Asthma - Natural Cure

Many people suffer from asthma and the degrees of its severity vary in each case. Medical treatments for treating asthma often times include the use of steroids to help open up airways and help prevent an asthma attack, while short term treatments include prescribed medicines that immediately relieve symptoms as their occur.

There are people suffering from this disease who prefer to use a more natural approach to relieving or curing asthma because they feel that long-term use of the drugs involved to treat asthma, which includes steroids, can cause damaging side effects that could complicate their health beyond the asthmatic condition they suffer from. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to some of these side effects after long term use.

To solve this dilemma, many asthma suffers turn to asthma natural cures to relieve or eliminate symptoms.

Relaxation and stress elimination is one way to relieve asthma through breathing exercises that literally slow down one's breathing sometimes causing hyperventilation. There are two well-known methods to do this: The Buteyko Breathing Technique, which includes relaxation exercises, stress relieving exercise medication use, and tips on general health and nutrition. The other method is called Papworth, which encourages an asthma sufferer to find a breathing rate using diaphragmatic breathing exercises that works to reduce symptoms of asthma. In the United States, it is hard to find someone practicing the art of these techniques, so it is best to gain information via a book or video.

Yoga has also been very effective in treating asthma. The benefits of stretching and posing are enhanced with proper breathing (referred to as pranayama), which has shown to calm or reduce the effects of an asthma attack. Since yoga exercise is also a stress reliever and a way to relax, it is very similar to the Buteyko and Papworth methods with the inclusion of exercise.

Exercising and keeping fit for asthma patients is a key way to help keep symptoms under control because exercise helps maintain and strengthen lung capacity and gets the blood circulating throughout your body, which helps asthmatics breath easier. Those who choose exercise as a asthma natural cure should keep in mind that it is best to work out in a warm environment as cold can bring on asthma symptoms.

Alternative treatments for a natural asthma cure also involve acupuncture, although there isn't enough evidence to prove how successful it is. Homeopathy is said to encourage the body's ability to cure itself using small amounts of homeopathic remedies, but this treatment is unproven as well and not highly recommended. Nor is there any evidence that massage or chiropractic treatments help asthma patients, although many swear that a chiropractitioner has helped them overcome asthma attacks. Others rely on herbs like gingo and buterbur to treat asthma. These should be taken with care and side effects noted, because it is not yet known how and why they work.

Ideally, if you decide you would like to treat your asthma the natural way for relief, you can work with your physician and discuss natural treatments that are available. Natural cures for asthma are great if they work, and if they don't it's important to take the advice of your physician.