Overview

Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the lungs that is characterized by wheezing and difficulty in exhaling. A key diagnostic feature is that the symptoms are relieved by "rescue inhalers" that dispense a bronchodilating drug (e.g. albuterol).

Over time, the inflammatory nature of asthma attacks lead to accumulating damage to the lung tissues and what is called "remodeling". Hence, prevention of asthma attacks is the main focus, with symptomatic relief as needed.

Ideally, every asthmatic should carry a "rescue inhaler" and never have to use it.

Please see conventional, complimentary and alternative medical treatments for important background information regarding the different types of medical treatments discussed on this page. Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative treatments that may be considered include:

Treatment

Conventional Treatments

Treatment is aimed at control - which is defined as preventing the onset of symptoms. Avoidance of triggers and immune suppression are the two main approaches taken by conventional medicine to achieve control.

Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative Treatments

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

[Elsegood2022] reports that asthma is a condition that LDN could help. Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of asthma with LDN.

Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone? for more information.

Immune System Balancing

[McCulley2018, pp 35, 89] reports that asthma is a TH2-dominant autoimmune disorder, and proposes an approach to treating this disease, which should be supervised by a properly trained medical professional. Dr. Weyrich has considerable interest in this topic, but has not treated any cases of asthma with Immune System Balancing.

Please see What is Immune System Balancing? for more information.

Neurotransmitter Balancing

Neuro Research [Hinz2015] reports that asthma can be benefited by balancing neurotransmitter levels in the body.

Dr. Weyrich has been trained in neurotransmitter balancing protocols, but has not treated asthma using this technique.

Please see What is Neurotransmitter Balancing? for more information.

Hypotheses

In some cases, asthma may be worse in cold weather. While this is usually attributed to the irritating effect on lung tissue of cold, dry air, one author has suggested that hypothyroidism may play a role as well [Starr2005, pg 103].

References