The ABC Homeopathy Forum
Triggered Asthma in 8 Year old
My wife Karen and I have an 8 year old son, Nicholas. He has had episodes of, what we call, Triggered Asthma since infancy. They appear to be brought on by colds, the changing of seasons, allergic reactions to animals,(dogs, cats, animal hair,etc). Nick has a pulmonologist who has him on a regimine of Advair 100, to get him through the seasonal changes , while if he becomes suseptable to a more severe episode, we increases it to Advair 500. We maintain a nebulizer in our home with Albuterol and travel with portable albuterol inhalers. Many times we were told Nick may outgrow it. I am tired of hearing it. Nick presently has a runny nose, cough and requires nebulizer treatments to increase his oxygen flow. Distress can be brought on by physical activity, especially in a weakened breathing capacity as now. I am not familiar with Homeopathy, and am reluctant to use my son as an experiment, however, reassurance as to the results, given Nicks symptoms would be greatly appreciated. What would an informed Homeopath use to rid their son of this common affliction? New Jersey seems to have an excessive number of Asthmatic children. Also noted, during vacation to the beach in South Carolina, Nick does quite well. I dont know if its the salt air or the warm climate, it certainly does'nt bother him, even though its quite humid. Has anyone used Dr. Reckewg R43 with success? Are all those ingredients necessary in the treatment of Nick? Would these homeopathic remedies be needed on a daily basis and what would be their downside? Thanks, GerryGerard on 2005-05-19
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
There is a lot about asthma that is not fully appreciated.
To start with it is a condition that follows from a depleted immune system .
That often happens after either a] treatment with antibiotics
b] vaccinations.
A long time ago I gave a lecture in a hospital on this subject and I give the contents of that below.
HOMOEOPATHY FOR ASTHMA.
It was the sudden onset of asthma in a close relative that gave me my first interest in homoeopathy some 30 yrs ago. My GP gave her large injections of steroids. Only later , in an article ,did I read of the dangers of steroids. I was in a corner where my doctor seemed to be endangering this individual.
At first homoeopathy looked to be the ideal DIY medical therapy, and for minor complaints and prevention that is the case. But in dealing with deep rooted and hereditary complaints the situation is more complex. It was about 10 yrs before I began to see clearly the complexity of the relationship between the Homoeopathic remedy and its interaction with the individual life force or vitality of the patient.
Now, with the hindsight of 25 yrs I realise why my efforts did little more than relieve the asthma of my relative. In that time I have cured some cases and relieved others.I know the power of the correct homoeopathic remedy - bearing in mind that it is possible to be totally sure of only one thing in life - - - uncertainty.
Checking the recent updated position on asthma , in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine confirmed little change in the orthodox view. There are enormous chunks of uncertainty.
"What is Asthma?." is a question that has a million answers. Simplistically it is a cramp or spasm of the circular muscle fibres of the small air tubes that drastically reduce the amount of air available to the 300 million alveoli which exchange deoxygenated air for oxygenated air,also involved is a watery secretion that inflatesthe mucous and has a 'plugging' effect on the already restricted airway diameter - giving rise to breathlessness and in bad cases cyanosis where the lips go blue. It's classified in textbooks as an abnormality of the immune response,and is the response of a damaged or depleted immune system.
It is only possible to treat the condition realistically if we know the cause of the spasm.Here we arrive at the ragbag nature of Asthma.
Extrinsic Asthma - brought on by external factors is similar to hay fever and may be seasonal if due to pollens at specific times of the year , or all year round if due to such things as domestic pets, dust or house mites. This type is at present more normal among young people and is esentially an allergic reaction to external factors.
Intrinsic Asthma happens spontaneously and the hypersensitivity is triggered by many factors. Also it tends to be "late onset" starting after some trauma/stress outcrop in 20/30's or midlife.
When I first came across Asthma I used to say that no one dies of Asthma. I soon realised that was not strictly true. Asthma associated with syphilis either primary or inherited could kill , but this was very rare.
Only in the post 60's did non syphilitics start to die of Asthma.That timing is in my view very important and should be kept in mind.
In the past I have treated asthma along strict homoeopathic lines. I ask myself what are the signs of imbalance that I see in the individual. One then tries to match those signs to a particular remedy - and bring the individual back into a natural balance.
