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Natural Remedies Can Beat Drugs in Quest for Asthma Relief
By Dr. Alan Inglis on 09/30/2009
Q: I’m in my 60s and was diagnosed with asthma a couple of years ago. I was put on an albuterol inhaler, but my insurance made me switch doctors—and my new doctor prescribed Advair and Singulair. I don’t know much about them, but I’ve heard about some scary side effects. I’m not sure whether I should take them.
––Ann B., St. Paul, MN
A: I’m not surprised to hear that you were switched to Advair and Singulair—these are the fourth- and seventh-best-selling drugs in the United States. Advair and Singulair rake in $5.6 billion and $4.3 billion in annual sales, respectively. They’re backed by massive marketing campaigns, so I’m sure your doctor isn’t the only one with the names of these drugs on the tip of his tongue.
That’s probably not much comfort to you—the notion that you were switched to Advair and Singulair to help keep that money-raking machine rolling. It’s one thing if switching your meds makes good medical sense. But I think that in many cases when folks are put on Advair and Singulair, there’s no good medical justification at all.
Advair combines an inhaled steroid and a long-acting airway opener (bronchodilator) in an easy-to-use delivery package, shaped like a disc. That, in my opinion, is where the good news ends. Advair carries an FDA “black box” warning that notes an increase in asthma-related deaths in patients receiving salmeterol, a bronchodilator found in Advair. Other side effects include an increased rate of bronchitis, anxiety, headaches, tremors, and irregular heartbeats—and that’s just naming a few.
Singulair, a pill for asthma, is now associated with reports of suicidal behavior and Churg-Strauss Syndrome (CSS), in which blood vessels become inflamed. In its most severe form, CSS results in severe bodily pain, lung, heart, kidney or liver damage, and possibly death. Although rare, it’s obviously anxiety-inducing to know that problems like this can occur. And if you have asthma, the last thing you need is anxiety.
Other Singulair side effects include headaches, abdominal pain, flu-like symptoms, tremors and anxiety. And keep this in mind: Side effects that get reported in drug trials are generally estimated to represent only a fraction of what all users experience––as little as 10 percent of actual events.
Drug giant Merck claims Singulair allows you to reduce your need for inhaled steroids—the cornerstone of mainstream asthma treatment. Inhaled steroids can have systemic effects at high enough doses—including osteoporosis and blood sugar problems. So anything that lowers dosage needs is a good thing. But science shows there are other ways to reduce steroid doses—so what do you need Singulair for?
Natural cures
There are plenty of things you can—and should—do before even considering the use of Advair or Singulair. I have one patient who was essentially cured of her asthma with high-dose cod-liver oil. I recommend between 2,000 and 3,000 mg of DHA plus EPA from cod-liver or fish oil. (I prefer Carlson’s or Nordic Naturals.) I also recommend getting at least 10 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) of a good probiotic daily. That should be about two doses, one in the morning and the other before bedtime.
Also, make sure your 25-hydroxy vitamin D level is in the range of 40 to 60 nanograms per milliliter. That generally translates to taking 2,000 IUs of D3 daily. Vitamin D has anti-inflammatory effects—and asthma is an inflammatory disease. You want to do everything you can to fend off that inflammation.
Two other asthma-fighting tools are diet and exercise. Many of my patients don’t realize that extra weight increases inflammation. I recommend that you start exercising more and change over to a diet that includes fresh, unprocessed foods—straight from nature or as close as possible. If you fill up on such foods, you won’t have the room —or desire—for packaged, highly processed sugar- and flour-filled fakes.
Anything with high-fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated trans fats can boost inflammation, so avoid those ingredients.
I also recommend Buteyko breathing training for my patients. It’s a technique based on Yogic breathing principles developed to treat asthma. It helps to calm your stress response and the reactivity of your airway. It will reduce your symptoms and need for asthma drugs. Go to www.buteyko.com for more information.
And I do recommend you talk to your doctor and let him know your concerns.
Printer-friendly versionAbout the author
Dr. Inglis works closely with his patients to help them take charge of their health and well-being without resorting to expensive drugs and dangerous surgeries.
He is currently the director of Integrated Health Solutions, and is on the board of NOAH - a wellness center in Great Barrington, MA.
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Comments
Sara Howland
I am a recovering asthmatic, and I had already incorporated practices that Dr. Inglis talks about (Omega 3s, eliminating sugar, etc). However, it was after I started adding activated quercetin (with bromelain) to my regimen several years back, as well as N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and other liver detoxifiers, that I became not just asthma free, but also free of eczema (which I'd had since early childhood), hay fever, and food allergies.
