Asthma Homeopathic treatment
The word "Asthma" comes from the Greek, meaning, "to breathe hard." "Breath is life and life is breath". Breathing is such an accepted reality of life that we do not give much significance to it until we are deprived of it. Ask an asthma patient the agony and distress of waking up in the middle of the night, with a feeling of suffocation, short ineffectual cough, labored breathing, and wheezing. Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by inflammation and spasm of the bronchial tubes (airways) that transfer air into and out of the lungs. The bronchial tubes of an asthmatic patient are hypersensitive and react excessively to things that are minor irritants to people without asthma. Symptoms vary from person to person, but may include coughing, producing a lot of mucus, paroxysms of wheezing, difficult breathing and tightness of chest, feeling of suffocation and anxiety. Asthma can happen at any age, but most often develops in childhood. This health condition seems to be increasing in our population. It affects one in ten adults and one in seven children. In principle, we inhale and exhale, at the rate of sixteen times a minute without difficulty breathing. However, during an asthma attack there is swelling in the mucous membranes of the bronchial tubes and the bronchioles of the lungs. This inflammation causes narrowing of the passage way for air, to a point, where the asthmatic person has difficulty breathing. As bronchiole tubes tend to close down, they cause asthmatic wheezing, coughing, and tightness of the chest. Bronchial asthma is caused by specific allergens breathed through the respiratory system. The most common allergens are dust, pollen, feathers, animal dander, certain foods, drugs, and mold spores (the same allergens responsible for hay fever). An individual may have hay fever and asthma at the same time during the ragweed season. Children born to allergic parents are prone to the disorder. Another cause of bronchial asthma is associated with bacterial infection, especially of the throat, nose and sinuses. It is important to avoid colds, sinusitis, and infections of the throat, nose, and respiratory track. Emotional disturbances, stress, and the sudden change in climate may also cause asthma. Work-related asthma is caused by an allergy to something at work. Hair dye, flour, paint, detergent, latex, and chemicals are some substances that may cause occupational asthma. A person with asthma should undergo an allergy sensitivity test.