How I Defeated My Asthma

This is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, nor am I a doctor. This is what I did and what helped me after medication was no help at all. You do this on your own risk, even if there seems to be no risk. If you think this might have an impact on your health discuss this with your general practitioner or a specialist.

For a long time I suffered asthma, when I was in trouble I had 46% of my lung volume, when everything was alright the volume didn't exceed 69% for almost 20 years. Very demotivating when your doc tells you your lungs are those of an 80 year old at the age of 30. I had to take a lot of medication, much was more harmful to me than to my illness. One time I had to take a lot of cortisone which turned a skinny hunk of 68 kilos into an obese ass of 84 kilos in less than a month. This was a watershed for me, and I tried to find other ways. After some reading I developed a knowledge of dangerous half-truths. I changed my diet and my habits - I gained to live without cortisone. The next year I managed to live without any medication. This year when I asked my doc to prescribe me a new emergency inhaler because mine had expired (just in case), he asked me to test my lung volume. I was back at 99% (only 2 digits on the measurement device), just my peak flow was at 450 (l/min).

This was resoundingly successful for me, and after friends gave me so much positive feedback about my ideas, I want to share them with everybody. But I cannot guarantee that you will have the same success, each anamnesis is individual. Therefor I cannot tell you which one of these steps is vital and which one is superfluously. I can only provide information and hints what you should avoid, change or look after. It took me 3 years to become a healthy person throughout a whole year, be patient and don't go back to old habits because of human tendency to inertia. If you steal my ideas and write a book to make money of it, I will haunt you in your dreams for the rest of your life (Disclaimer: All pictures are from Wikipedia commons in the public domain).

Step 1: Avoid Flavourings

In 2008 scientists at the Institute of Anatomy in Munich tried to find out how spices work in our bowel. Coincidentally they found olfactory receptors, cells to smell. These cells stimulate other cells in our gut to release digestive enzymes. This way the bowel finds the right enzymes for the right food. If it fails, serotonine and histamine will be released. Histamine is involved in processes of our immune system, your medication to lessen your allergic reactions contains antihistamine.
Now let's say you eat a yogurt with strawberry flavour, the size of a common cup would allow only 2 strawberry fruits, but that would be too weak for the taste, so flavours had to be added. There are 3 different types of flavourings. Natural, identical and artificial. Natural flavour is extracted from real fruits (expensive), identical strawberry flavour can be made of fir cones for example (cheap), artificial flavours are produced in a chemical process or by genetically modified bacteria and fungi (cheap).
Now comes my dangerous knowledge of half-truths, these flavourings might confuse our olfactory receptors, therefor the wrong digestive enzymes will be released, this will cause stress and therefor histamine will be released. As 70% of your body's immune system reside in your bowel, it might be a bad idea to cause stress and confusion there. The other 30%, which include your bronchia and mucosa in eyes and nose, might be affected and therefor confused too. Maybe you should avoid any food with identical or artificial flavours like in ready meals, instant soups, soft-drinks or flavoured yogurt and you might avoid allergies.

Step 2: Disinfect Your Lungs

Most people with asthma have a fungal infection in their lungs, the weakening of the immune system by medication or the vicious circle of a chronic illness makes it easy for bacteria or fungi which are everywhere around us to become a threat to our health. But then you will get cortisone from your doc to widen your airways so you can cough the squatters out. How about you deaden them so your airways widen naturally? Essential oils are known to kill bacteria and fungi, but if you inhale them they will not reach every alveoli in your lungs because many are blocked because of your asthma. When consumed, some essential oils will be processed in your liver or excreted by your kidneys, some oils will make you burp, some will make you fart, but some special essential oils will leave your body only via your lungs.
Again, my knowledge of dangerous half-truths, if you eat these essentials oils regularly they will kill the fungi and bacteria in your lungs when leaving your body exiting through your alveoli. Anise, fennel and garlic have lots of those special essential oils. Buy Anise seeds and take a tablespoon for a tea. Save the seeds, put them the next day into a mortar and crush them with a pestle. Add your favorite liquor, stir and then drink the liquid, the most important oils which you can only breathe out are only soluble in alcohol. Save the seeds again and use them for your lunch the next day, they are perfect for gnocchi or pasta. This way you can use them for 3 days and get the best out of it. Fennel tastes great, if you have never eaten it, try it on your own alone. You need to get used to fennel, it takes 5 minutes from your first bite til your first fart, the bulb contains 30 different essential oils.

Step 3: Train Your Lungs

When your asthma limits your energy, your posture declines. A declining posture has a negative effect on your lungs, because you reduce the used volume. Therefor you need to improve your posture.

You can do this by crossing your lower arms behind your back during work. In your spare time you can do this by increasing the strength of your upper body with push ups.

Step 4: Natural Cortisone

Yes it exists. Boswellia acids which can be found in frankincense have similar effects like cortisone but less secondary effects. You can buy a little package of frankincense and suck on a little bit when you feel your asthma is about to get stronger. It was used this way for centuries to reduce bad breath.

Step 5: Remove Nasal Hair

Personally I use a rotary clipper from Dovo, a Klippette and a special scissor with a round shaped scissor point, to remove all my nasal hair. There are 3 reasons for this.
1. In the upper region long hair will touch your nasal cartilag, and thereby stir the nasal mucosa, which is probably already irritated.
2. Adhesion or surface tension of nasal mucus between your nasal hair will be reduced.
3. Less pollen will be caught in your hair and progressively released over a long time into your lungs.