Asthma

[Fae Oonagh]

Home Remedies For Asthma Treatment
During an asthma attack, bronchial tubes narrow and secrete an excess of mucus, making it very hard to breathe.

Asthma in certain people may be attributed to exercise, allergies or emotional problems, or possibly a combination of all.

Renowned 19th-century British physician Peter Latham said, "You cannot be sure of the success of your remedy, while you are still uncertain of the nature of the disease." And so it is with asthma.

Worldly Wisdom

Folk medicine legends abound with curious asthma remedies from around the world.

European and Australian folklore advocates swallowing a handful of spiderwebs rolled into a ball.
Deep in the heart of Texas, they are said to sleep on the uncleaned wool of recently sheared sheep. Legend has it that the asthma is absorbed by the wool.
Another old Texas home remedy requires the asthmatic to get a chihuahua (Mexican hairless dog). The theory is that the asthma goes from the patient to the dog, but the dog does not suffer from it.
According to Kentucky folklore, wearing a string of amber beads around the neck may cure asthma. With the cost of a full strand of amber these days, it would be cheaper to buy a chihuahua, have him get asthma, then buy that tiny dog a strand of amber.
These legendary folk remedies make for good conversation, but in the midst of an asthma attack, who can talk?

NOTE: While trying to find the most effective asthma-relieving remedy, it's important that you consult with a health professional every step of the way. These remedies are not substitutes for professional medical treatment.

Natural Remedies

We heard about a man who was able to ease off massive doses of cortisone by using garlic therapy. He started with one clove a day, minced, in a couple ounces of orange juice. He gulped it down without chewing any of the little pieces of garlic. That way, he didn't have garlic on his breath.
As he increased the number of garlic cloves he ate each day, his doctor decreased the amount of cortisone he was taking. After several months, he was eating six to 10 cloves of garlic a day, was completely off cortisone, and was not bothered by asthma.

Turmeric is valuable in asthma. The patient should be given a teaspoon of turmeric powder with a glass of milk, two or three times daily. It acts best when taken on an empty stomach.
Figs ( anjeer ) are known to give relief by draining the phlegm ( balgam ). Take 3-4 dry figs, wash them well with warm water. Soak overnight in a cup of water. Eat them first thing in the morning and also drink the water. Do this for at least 2 months.
Drink 1/4 cup onion juice, a tablespoon honey, and 1/8 tablespoon black pepper.
At the first sign of asthma-type wheezing, saturate two strips of white cloth in white vinegar and wrap them around your wrists, not too tightly. For some people, it stops a full-blown attack from developing.
Generally, dairy products are not good for asthmatics. They're too mucus-forming. We have heard, though, that cheddar cheese might be an exception. It contains "tyramine," an ingredient that seems to help open up the breathing passages.
Sweet Solution

Cut a 1-ounce stick of licorice root (the herb, not the candy) into slices and steep the slices in a quart of just-boiled water for 24 hours. Strain and bottle. At the first sign of heaviness on the chest, drink a cup of the licorice water.
CAUTION: Licorice root may cause renal failure in people with kidney conditions or high blood pressure.

We were on a radio show when a woman called in and shared her asthma remedy­cherry-bark tea. She buys tea bags in a health food store (if teas are alphabetically listed, it may be under "w" for "wild cherry-bark tea") and she drinks a cup before each meal and another cup at bedtime. The woman swore to us that it has changed her life. She hasn't had an asthma attack since she started drinking it five years ago.
This remedy requires a juicer or a near by juice bar. Drink equal amounts of endive (also called chicory), celery and carrot juice. One glass of the juice a day works wonders for some asthmatics.
Remove the eggs from three eggshells. Then roast the eggshells for two hours at 400. F. The shells will turn light brown. (They'll also smell like rotten eggs.) Pulverize them and mix them into a cup of unsulfured molasses. Take 1 teaspoon before each meal. It just may prevent an asthma condition from acting up.
Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12 are very important nutrients to treat asthma decreasing the inflammation in the lungs.
See It Disappear

Visualization or mental imagery is a potent tool that can be used to help you heal yourself.Gerald N. Epstein, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and director of the American Institute for MentaI Imagery (both in New York City), suggests that the following visualization be done to stem an asthma attack. Do it at the onset of an attack, for three to five minutes.
Sit in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. Breathe in and out three times and see yourself in a pine forest. Stand next to a pine tree and breathe in the aromatic fragrance of the pine. As you breathe out, sense this exhalation traveling down through your body and going out through the soles of your feet. See the breath exiting as gray smoke and being buried deep in the earth. Then open your eyes, breathing easily.

Eat three to six apricots a day. They may help promote healing of lung and bronchial conditions.
Jerusalem artichokes-also called sunchokes because they're related to sunflowers- may be a real plus for nourishing the lungs of the asthmatic when eaten daily.
Put 4 cups of shelled sunflower seeds in 2 quarts of water and boil it down to 1 quart of water. Strain out the little pieces of sunflower seeds, then add one pint of honey and boil it down to a syrupy consistency.
Dose: Take 1 teaspoon a half-hour after each meal.

Similar to, but more potent than, the sun­flower-seed syrup is garlic syrup. Separate and peel the cloves of three entire garlic bulbs. Simmer them in a nonaluminum pan with 2 cups of water. When the garlic cloves are soft and there's about a cup of water left in the pan, remove the garlic and put it in a jar. Then, add 1 cup of cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of honey to the water thats left in the pan, boiling the mixture until it's syrupy. Pour the syrup over the garlic in the jar. Cover the jar and let it stand overnight.
Dose: Swallow one or two cloves of garlic with a teaspoon of syrup every morning on an empty stomach.

Oldie, But a Goodie

A relative told us that in the "old country," a remedy used at the onset of an asthma attack was to inhale the steam from boiling potatoes that were cut in pieces with the skin left on them. With or without the potatoes, inhaling steam can be beneficial.
Be careful: Steam is powerful and can bum the skin.

Mix 1 teaspoon of grated horseradish with 1 teaspoon of honey and take it every night before bedtime.
Slice two large raw onions into a jar. Pour 2 cups of honey over it. Close the jar and let it stand overnight. The next morning you're ready to start taking the "honion" syrup.
Dose: Take 1 teaspoon a half-hour after each meal and 1 teaspoon before bed.

Buy either concentrated cranberry juice, sold at health food stores, or unconcentrated cranberry juice, sold at most supermarkets. Read the ingredients on the label and make sure there are no preservatives or sugar added. Or, you can make your own with 1 pound of cran­berries in 1 pint of water. Boil until the cranberries are very mushy. Then, pour the mixture into a jar and keep it in the refrigerator.
Dose: Drink 2 tablespoons a half-hour before each meal and immediately at the onset of an asthma attack.