natural and helpful?

[Mrteddycat]

**Moderator comment: please be reminded of the guidance round natural remedies on the forum when replying to this post, and bear in mind what helps you may be a trigger for someone else, even if it seems harmless and natural: healthunlocked.com/asthmalu...

just looking at different things , anyone tried natural things to help asthma. ? Magnesium ? N Acetyl cysteine ? Etc ??

[Homely2 Administrator]

asthmaandlung.org.uk/sympto...

I have hopefully attached a link from asthma UK, setting out a safe approach to natural things to help with asthma.

It is a bit of a minefield, and this sets ours how to approach it safely.

[My_fairy]

Hi

Herbal alongside your treatment plan can help but as suggested by asthma UK there’s not much research into this area. Also depends on asthma symptoms and people react differently therefore, like conventional medicine it’s test and trials for example my daughter she has a lot of phlegm so we use herbal expectorant which helps to get rid of extra mucus and makes her breathing little easier. Broth used to help her but now it can be a trigger. We use honey along side a powder made up of cinnamon, blackseed and fenugreek. We also use laboratory approved herbal medicines for asthma mostly Pakistani origin. Since she became resistant to steroids and has had life threatening attack it’s been a big struggle for two years.

Now we are managing daily symptoms as they come with homeopathic and herbal but it’s an extensive treatment. I always do advocate for herbal but definitely it has to be informed to your medical professionals and it should never replace your conventional medicine.

For us it has helped in reducing inhaler intake and preds without efficacy as my daughter was requiring a lot and helped with quality of life.

I hope this helps you should look for foods rich in magnesium aswell and look out for your individual triggers if any in food. Relying on natural form to improve your overall health helps you fight with asthma as it’s tiring to keep having symptoms in the long run.

Wishing you best of luck.

[Mrteddycat in reply to My_fairy]

Thanks for that informed reply. Just being dignosed a few month back it’s a shock . Just trying to get to grips with it all

[My_fairy in reply to Mrteddycat]

aww yes I would suggest to have a good medical support and you have certainly done the right thing to be on this forum… making informed decisions about your own treatment by carrying out your own research is very important.. my daughters asthma is quite serious so I have always been interested in all the possibilities… end of the day it’s your health and you understand it better than anyone else… some professionals can be ignorant and do not make right decisions…

[runcyclexcski]

People were using natural cures for hundreds of thousands of years, but the average livespan has only started increasing over the last 150 years, with the invention of evidence-based medicine, and pharmaceuticals.

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

I agree with Homely2 - and the link he provided is helpful in starting to sort out what may be helpful or harmful and what has more or less evidence. Lack of current evidence in clinical trials in humans doesn't mean it's definitely not helpful but it is something to think about. The fact something worked in a lab does not mean it will work in humans - it might, but we don't know yet, and we don't know all the safety concerns.

There's much less regulation round natural remedies/supplements, and I've been openly advertised stuff on social media which was not able to provide any good quality evidence when asked and really avoided the question.

It's also worth remembering that even what seem like very basic things you can use at home like steam inhalation or sleeping with the window open can be an asthma trigger, so it's something to bear in mind when you see other people recommending them - your asthma is not their asthma.

[Mandevilla]

It really depends on the individual. I try to keep aware of how my asthma is doing and track things like diet, exercise, how much stress I've been under etc, to pinpoint anything that helps or harms, but what works for me may not work for you.

For example, if you ask me what helps, I would say drink lots of coffee and camomile tea and use a dehumidifier. But those three things can all be triggers for other people! So there is no shortcut to doing the 'detective work' yourself.

[Mrteddycat in reply to Mandevilla]

Def thinking about an air purifier for the bedroom. Esp as teddy my cat sleeps half the night with us ( not allowed to keep him out the bedroom lol ).

[Mandevilla in reply to Mrteddycat]

Try to borrow one from someone to try it out first if you can. As I say, it's incredibly helpful for me, but other people don't find they help at all - or actually make them worse. If you can't find one to borrow, then have a look on Ebay or Gumtree for second-hand ones as you can often find ones really cheap there. We have four in total (I know that sounds excessive, but when it's foggy, I have to stay in the same room as one, so having four gives me a bit more freedom to move round the house!) and the ones I like most are Electriq and Meaco - we paid £40 for the Electriq which is huge and £25 for the Meaco, off Gumtree.

[Mrteddycat in reply to Mandevilla]

Thanks mand your a star

[Cobham]

Breathing therapy (Buteyko) worked for me.