convulsive breathing, nausea and vomiting. There is cold sweat all over the face and the patient is very distressed. The phlegm in the chest maybe accompanied with fever. Cough, wheezing and oppressive breathing during the attack. Bronchial attacks coming on more during the rainy weather and the patient is worse if he attempts to lie down.
Besides these remedies -- pulsatilla, sulphur, ignatia, hepar-sulph, nat-sulph, tuberculinum etc. are a few more homeopathic medicines that act well in cases of Bronchial asthma
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