What is Asthma?
Asthma is a respiratory disease that occurs when your airways swell and turn narrow, producing an excess of mucus. The word ‘Asthma’ is of ancient Greek origin, and it signifies panting. Asthma may make your normal, easy breathing difficult. Also, you may suffer from coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing. This respiratory disease is known to be long-term and recurring. The inflammation of the affected individual’s airways recurs, obstructing the easy, normal flow of air. As a matter of fact, asthma is quite common worldwide, and it occurs in all age groups. You may find it affecting people from a few months old to aged people. However, asthma is controllable by large, and, to a certain extent, it can be cured depending on the extent of the ailment and its stage.
What Exactly Happens in Asthma? (Pathogenesis)
Asthma is a very common yet quite problematic disease. You might be eager to learn exactly what happens in asthma, aren’t you? Let’s see. In asthma, a significant decrease in the lumen of the airway occurs on account of the two-fold response to irritants and allergens. Basically, in the case of hyper-reactive response to allergens, airways’ smooth muscles happen to constrict and turn narrow by large. Also, the immune system of the affected individual sends WBCs (white blood cells) & some other immune factors to airways, as a response to the allergens. An inflammatory response is quite common in asthmatic patients, and it leads to an increase in the secretion of mucus and swelling of the airways. Thereby, the asthmatic patient happens to suffer from discomforting symptoms, such as coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.
Prevalence of Asthma
Asthma may affect individuals of all age groups, ranging from kids to older people. Asthma in kids is often observed. Children in the age group of 2 to 12 years are reported with a higher rate of asthma (i.e. 15.7%) than adults coming in the age group of 16 years and above (i.e. 10.1%). The occurrence of asthma in males is reported to be the highest among children in the age group of 2 to 12 years. The occurrence of asthma in females is reported to be the highest among young adults in the age group of 16 to 24 years. As a matter of fact, asthma has a close connection with allergies. However, most, but not all, asthma patients suffer from allergies. Children who have a family history of asthma and allergy are more vulnerable to suffering from asthma.
Symptoms of Asthma:
There are certain symptoms of asthma that you should never ignore. Find the most common asthma symptoms mentioned below.
- A cough
- The production of mucus
- Difficulty in breathing
- Exhaustion
The sense of suffocation or breathlessness is the most prominent and distressing asthma symptom. Breathlessness may vary in its intensity. Some asthma patients may not experience the production of mucus (i.e. expectoration) and cough at all.
Occurrence/Frequency Of Asthma Symptoms:
Depending on the circumstances and triggers, the frequency of occurrence of asthma may vary. You may experience the symptoms of asthma as mentioned below.
- Periodical (i.e., from once in a week to once in a year)
- Continuous (i.e., most often or all throughout)
- Seasonal (i.e., Asthma affects for a few weeks in a year)
Triggers of Asthma:
Asthma causes are often triggers of asthma. The symptoms of asthma might get triggered by one or more of the mentioned triggers.
- Physical exertion
- Mental stress
- Infection
- Change in the weather or temperature
- Exposure to pollution (dust, chemical, pollen, etc.)
- Also, asthma may occur without any apparent reason
Treatment for Asthma:
Fortunately, asthma can be treated effectively and naturally with the help of homeopathic remedies. Even though homeopathic asthma treatment is a little lengthy, it is a highly effective solution to get rid of discomforting asthma and to obtain great relief.
Asthma Causes: Factors Responsible for Asthma
Asthma does not occur due to a particular single cause. It can affect you adversely due to several factors, which are usually divided into two categories as mentioned below.
- External
- Internal
More than one factor is responsible for the cause and maintenance of asthma. Here are some of the prominent causes of asthma.
- Genetic factor or hereditary cause
- Mental stress
- Allergens
- Environmental factors (such as pollution, pollen, e.t.c.)
- Systemic diseases
Most often, asthma tends to tend to recur and affects you in the long term. Often, it’s a lifelong disease, just like high blood pressure or diabetes.
The fact is that one or more above-mentioned factors tend to alter the immunity, and this ultimately can make you suffer from chronic asthma. Often, hereditary factors or genetic tendencies can be the cause of asthma, which may make you prone to it due to internal or external triggers.
Allergens Causing Asthma:
Certain allergens are responsible to trigger an asthma attack. Some of these common allergens are mentioned below.
- Pollens
- Respiratory infections
- Common cold, Sinusitis
- Air pollutants
- Cold air
- Smoking and second-hand smoking
- Physical exertion, excessive exercises
- Medications: NSAID, Aspirin, Beta-blockers, etc.
- GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease)
The list of asthma triggers can be exhaustive, though each asthma patient may suffer from an asthma attack due to a different asthma trigger or a combination of triggering factors.
Asthma Risk Factors:
Here are some risk factors that can increase your vulnerability to developing asthma.
- Heredity – Having a family history of asthma where either parents or family members happen to suffer from Asthma.
- Work Environment - Exposure to chemicals, pollens, dust, and industrial waste can increase your risk of developing asthma symptoms.
- Urban / Industrial areas that have greater exposure to environmental pollutants can be one of the prominent asthma risk factors.
- Childhood –A childhood history of recurrent respiratory tract infections and a low birth weight can cause asthma in kids.
- GERD
- Obesity: Obese or overweight individuals, who have a BMI (body mass index) between 25 and 30, are more vulnerable to suffering from asthma and its symptoms in comparison with those who aren’t obese. In fact, obese grown-ups with a BMI of 30 or greater tend to have twice the risk of developing asthma. The asthma risk for obese individuals might be higher for non-allergic asthma than for allergic asthma.
Asthma Symptoms & Severity Levels Of Asthma
The intensity, frequency, or recurrence, and duration of asthma symptoms can differ from person to person. Besides this, even in the same asthma patients, the symptoms may vary from episode to episode. Some asthma patients may experience long symptom-free periods that are interrupted by periodic attacks of asthma. On the contrary, some asthma patients may suffer from symptoms almost daily. Most often, certain asthma patients experience asthma symptoms only while exercising or when exposed to certain viral respiratory tract infections or allergens.
Common Symptoms of Asthma:
Numerous discomfort symptoms indicate asthma. Some of them are listed below.
- Coughing occurs most often, and it turns worse at night.
- Breathlessness or shortness of breath
- Wheezing. It is a whistling sound you happen to emit while breathing.
- Rapid pulse
- Nasal flaring
- Sweating
- Retractions of intercostal spaces
- In severe cases of asthma, bluish discoloration of the lips/face may occur.
Based on the affecting symptoms, asthma is divided into four levels of severity:
- Mild Intermittent: If you suffer from mild intermittent asthma, you may experience asthma episodes twice a week or even less. Between these asthma episodes, however, you may not experience any symptoms and the functioning of your lungs would be normal.
- Mild Persistent Asthma: If you have mild persistent asthma, you may experience asthma symptoms greater than twice a week, but not more than once in a single day. Asthma symptoms at night may bother you with discomfort more than twice a month.
- Moderate Persistent Asthma: If you have moderate persistent asthma, you may suffer from asthma symptoms daily. Also, discomfort due to asthma symptoms may bother you at night more than once a week.
- Severe Persistent Asthma: If you have severe persistent asthma, distressing symptoms of asthma may affect you adversely throughout the day on most days. Often, you may suffer from asthma discomfort at night.
Most often, asthma is diagnosed clinically. To assess the intensity of this respiratory disease and its association with other health issues, certain investigations are carried out in most cases. A proper physical examination is conducted and a detailed medical history is considered to assess the severity of the symptoms mentioned below.
- The occurrence of recurrent respiratory infections
- Sudden breathlessness and onset of wheezing on exposure to allergens
- An allergic cough that turns worse at night
- Medicines you used to help ease your breathing
- Your family history of asthma and related allergies
A general health check-up and your respiratory system physical examination is conducted to rule out the possibility of other ailments.
After conducting a thorough medical examination and considering the medical history, a pulmonary function test & other necessary investigations may be recommended for a complete diagnosis.
Clinical Tests Include:
Pulmonary function tests include:
- Spirometry
- Exhaled Nitric oxide test
- Challenge test
- Chest and Sinus X-rays
- Complete Blood Count
- GERD assessment test (if any associated gastric symptoms are present)
- CT scan (not done routinely)
Asthma: Homeopathic Treatment
For most asthma patients, if not all, adult asthma happens to be a lifelong health issue. So, it is crucial to manage and control it effectively by using milder medications and establishing longer periods of remission (i.e. symptom-free phase).
It is a noteworthy fact that homeopathy works wonders in treating and controlling asthma effectively and safely without any side effects. Several medical studies reveal that patients who opt for homeopathic remedies for asthma happen to enjoy far better health and relief than those who don’t. In addition to this, homeopathy is an absolutely safe treatment for asthma, and it causes no side effects. So, you can count on homeopathy for asthma at any time without any concerns.
The Homeopathy Treatment
Dr. Rajesh Shah, M.D.(Hom.) is well-known for his outstanding work and study on asthma and various other chronic diseases since 1985. His research-based molecules, which are internationally patented, have changed the prognosis of asthma. Dr. Shah's homeopathic asthma treatment helps as follows.
