Treatment for Asthma :
Asthma is nothing but the reaction of the body to some poisons accumulated in the body or to the presence of an irritant in the environment. There are two types of asthma such as episodic and chronic. In the first type, there are sudden attacks of asthma late at night or early morning, causing a severe difficulty in breathing. The patient is forced to sit up in the bed, and bends forward in an attempt to ease his or her breathing. After a time the attack subsides. The patient feels very little discomfort in between attacks. In the second type of asthma, there are no such dramatic symptoms, but the patient has a constant difficulty in breathing. Breathing becomes more cumbersome whenever the patient has to exert himself, as in strenuous physical exertion such as walking or climbing stairs.
Some of the treatment for asthma is given below:
- In case of either type of asthma, attention must be paid to diet. A patient of asthma must give up all foods that cause increased secretion of phlegm. The intake of rice, milk, refined wheat flour, pulses, curds, sweets, meat, etc. should be reduced to the minimum. The proportion of raw vegetables and fruit in the daily diet should stage an increase. Whole wheat chapattis should replace white flour preparations.
- Constipation should be guarded against.
- The digestive powers of the body should be stimulated. Yogic asanas for the abdominal organs, early morning walks and cold hip-baths once or twice a day would prove very helpful.
- Exercises promoting deep breathing should be performed for ten to twelve minutes daily.
- If addicted to smoking, the habit should be given up forthwith.
In the case of episodic asthma, appropriate measures must be taken to prevent the recurrence of the attacks. Mental agitation or hard strenuous exercises have been found to bring on attacks. These processes should, therefore, be avoided. Regular magneto therapeutic treatment is known to be useful in prevention of attack of asthma.
In the event of an attack, the following remedial measures are recommended:
- Try to avoid mental agitation and keep calm.
- Do not open your mouth while exhaling. Let the breath escape through lips only when kept partially opened.
- A hot foot bath often causes an attack to subside.
To conclude, acupressure treatment may be resorted to treatment for asthma. Empirical observations have shown that pressure at certain points is effective in causing an attack to subside.
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