Adult Asthma Frustration

Hi V.,
My dad has been an asthma sufferer since he was a child. I remember when I was a little girl that we would have to take him to the emergency room at least once a month due to a severe attack. (He works outdoors, which doesn't help!) Anyhow, what made the biggest difference for him was to remove ALL of the carpet in the house and replace it with hardwood and/or tile throughout. He has not had a severe attack in 20 years since they did that! You wouldn't believe all the stuff that gets into a carpet pad, even if you vacuum every day. Anyhow, I thought I would share that idea in case you had not considered it already. I wish you the best of luck! The air quality has been awful this year!

I had breathing problems which the doctors by default labeled "asthma." I was on every asthma drug under the sun and was not getting better after like 7 months. So I kept pushing the issue and eventually got a full pulmonology work up. At the end of all the appointments and all the tests the pulmonologist asked if I had ever tried Prilosec. I had not heard of it so my reaction was, "You mean there is another asthma drug out there that's better than what I've been on??? Why was this not prescribed by my allergist sooner?" (I was really suffering.) And he said, no it's an anti-reflux drug. There is a condition where people can aspirate acid from the stomach into the lungs while lying down sleeping at night and the effect on the lungs feels the same as asthma. However this condition does not respond to any of the asthma drugs - because it's not asthma. Stupidly many/most allergists are either not aware of this condition or they just don't pay close enough attention. All symptoms present and sound like asthma. It's just that the asthma drugs never control it. You have to control the reflux to get better. I knew that I had some small issues with heartburn but nothing that a few Tums here and there couldn't fix. I did not perceive my heartburn as being that bad. What was bad was my breathing problems. So I started on Aciphex (same kind of thing as Prilosec but it's prescription - not over the counter.) And sure enough - I got better. Some years later I had an endoscopy done and learned that I have a very large hiatal hernia which is probably what causes the aspiration at night when I sleep.

You may or may not have this condition. But if your breathing issues don't respond to the asthma medications over several months, you might want to try taking Aciphex, Prilosec or a similar drug for a while and see if it improves with that. Once I was stabilized on Aciphex I threw out all the asthma drugs and was just fine.

This year has been particularly bad for allergies. I never had asthma before, but I developed it this spring! I found that zyrtec just did not cut it. Try asking your doc for a prescription allergy med. (I have tried clarinex and allegra - both very effective)

The interesting thing about Asthma- is it is not necessarily a disease per se. The word Asthma simply means inflammation in the lungs/breathing tubes. So the key is to find out what is triggering the inflammation. I don't believe the modern medical society does asthmatics any favors by giving them drugs to "cover up" the body's symptoms that try to tell you something is wrong. They don't find the root of the inflammation, and ignoring it by covering it up can cause irreversable disease to finally set in.

Asthma can be caused by roundworm (ascaris).

Asthma can be caused by heart conditions in animals.(maybe humans too?)

Milk is a trigger for asthma. Milk creates excess phlem.
Some other food additives can trigger it. I never had asthma in my life, until I ate costco bought (brand??) cheeseburgers from the frozen section. I would get an instant attack after I ate one, and havent had it since I stopped eating them. Something in them caused me great inflammation.

I have read that bacterial infections in the gut (mycoplasma, L form) can trigger Asthma.
Samento is written to stop inhaler dependence. Samento is an antibacterial.

vit c can help with shortness of breath. Work your way up to a dose of max 1800-ester c. (too much to soon will cause the runs). Vit c is needed for collagen- and the lungs and many body parts are made by collagen. Take E with it. Vit D is said to help Asthma. Interesting, because one doctor claims that there is a bacteria that will hijack the vit D receptors and take it for itself, causing much disease.Somtimes extra D will make people sick however.

Vitamin A is helpful for mucosal tissues.

Grape seed extract is worth trying. It is anti bacterial/fungal and anti inflammatory. 18x more anti oxidant than vit c, 50x more than vit e.

b12 is good for asthma. (take it with b6 for uptake)

acidophilus is suppose to be good.

Some things that can trigger cell excitability/reactions in some people are : MSG, yeast extract, textured prtien, soy protien, hydrolyzed veg protien,aspartame.

Sugar,processed carbs,potatoes,bread,juice,chips,rice cakes,puffed items, are known infammatories and collagen killers.