I have concerns over my mother-in-law who
has had asthma for most of her adult life.
She is 68 years old and is having a
terrible winter. My concern is the
duration of time she has been taking
prednazone (excuse the spelling, I have
never seen it written) and still having
breathing problems. She can't ever lay
down flat due to breathing trouble, she
has continual swelling, and most
disturbing is her lack of sleep. She
often goes without any sleep. On nights
when she is able to sleep, 3 hours is
considered good. Is this healthy? The
lack of sleep has been haunting her for a
few years. Medicine has been altered to
try to accommodate sleep however there
seems to be no relief. Outside of my
concerns on her doctor's ability to help
her, I am afraid her sleep deprivation and
side affects from the prednazone will
cause other problems. Perhaps I just
don't understand that this is normal for
people with her condition? I would
appreciate any responses on this topic.
Thank you.
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Richard Friedel
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 Nov 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Starnberg, Germany
Asthma Posted: 01-07-04 03:42am
Maybe you'd find my message of 12-31-03 on
"taking a deep breath" helpful.
More espeically realize that when
everybody is speaking of "asthma", they
are really talking about something
inseparably linked to drug treatment.
Although shiploads of studies on drugs and
asthma have been produced and make the
whole thing look highliy scientific, the
basic question of the relative value of
breathing techniques is never tackled
because of (a) our basic medicine
instinct, (b) doctors' self-image as
healers only using pills and sprays, and
(c) the activities of the pharmaceuticals
industry irresponsibly based on pandering
to public taste. Such a comparison is
needed before asthma treatment can be
considered scientific.
Try to get her onto diaphragmatic
breathing. Regards and best wishes,
richard friedel
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purple333
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 1420 Location: Sydney
Posted: 01-08-04 07:42am
I agree with the above but would also
suggest that it would be worth while
looking into homeopathic &/or
naturopathic medicines. Since
conventional wisdom (such as it is) isn't
working look elsewhere. Also you might
try to borrow or rent a humidifier (used
for asthmatic children - i'm not so sure
that they're generally used for adults)
this might help her breath at night.
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Richard Friedel
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 Nov 2003 Posts: 15 Location: Starnberg, Germany
Asthma Posted: 01-08-04 09:31am
Yes, I guess this is a very interesting
point, that is to say homeopathy in the
wide sense of finding an effect (not
necessarily medicaiton) which seems to be
related to a worsening of the condition
and which may be a natural cure.
It is rather surprising that conventional
asthma approaches do not look for any
self-healing mechanism in asthma. It
would seem odd if there were no such
mechanism and if we had a sort of
achilles' heel.
In an attack of asthma the "system" starts
gasping frantically to take a deep breath,
which makes the condition steadily worse
because of airtrapping (not being able to
breathe out properly). My thought is that
the gasping is basically correct but that
it is thwarted because an asthmatic does
usually breathe diaphragmatically. My
experience with diaphragmatic breathing is
that gasping does not cause any bad
effects. It is like bhastrika in
pranayama (yoga), that is to say working
the diaphragm as a sort of bellows.
This is said to be therapeutic or even
curative for asthma. Asthmatic breathing
using the diaphragm seems to come on
naturally and is perhaps the missing link,
the natural self-healing effect.
This would all fit in quite nicely with
the rest of the facts on asthma, more
especially that the pharmaceuticals
industry does tend to sell highly
symptomatic drugs which may well be the
enemy of self-curing effects. Regards,
richard friedel
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Unavailable
Post temporarily unavailable Posted: 01-08-04 13:01pm
This post is being reviewed and is temporarily unavailable.
oaklandpat
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 1 Location: Oakland. CA
Prednasone Posted: 06-09-04 17:24pm
Hello, i, too, have asthma and was
recently put on prednasone. I wasn't
told that it would impair my immune
system. Because my immune system was
impaired, I immediate caught a cold and
have been sick ever since. I am now
taking a herbal formula (wellness formula)
as well as my daily inhalers (also
steoids, but not as strong nor as
dangerous as prednasone). I am slowly,
but thankfully recovering. I hope this
has been helpful.