In more recent times I have taken an interest in TB and AIDS as they have a bearing on the basic theory of Homoeopathy. Because of that interest I have become more aware of the essential underlaying part that the immune system plays in all physiological problems.
There are many ways to get asthma and I will list a number of those , but for now I'd like to trace one particular path leading to Asthma as being , in my view, typical of the many roads leading to that condition.
Dr D. Foubister was a Consultant at a London Hospital for many years. He was a noted homoeopath who published many books and pamphlets and died in 1988. He pointed out that one of the basic roots of all illness is inflammation.
Mutiple Sclerosis is condition resulting from inflammation which has disseminated along neural pathways damaging and scarring the myelin sheath.Any disease ending in '- itis' indicates an inflammatory condition - meningitis; of the brain and spine - endartitis; of the artery - endocervicitis; of the cervix - endocarditis; of the heart - proctitis; of the rectum - colitis; of the colon etc.
To quote the Oxford Textbook of Medicine "The pathology of Asthma is characterised by the infiltration of the airways by esinophils and other inflammatory cells which migrate in response to chemotactic factors released by mast cells macrophages and lymphocytes.
Esinophils contain a substance, which damages the airway and is responsible for the large amorphous pink masses in the muscous and submucosa seen in patients who have died of Asthma." So inflammation is a characteristic of Asthma, which accounts for the widespread use - in the past - of steroids in their anti-inflammatory role.
Let us for a moment look at the reason for,and function of, inflammation in disease of all kinds. I quote a medical dictionary
"Inflammation is the defensive reaction of tissue that has been attacked and is the start of the natural process of healing. Inflammation is instigated by the immune system and is essential to the proper natural bodily process of healing. - It involves pain, heat,redness, swelling and loss of function of the affected part. Blood vessels are dilated so that the local blood flow is increased. White cells enter the tissue to engulf bacteria and foreign particles. Similar cells from the tissues remove and consume dead cells and the process of healing commences."
Before man came down from the trees - in evolutionary terms - inflammation has been essential to the natural process of healing and is today correctly shown to relate to the body's basic defense system and to the immune system.
However since the mid 40's [i.e. approx 50 years] antibiotics have been used to abort or short circuit the natural healing of the inflammatory process. I have often said to people that antibiotics are ok in the role they were originally employed - in life threatening conditions and NOT otherwise.
It has long been established that whatever provokes an attack of asthma , the condition itself is due to a defective or underactive immune system .
A consultants handbook points out that -" Both humans and animals have an apparent relative immunity against a second infection if they are left for 6/12 weeks before being treated. However if antibiotics are promptly given in the early infection no such immunity develops and immediate reinfection is then possible". Obviously we have here a direct relationship between inflammation and the immune system - both being natural bodily processes .
But the short circuiting of inflammation has many affects. From a homoeopathic point of view the inflammation does not disappear under antibiotic treatment. It is dispersed from its original local intense and painful site - where the immune system is busy healing the body - and driven along the path of least resistance. Where it takes up a chronic character such as tennis elbow,trapped nerve, neuralgia, rheumatism etc. Its function as part of the healing process is defeated and the immune system is affected.
In some individuals the immune system becomes underactive and results in lethargy - M.E. - and numerous minor infections 'the never well syndrome'. In other individuals the immune system becomes overactive and gives rise to many allergies due to its supersesitivity. Among the many immune/allergic effects is Asthma.
It has been shown that in TB, and particularly in AIDS , it is possible to inherit a damaged immune system. That being taken in conjunction with the time span since the 40's we now have a third generation of people treated with antibiotics. It is interesting that the first generation had few allergies - that the second generation in the 60/70's had increasing degrees of allergic response and that some of the third generation now die due hypersensitive allergic response.
It would also be of interest if a study could be carried out to see if the rise in Asthma was paralleled by the rise in the uncontrolled indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
So having shown a homoeopaths view of the mechanism of asthma and identified antibiotics as one of a number of culprits let us look at other aspects and culprits listed in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine [15.142 tab 1.] as;-
"Drugs which may produce or exacerbate asthma."
