Asthma

[simplewanderer]

https://repository.uwa.edu.au/R/-?func= ... EN01-INS01

There is good evidence that learning a wind instrument helps asthma [probably by the breathing exercises], also could be a useful morale raiser ITSHTF

[Hamradioop]

Cats and carpets are known to aggravate Asthma. When my children were young they all diagnosed with asthma, two were prescribed ventolin and the other ventolin and Becotide? (the brown one). within weeks of disposing of the living room carpet and laying a laminate floor their symptoms improved. When the Cat finally passed on that ended the Asthma problems.

[Rearfang]

What a fantastic bunch not been on a fourum with so many helpfull people
Going to try some of these
As for dust with my wife and my lack of time to do everything looks like dust will remain lol
Especially with the pets

[TonyAge]

Just seen this article - Cat allergy research offers new clues - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23436589

[Mad Scientist]

I found a book my mum had for years called grandmother's secrets. It's full of edible weeds and medicinal plants but the pictures are awful, so double check! It suggests inhaling the fumes of burning dried thyme but not sure.Definitely look that one up! A more recent little bird told me about plantain tea. Plantain is a weed that grows in most folks' gardens but again I strongly suggest you research carefully - there are two species don't get them mixed up. Plantain has loads of anti- inflammatory goodies in it and several normal and alive people have mentioned it to me with regard to easing hay fever symptoms.

[ForgeCorvus]

Dusting with a damp cloth, avoiding using vacuum cleaners (except maybe the ultra HEPA filtered ones) and not spraying aerosols around do help. Or so I'm told, as will ventilation and eliminating damp (modern double glazing is not good for you in either of these respects).


30 years ago when I was at secondary school there were four asthmatics in my year, now it would be a lot more then that.
I'm sure its at least in part caused by people continuely spraying crap into the stagnant spore laden air that their kids have to breathe.....[/Old fart rant]

[cpslashm]

I've had asthma since I was seven. Around that time we had central heating installed. PE was bad and cross-country running a nightmare. Every time I took my inhaler, it made my asthma worse. I realised years later that carrying an inhaler in my pocket filled it with dust which I sucked into my lungs.

Cats and dust I avoid. Dust in a perennially warm house probably has more dust mites than a cold house.

I use the Buteyko method and I don't now have asthma attacks. Sometimes my chest gets a bit tight and cats are still a problem but no panicky breathing. It took some digging to find what the method is without forking out for a practitioner but the nub of it is as follows:

Normal people breathe in, breathe out, pause, breathe in, breathe out, pause.

Asthmatics mostly breathe in, out, in, out without pausing in between. This clears out too much carbon dioxide from the blood making it too alkali to transport oxygen effectively. The body reacts by swelling the lining in the lungs and nasal passages which reduces the ability to breath. So the method is you breathe in, breathe out, hold your nose and walk around a bit before breathing in again. Initially I couldn't do more than a couple of seconds but when I reached 50 seconds I was amazed to feel a crackling sensation in my nose which suddenly cleared! I'd had a blocked up nose for years. Now I'm only totally bunged with a bad cold.

Now when I run around the field (which I can), I try to pause in between breaths.

One thing I discovered stops me being able to pause my breathing - being too warm. If I have too many clothes on I cannot lose excess heat, so breath more. This means that if I am exercising, I need to take layers off. If I am feeling cold, I need to concentrate on breathing less.

Finally, almost totally off-topic, I found that peeling the duvet off the shoulders or feet of a snoring family member makes their breathing go shallower until they stop snoring. (Before you ask, I discovered this when my own snoring was keeping me awake.) The same thing happens if there is a cool breeze and I leave the duvet alone but open the windows to let a draught through the house. We are breathing deeply to keep cool so cooling us stops the snoring. Try making a snoring noise while breathing shallowly. Go on...

This doesn't work for sleep apnoea. Or a very warm room on a still night.