When I say I was an asthmatic, I mean I had been hospitalized with status asthmaticus and was on the inhaled steroids as well as albuterol, which I completely overused because my breathing was so bad.
I am 60 years old now, and I haven't used an inhaler in four or five years. My skin is clear (my hands used to crack and bleed), and I don't react to pet dander any more (I have three cats and a long-haired dog). It seems nothing short of a miracle to me, so I thought I would share that here.
Tony Isaacs
You might want to take a look at this testimonial from my life mate:
"Asthma Testimonial - Colloidal Silver, Lobelia, and Clear Lungs"
it is the first article on this page:
http://www.tbyil.com/healthnew...
I was raised by my grandmother, who had severe asthma, and many were the times I had to make her a pot of coffee to prevent yet another trip to the emergency room.
I had many bouts with asthmatic brochitis myself while growing up and later, my own son had similar severe asthma like my grandmother, which he thankfully finally outgrew in his later teen years.
I wish I had known back then what I do now.
David A
I am a 38 year old male who was born with asthma and I have severe allergies as well. Most of my life I have been able to control my asthma with my inhalers but about 8 years ago, I started using ADVAIR and they switched the albuteral inhalers to the new HFA "environmentally friendly" inhalers which in my opinion don't work half as well as the old ones, but anyway my asthma has become worse and worse and harder to control over the past decade.
I feel like the poster boy for asthma side effects. I have horrible dizziness, head aches, and feelings of panic and anxiety all the time. The worst side effect is irregular heart beats which in addition to making me feel like I am having a heart attack, keeps me up all night and causes me to have insomnia and an overall lack of sleep. I am scared to death that these inhalers are going to kill me. I try to go several days with out taking the advair but usually by the 2nd or 3rd day, my asthma gets so bad that I feel I have to start taking it again.
I have several questions and would really appreciate ANY feed back people reading this could give me.
1. Which is the lessor of 2 evils between albuteral and advair?
2. Is it better to take advair and only use the albuteral inhaler maybe 5 or 6 times a day for rescue attacks or is it better to cut out the advair completely and use the albuteral inhaler 15 to 20 times a day? I know neither are good ideas and I know I definitely over use my albuteral but I am a slave to my inhaler.
3. Can anybody recommend a good doctor near Atlanta, Georgia who could maybe help me? The problem I have with most doctors I find is that they are only interested in treating asthma and not healing asthma. All they are interested in is addicting me to bad drugs that are killing me with horrible side effects. Are there any doctors near Atlanta who actually attempt to heal people anymore?
4. I think I have sleep apnea on top of everything else. Should I look into getting one of those breathing machines?
Any feed back would be much appreciated. Thanks
Asthma Natural Remedies
A natural remedy is often the best treatment for any kind of disease, including asthma. Aside from being effective, natural asthma remedies contain no harmful ingredients for the body.
Anonymous fransie/south africa
I have read Sara's testimony and I could cry of happiness and relieve to here there is still hope for asthma!!My daughter is 33years old now and had asthma since 2 years old.She's in hospital 2-3 times a year.She closes up so badly that she think shes going to die, the dr's have to pump her in dubble doses of cortisone in her drip,pulmicort,atrovent beta,pulmison or panafcort to name a few!She is in hospital at the moment,her 7th day and she is dubble her size!!Her knees are so swolen that she can hardly bend them!!We just cant take it any more to see and know what this cortisone is doing to here.She is working so hard on her dieet just when shes nearly at her goal then she gets asthma again.We are so scared for this winter that is comming,starting May and with the soccer world cup thats in June here in South Africa,because they say that the H1 virus could spread more here, WE DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!I can understand how David A feels.Here in South Africa we have got the same problem with the doctors they want to treat asthma and NOT healing asthma.PLEASE DAVID A, would you be so kind to tell me if you got answer from someone to help you??We are defnitely going to try what Dr. Ingles said as soon as shes getting out of hospital.She is allready taking the probiotic because she is on a very strong antibiotic also. PLEASE,PLEASE HELP!! Thankyou,Fransie Honiball,South Africa
Anonymous emanuel
everytime i use my inhalers {symbicort&albuterol} i get really bad pain on the right side.Ive told my pulmanary doctor, and my family doctor -but they do not beleive me. what can i do? They say its not possible!
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