"Pharmacological effects;- ORAL
Cholinergenic agents e.g. carbachol pilocarpine
Cholinesterase inhibitors e.g. pyridostigmine
Prostaglandin F2alpha
Histamine release e.g. curare derivatives
Beta sympathetic antagonists
Idiosyncratic effects;-
Analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents
Asprin
Idomethacin [inlcudes] Artralin
Imbrilon
Indocid. Indoflex. Indomod.
Kap-ind. Rheumacin.
Mefinamic acid[inc] Ponstan
Flufenamic acid
Phenylbutazone
Fenoprofen [inc] Fenopron. Progesic.
Ibuprofen [inc] {Apsifen. Brufen. Ebufac. Fenbio {Ibular. Ibumetin. Iboslo. Inabrin
Ibuprofen (cont) Maxagesic. Motrin. Novaprin.
Nurofen. Paxofen. Proflex.
Relcofen.Seclodin. Uniprofen.
Diclofenac [inc] Volterol.
Naproxen [inc] Laraflex. Naprosyn. Synflex.
Paracetamol.
Tartrazine-containing compounds (used to color medicine & food ;E102 food additive)
Carbamazepine[inc] Tegretol
Idiosyncratic;- BY INJECTION
Penicillin
Aminophylline[inc] Phyllocontin
Hydrocortisone [inc] Cortisol. Cortril. Dioderm
Hydrocortone.
N-acetyl cysteine
Idiosyncratic;- INHALED
Ampicillin
Benzyl Penicillin
Cephalosporins[used intransplant ops to suppress the immune system
Alpha-methyl dopa
Cimetadine[inc] Tagamet
Piperazine[inc] Antepar. Ascalix.
Psyllium
Pancreatic extract
Pituitary snuff
Ipratropium bromide(hypotonic solution)[inc] Atrovent."
The Oxford Textbook of Medicine also points out;-
"The potential exacerbation of Asthma by drugs used to treat it presents a particularly acute dilemma as drug effect may be difficult to dissociate from spontaneous deterioration. Apart from potential problems related to tartrazine there are well documented cases of worsening asthma after both aminophylline and hydrocortisone, the latter may be particularly aproblem in asthmatic patients with analgesic sensitivity. -- Bronchodilator and other drugs formulated as a dry powder sometimes have an irritant effect , as also may the propellants used in pressurized aerosols."
If you are still with me !, there seems to be a pointer towards Natrum Mur - a homeopathic remedy. Check it out.
Daily treatment is wrong and unwise -- for any length of time. With either homeopathic or allopathic medication.
If you need to keep treating someone you are NOT curing them.
You are only suppressing symptoms , and in the long run that will do more harm than good.
Hope this is of some help/interest.
To start with it is a condition that follows from a depleted immune system .
That often happens after either a] treatment with antibiotics
b] vaccinations.
A long time ago I gave a lecture in a hospital on this subject and I give the contents of that below.
HOMOEOPATHY FOR ASTHMA.
It was the sudden onset of asthma in a close relative that gave me my first interest in homoeopathy some 30 yrs ago. My GP gave her large injections of steroids. Only later , in an article ,did I read of the dangers of steroids. I was in a corner where my doctor seemed to be endangering this individual.
At first homoeopathy looked to be the ideal DIY medical therapy, and for minor complaints and prevention that is the case. But in dealing with deep rooted and hereditary complaints the situation is more complex. It was about 10 yrs before I began to see clearly the complexity of the relationship between the Homoeopathic remedy and its interaction with the individual life force or vitality of the patient.
Now, with the hindsight of 25 yrs I realise why my efforts did little more than relieve the asthma of my relative. In that time I have cured some cases and relieved others.I know the power of the correct homoeopathic remedy - bearing in mind that it is possible to be totally sure of only one thing in life - - - uncertainty.
Checking the recent updated position on asthma , in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine confirmed little change in the orthodox view. There are enormous chunks of uncertainty.
"What is Asthma?." is a question that has a million answers. Simplistically it is a cramp or spasm of the circular muscle fibres of the small air tubes that drastically reduce the amount of air available to the 300 million alveoli which exchange deoxygenated air for oxygenated air,also involved is a watery secretion that inflatesthe mucous and has a 'plugging' effect on the already restricted airway diameter - giving rise to breathlessness and in bad cases cyanosis where the lips go blue. It's classified in textbooks as an abnormality of the immune response,and is the response of a damaged or depleted immune system.