- Homeopathy minimizes the frequency of asthma attacks.
- It enhances your immunity, thereby reducing your tendency to suffer from frequent coughs, throat infections, colds, and other discomforts.
- Homeopathy minimizes the need for cortisone, antibiotics, bronchodilators, and inhalers.
- Homeopathy minimizes the severity and intensity of asthma attacks
- It improves your overall health and well-being.
- Homeopathy is totally safe, and you can take it along with conventional medicines.
Patients from more than 177 countries have benefited from Dr. Shah's effective homeopathic treatment.
Duration of Treatment for Asthma:
The duration of asthma treatment varies from patient to patient, based on the factors mentioned below.
- Frequency & severity of asthma attacks
- Duration of asthma
- The intensity of the asthma effect
- Current & previous asthma medication (oral cortisone & extensive use of inhalers)
- Various environmental factors, such as exposure to dust, pollens, allergens, chemicals, industrial pollution, and other factors.
- Associated diseases, such as pulmonary fibrosis, eczema, Ischemic heart disease, pollen allergy, bronchiectasis, and other ailments.
By following homeopathic treatment for asthma, you may experience a definite change in about 3 to 5 months of time span. However, the total duration of treatment tends to differ from patient to patient.
Asthma: More about Homeopathic Treatment for Asthma
Understanding What Needs To Be Treated In Asthma
When speaking about asthma cure with homeopathic treatment, we first need to understand ‘what exactly needs to be treated in the case of asthma.’. As a matter of fact, asthma is a multi-factorial respiratory disorder having its roots deeply rooted in your body’s immune system. The symptoms of asthma are a symptomatic expression of this disease occurring at the level of your lungs. By considering all this, it becomes very clear that any treatment for asthma that is focused on treating the lung symptoms will only offer you temporary relief from the discomfort. It would be too superficial an approach to relieve your symptoms, such as coughing and breathlessness, when you need to obtain long-term relief by treating the root cause of this respiratory disease. So, you need to address and correct this respiratory disorder at the immunological level. And, homeopathy does the same by treating the disorder at its root. Homeopathic asthma treatment targets the root cause of the disease and acts at the immunological level to provide you with long-term relief.
The Homeopathic Approach to Treating Asthma:
Homeopathy is a scientific alternative system of medicine that is known for treating a wide range of recurring and chronic ailments, such as asthma. The fundamental approach of homeopathy is an evaluation of asthma as a whole by considering various factors, such as physical generals, psychological generals, family history, past and current medications, and many other factors, of every asthma patient. It emphasizes the patient as a whole and studies several detailed aspects of asthma minutely.
To improve or maintain the health of asthma patients, homeopathy works to enhance the defense mechanism of an asthma patient. Allergens are some of the most common external factors that cause you to suffer from the discomfort of asthma. Homeopathic treatment for asthma focuses on improving your body’s innate healing efficiency so that your system does not react to the allergens adversely.
In fact, it is an established rule that homeopathy never considers asthma as a local disease. Instead, asthma is regarded as a local expression occurring due to an internal system disturbance. So, homeopathy not only treats the symptoms but also addresses the disturbance in the system. We believe in constitutional prescribing in accordance with classical homeopathy. So, for this purpose, an individual case study is necessary for every asthma patient. In homeopathy, there exists no particular single remedy for all types of cases of asthma. Only an in-depth evaluation of every individual case can help you determine the exact asthma treatment for the specific individual.
When the asthma patients are treated with homeopathic asthma treatment, it not only controls the symptoms of asthma but also makes them stronger by increasing their immunity and resistance. With homeopathic treatment, they won’t react to allergens of asthma as adversely as they used to react earlier before availing the homeopathic treatment. This happens because homeopathy not only treats the symptoms of asthma patients but also treats the patient as a whole.
Treatment of Acute Attack of Asthma:
An acute attack of asthma can be treated effectively and successfully with correctly selected homeopathic remedies. For this purpose, a careful and elaborate study of every asthma episode is necessary to evaluate the factors that are responsible for the episode, the exact symptoms of asthma, factors that make asthma worse or better, and other factors. However, in cases where modern medications, such as antiallergic medicines or bronchodilators, are taken during a severe attack of asthma when the patient is on homeopathic treatment, it won’t interfere with the effective homeopathic treatment. Besides this, it is important to note that homeopathic treatment is totally safe and causes no side effects.
Written & Approved by-
Dr. Rajesh Shah
M.D. (Hom.)