Asthma is becoming an easy to solve problem for many doctors. As more and more people end up diagnosed with the respiratory disease, doctors are faced with repeat scenarios, and often react in stock ways by offering the same old tried and tested steroid-based inhalers. Taken when your asthma symptoms flare up and your breathing worsens, as well as as a preventative measure before a bout of exercise, anti-asthma inhalers have been the regular crutches of two generations of asthma sufferers, and continue to gain favour with new patients. Should we carry on along this path to the treatment of asthma, or would we be better off to stop, think about the alternatives for asthma, and be more mindful of the long-term effects of what we are breathing and when?



What symtoms mark out an asthma attack from a common or bronchitic cold?

Asthma episodes may be triggered by such things as exposure to an environmental stimulant or allergen, cold air, warm air, moist air, exercise or exertion, or emotional stress. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold. With the onset of asthma, your airway narrowing causes such as wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. Treatments for these symptoms are not nearly as numerous as the asthma symptoms themselves and tend to involve inhaled medication, dietary intervention, and environmental and physical exercise management.

What are the normal ranges of asthma?

Between episodes, most patients feel well but can have mild symptoms and they may remain short of breath after exercise for longer periods of time than the unaffected individual. The symptoms of asthma, which can range from mild to life threatening, can usually be controlled with a combination of drugs and environmental changes.

The problem with classic medication

Drug companies responsible for asthma medications have gotten lucky during the past decade or so. Childen, especially those living in urban areas where air quality is fairly low most of the time, are getting breathing problems and airway constrictions often. Distressing and painful to both child and family, relief in the most easy to access form is strongly desired. Inhalers are now prescribed more than almost any other drug in the United States. But how can we keep the inhaler producers to account account if we purchase their products for our asthma symptoms no matter what? This problem and the experience of side effects for asthma drugs has resulted in a developing counter-argument: inhaler-based asthma treatment gives short-term dependence, long-term highly negative impacts such as possible side effects of corticosteroids, and in the medium-term does not actually reduce our asthma symptoms. By simply using steroid-inhallers, we are in effect just stalling for the next asthmatic episode.

More and more people are giving up inhalers, but should they?

Doctors often encounter family situations in which children have just been diagnosed with asthma and their parents are contemplating asthma treatment options. Take an example of a child with a history of asthma symptoms including weekly wheezing and exercise induced asthma, a two months treatment with inhaled steroids, and a mother who is worried about the possible side effects and would prefer to see her son treated in a more natural way. Is natural medicine the answer? Good advice is to cautiously adopt both lifestyle change and traditional inhaler treatments when strictly necessary. Studies into the effectiveness of natural answers to asthma treatment have not so far been conclusive, as they are tested in conditions that are not appropriate - doses are not individually applied or changeable over the couse of the treatment. However, indications that avoiding salt, taking antioxidants and other vitamins, and controlling encouters with air pollution help abound in the literature. It's always good to balance your treatment of a problem with both lifestyle and medical practices for long-term health and wellbeing.