It is only possible to treat the condition realistically if we know the cause of the spasm.Here we arrive at the ragbag nature of Asthma.
Extrinsic Asthma - brought on by external factors is similar to hay fever and may be seasonal if due to pollens at specific times of the year , or all year round if due to such things as domestic pets, dust or house mites. This type is at present more normal among young people and is esentially an allergic reaction to external factors.
Intrinsic Asthma happens spontaneously and the hypersensitivity is triggered by many factors. Also it tends to be "late onset" starting after some trauma/stress outcrop in 20/30's or midlife.
When I first came across Asthma I used to say that no one dies of Asthma. I soon realised that was not strictly true. Asthma associated with syphilis either primary or inherited could kill , but this was very rare.
Only in the post 60's did non syphilitics start to die of Asthma.That timing is in my view very important and should be kept in mind.
In the past I have treated asthma along strict homoeopathic lines. I ask myself what are the signs of imbalance that I see in the individual. One then tries to match those signs to a particular remedy - and bring the individual back into a natural balance.
In more recent times I have taken an interest in TB and AIDS as they have a bearing on the basic theory of Homoeopathy. Because of that interest I have become more aware of the essential underlaying part that the immune system plays in all physiological problems.
There are many ways to get asthma and I will list a number of those , but for now I'd like to trace one particular path leading to Asthma as being , in my view, typical of the many roads leading to that condition.
Dr D. Foubister was a Consultant at a London Hospital for many years. He was a noted homoeopath who published many books and pamphlets and died in 1988. He pointed out that one of the basic roots of all illness is inflammation.
Mutiple Sclerosis is condition resulting from inflammation which has disseminated along neural pathways damaging and scarring the myelin sheath.Any disease ending in '- itis' indicates an inflammatory condition - meningitis; of the brain and spine - endartitis; of the artery - endocervicitis; of the cervix - endocarditis; of the heart - proctitis; of the rectum - colitis; of the colon etc.
To quote the Oxford Textbook of Medicine "The pathology of Asthma is characterised by the infiltration of the airways by esinophils and other inflammatory cells which migrate in response to chemotactic factors released by mast cells macrophages and lymphocytes.
Esinophils contain a substance, which damages the airway and is responsible for the large amorphous pink masses in the muscous and submucosa seen in patients who have died of Asthma." So inflammation is a characteristic of Asthma, which accounts for the widespread use - in the past - of steroids in their anti-inflammatory role.
Let us for a moment look at the reason for,and function of, inflammation in disease of all kinds. I quote a medical dictionary
"Inflammation is the defensive reaction of tissue that has been attacked and is the start of the natural process of healing. Inflammation is instigated by the immune system and is essential to the proper natural bodily process of healing. - It involves pain, heat,redness, swelling and loss of function of the affected part. Blood vessels are dilated so that the local blood flow is increased. White cells enter the tissue to engulf bacteria and foreign particles. Similar cells from the tissues remove and consume dead cells and the process of healing commences."
Before man came down from the trees - in evolutionary terms - inflammation has been essential to the natural process of healing and is today correctly shown to relate to the body's basic defense system and to the immune system.
However since the mid 40's [i.e. approx 50 years] antibiotics have been used to abort or short circuit the natural healing of the inflammatory process. I have often said to people that antibiotics are ok in the role they were originally employed - in life threatening conditions and NOT otherwise.
It has long been established that whatever provokes an attack of asthma , the condition itself is due to a defective or underactive immune system .
A consultants handbook points out that -" Both humans and animals have an apparent relative immunity against a second infection if they are left for 6/12 weeks before being treated. However if antibiotics are promptly given in the early infection no such immunity develops and immediate reinfection is then possible". Obviously we have here a direct relationship between inflammation and the immune system - both being natural bodily processes .
But the short circuiting of inflammation has many affects. From a homoeopathic point of view the inflammation does not disappear under antibiotic treatment. It is dispersed from its original local intense and painful site - where the immune system is busy healing the body - and driven along the path of least resistance. Where it takes up a chronic character such as tennis elbow,trapped nerve, neuralgia, rheumatism etc. Its function as part of the healing process is defeated and the immune system is affected.
