Asthma Help : Controlling Your Attacks Naturally

When you've had asthma for as long as I have, over twenty five years, you learn a thing or two about how to naturally control your breathing and minimize the likelihood of your attacks.  If you don't, well, then you are relegated to a lifetime of drugs and inhalers that actually can shorten your lifespan if you use them too often.

I remember many sleepless nights, not being able to breathe, feeling like someone had a vice around my lungs and my rib cage and was squeezing me all of the time, lying there and focusing so much on just breathing that when I woke up after a few restless hours of sleep, with a tender back from trying so hard just to perform a basic living function - to inhale and exhale oxygen effectively!

Back then, there were really no well known natural remedies or alternative treatments for asthma. Back then, I was given some pills that made my heart race and my skin feel like it was alive, and an inhaler that did pretty much the same thing, and only seemed to have a temporary effect, thereby building me up to a tolerance and dependence on it.

We just didn’t know, or have access to the same knowledge as I do now, as an adult, and in the information age where you literally have just about any information you need to know at your fingertips.  Now, not only do I have more options to help control my asthma symptoms, when they arise, which thank goodness they rarely do any more thanks to a few lessons I’ve learned, but I also can interact with people who have tried different things for themselves and can share that information with me, online.

When I think of the damage I’ve done to my lung tissue over all those years of using steroidal inhalers to abate my asthma, and the pills as well, that probably weren’t good for my heart since they sent them into a racing tizzy every time I took them, I wish I could undo it all. But alas I can’t, all I can do now is live my life the best way I know how to, practicing the lifestyle changes that help treat and prevent asthma attacks, as often as I can.

One of the first things I correlated to my asthma attacks was my diet.  If I went on a tear of eating lots of refined sugars and fats, such as most people do around the holidays, voila, I noticed that my asthma attacks would suddenly become more frequent, and more severe.  When I was on the straight and narrow with my diet, eating less refined foods, no sugar, and healthy, whole foods, I noticed that my asthma attacks would pretty much disappear.

I firmly believe that diet is directly related to many asthma cases and attacks, because of my experience.  I found that for me in particular, a lot of sugar was a trigger for my asthma attacks, and so when I cut it out, it virtually eliminates it.

Many people have claimed that following an alkaline diet, where they eat foods that are on the alkaline side of the pH scale rather than the more acidic foods (on the acid side of the pH scale), has made a dramatic difference in their asthma attack frequency. It’s something to look into.

Another principle I live by is to make sure I get regular exercise. Although it seems counterintuitive, because exercise sometimes can trigger an attack, leading a sedentary life only makes asthma worse, and can actually exacerbate the condition and make it EVEN harder for your to exert yourself physically without getting an attack.

Sure enough, when I go through phases where I just don’t have the time to devote to working out, I get bronchial spasms more often.  Speaking of bronchial spasms, there are some excellent natural remedies I’ve relied on as well that help to relax the bronchial passages, and open them up so that oxygen can do what it’s meant to, feed, detoxify and fuel your body.

We are fortunate to live in an age where we have so many excellent remedies that are all natural at our disposal, and I’d recommend that you familiarize yourself with the options that are out there to see what may fit your needs and your body best.