In some individuals the immune system becomes underactive and results in lethargy - M.E. - and numerous minor infections 'the never well syndrome'. In other individuals the immune system becomes overactive and gives rise to many allergies due to its supersesitivity. Among the many immune/allergic effects is Asthma.
It has been shown that in TB, and particularly in AIDS , it is possible to inherit a damaged immune system. That being taken in conjunction with the time span since the 40's we now have a third generation of people treated with antibiotics. It is interesting that the first generation had few allergies - that the second generation in the 60/70's had increasing degrees of allergic response and that some of the third generation now die due hypersensitive allergic response.
It would also be of interest if a study could be carried out to see if the rise in Asthma was paralleled by the rise in the uncontrolled indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
So having shown a homoeopaths view of the mechanism of asthma and identified antibiotics as one of a number of culprits let us look at other aspects and culprits listed in the Oxford Textbook of Medicine [15.142 tab 1.] as;-
"Drugs which may produce or exacerbate asthma."
"Pharmacological effects;- ORAL
Cholinergenic agents e.g. carbachol pilocarpine
Cholinesterase inhibitors e.g. pyridostigmine
Prostaglandin F2alpha
Histamine release e.g. curare derivatives
Beta sympathetic antagonists
Idiosyncratic effects;-
Analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents
Asprin
Idomethacin [inlcudes] Artralin
Imbrilon
Indocid. Indoflex. Indomod.
Kap-ind. Rheumacin.
Mefinamic acid[inc] Ponstan
Flufenamic acid
Phenylbutazone
Fenoprofen [inc] Fenopron. Progesic.
Ibuprofen [inc] {Apsifen. Brufen. Ebufac. Fenbio {Ibular. Ibumetin. Iboslo. Inabrin
Ibuprofen (cont) Maxagesic. Motrin. Novaprin.
Nurofen. Paxofen. Proflex.
Relcofen.Seclodin. Uniprofen.
Diclofenac [inc] Volterol.
Naproxen [inc] Laraflex. Naprosyn. Synflex.
Paracetamol.
Tartrazine-containing compounds (used to color medicine & food ;E102 food additive)
Carbamazepine[inc] Tegretol
Idiosyncratic;- BY INJECTION
Penicillin
Aminophylline[inc] Phyllocontin
Hydrocortisone [inc] Cortisol. Cortril. Dioderm
Hydrocortone.
N-acetyl cysteine
Idiosyncratic;- INHALED
Ampicillin
Benzyl Penicillin
Cephalosporins[used intransplant ops to suppress the immune system
Alpha-methyl dopa
Cimetadine[inc] Tagamet
Piperazine[inc] Antepar. Ascalix.
Psyllium
Pancreatic extract
Pituitary snuff
Ipratropium bromide(hypotonic solution)[inc] Atrovent."
The Oxford Textbook of Medicine also points out;-
"The potential exacerbation of Asthma by drugs used to treat it presents a particularly acute dilemma as drug effect may be difficult to dissociate from spontaneous deterioration. Apart from potential problems related to tartrazine there are well documented cases of worsening asthma after both aminophylline and hydrocortisone, the latter may be particularly aproblem in asthmatic patients with analgesic sensitivity. -- Bronchodilator and other drugs formulated as a dry powder sometimes have an irritant effect , as also may the propellants used in pressurized aerosols."
If you are still with me !, there seems to be a pointer towards Natrum Mur - a homeopathic remedy. Check it out.
Daily treatment is wrong and unwise -- for any length of time. With either homeopathic or allopathic medication.
If you need to keep treating someone you are NOT curing them.
You are only suppressing symptoms , and in the long run that will do more harm than good.
Hope this is of some help/interest.
passkey last decade
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Information given in this forum is given by way of exchange of views only, and those views are not necessarily those of ABC Homeopathy. It is not to be treated as a medical diagnosis or prescription, and should not be used as a substitute for a consultation with a qualified homeopath or physician. It is possible that advice given here may be dangerous, and you should make your own checks that it is safe. If symptoms persist, seek professional medical attention. Bear in mind that even minor symptoms can be a sign of a more serious underlying condition, and a timely diagnosis by your doctor could save your life.