Any asthmatics?

I've always had asthma, I've always had to use some drug to breath. Every now and then one stops working and I'm shuffled through a buffet of chemicals to find my new controller medicine. Most days I'm resigned to this but deep down it pisses me off lol pardon the outburst.
It's a total long shot but has anyone found a better way? I read years ago about a dude who infected himself with hookworms saying it created a symbiotic relationship, the hookworms poop keeping his immune system from going haywire.
I'm not going to run out and do anything rash, but I am curious if anyone here has had any good results self managing their asthma?

I use a lot of mullein. Add 1oz mullein by weight, to 1qt of boiling water, cover, and steep until cooled. I'd drink about 1C/day, but I'm not sure how my asthma and yours would compare, plus, mine is added in with other herbs, for other things. You can drink it full strength, or diluted, hot or iced (though in the middle of an asthma attack, hot or very warm will help sooth your lungs, faster), sweetened, or unsweetened. The cool thing about using this specific herb is that you can't od on it, so you can use more (or less), if needed, and it's really not contraindicated with any drugs *that I know of*.

I hyper manage my surroundings. No scented products at all - not even "natural" ones (except peppermint and lemon), unscented soaps, laundry detergents, deodorants, cleaning products, etc. No carpets, regular vacuuming, and regularly changing bedding. No smoke, no campfires. No cats and hypoallergenic dogs.

Doing this, I can keep myself down to just one mild asthma med as needed and sometimes an antihistamine - without this I am not sure I could handle my asthma at all. My asthma has always been the kind that is due to triggers though, not random.

hey rachel

Even though i am not asthmatic. I find i am a sensitive to scents which are strong. So as catie george stated. I manage my surroundings and this helps immensely. Almost everything i use is unscented.

So something i tried this year was using bee pollen. I read somewhere of using it for 60 days consecutively working my way up 1 table spoon per day. Looking for unheated/untreated. This has helped immensely with my sensitivity/ allergies. I have read it is used to "treat" allergies, asthma, menstrual irregularities, constipation, diarrhea, anemia, low energy, cancer, rheumatism, arthritis and toxic conditions.  Try this source Bee pollen


Another one i am reading about is having vitamin b6 deficiency.  From what i read having a low intake of b6 can lead to a lower levels of b1 and b2. Find more info Here



This is an old abstract on the connection between using chicken broth and allergies/asthma

I hope some of these help you heal :)

Thank you very much. I've been putting together a list of plants for a medical garden/tea garden and I will definitely look into these suggestions. As far as staying clean and living in a sort of sterile environment, I do stay away from smelly things, keep the house clean, stay clear of things I've learned I'm extra sensitive to. I'm allergic to just about everything (it's easier to list what I'm not allergic to) so my intention is to be less bubble girl. I know it's a long shot. I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to respond with thoughtful information.

Quite a number of people have claimed to have cured their asthma by using Bas Rutten's O2 trainer, including Bas himself.  The man has a stellar reputation, and there are lots of people doing independent reviews on it.  I have the trainer myself, but don't have asthma. There is no question it makes your lungs stronger.  If you do a search, you can find Bas talking about his lifelong struggle with asthma and how he came up with the idea for the o2 trainer.  It may be worth a try.  I am not affiliated in any way with Bas or this device.

O2 Trainer

My wife has asthma. She is very careful to pace herself.  She seldom has an attack.

Hyssop works , it reduces the spasms, it helps to get rid of slime. You can spray it , i use hydrosols. I find it easy to grow and it's a great biodiversity enhancer, it flowers all summer. Great tea as well, goes well in yogurt.
But there are many herbs, like eucalyptus, fennel,lavender, oregano, thyme etc. Eucalyptus i'd love a cold weather variety that grows where i am, but the rest of these herbs are doable in most regions.

I'm an herbalist and mild asthmatic. Along with mullein you can use lobelia, and coltsfoot in your herbal tea blend. Think also blood circulation so hawthorne and schisandra. And eucalyptus bombs in the shower. A vicks inhaler is wonderful. These are all considered preventives and not to replace your rescue inhaler of course!

I've greatly improved my asthma by identifying my triggers, and doing as much as possible to eliminate them from my life.  Mine is largely triggered by allergies.  I was already taking a daily allergy pill, but I got my allergies under much better control by avoiding the allergens as much as possible, rinsing my sinuses with a neti pot once or twice a day, drinking lots of nettle tea, and eating healthier foods.  I still take zyrtec.  Though I'd like to eliminate that single pharmaceutical, I have not yet been able to achieve control without it.  I have been able to eliminate two asthma meds, though.  I carry a little vial of eucalyptus and ravintsara essential oils (blended) in case I feel an attack starting, and that usually works well enough to avoid using the rescue inhaler.  I still carry a rescue inhaler just in case, but I haven't used it in over a decade.

My son was asthmatic when he was growing up. We had a hard time finding pharmaceuticals that actually worked, so we had to figure out a lot of it on our own. The thing I learned to keep on hand was eucalyptus essential oil. When he had an attack, I'd boil water, fill a mug with it, and add several drops of eucalyptus EO. We'd set the mug on the table and he'd put a towel over his head to breathe in the vapors. Care must be taken to not burn oneself on the hot steam, but it did an amazing job of opening up his constricted airways and helping him breathe. Then, I'd put a little in the medicine cup of the vaporizer for the night if he was still having trouble (or just wanted it for comfort).

Eucalyptus used to be an ingredient in the old chest rubs, but the last time I looked, it had been removed from the ingredient list.

I was born with asthma back when they only thing they did was put concentrated chemicals on your back to see what you reacted too.  I sort of gave up on the medicines because outside of albuterol and trying to cough my lungs clear nothing seemed to work.

Ran across a local Doctor who worked Immunotherapy treatments for our soldiers in Germany and he had his practice here.   Because my health was rather good he allowed me to undergo a Rush therapy session where I spent 6 hours in a private room in his office playing on the net or watching TV and every 30 minutes a nurse would come in and give me a booster shot of the higher concentrations and keep an eye on me for reactions.  I followed up with a biweekly treatment and then monthly. After 3 years I was allowed by insurance to get retested.

After 3 years I was 90% clear and had a retest. The first series was focused on grasses and tree pollen and the next series focused on molds and dust mites.  

My current asthma state is 95% clear and very slight wheezyness which I find a tincture of Angelica and Lovage Root works great.  

I expect to be 98% clear or better after the 2 or 3 years of this current treatment is over.  

Rachel Klucjasz wrote:I've always had asthma, I've always had to use some drug to breath. Every now and then one stops working and I'm shuffled through a buffet of chemicals to find my new controller medicine. Most days I'm resigned to this but deep down it pisses me off lol pardon the outburst.
It's a total long shot but has anyone found a better way? I read years ago about a dude who infected himself with hookworms saying it created a symbiotic relationship, the hookworms poop keeping his immune system from going haywire.
I'm not going to run out and do anything rash, but I am curious if anyone here has had any good results self managing their asthma?

I am asthmatic, absolutely deadly if I get near a cat. I'm also an herbalist. I used to make many ER visits a year, until I was prescribed Advair inhaler. I hate having to use a steroid, but this one only goes in the lungs, and does keep me from dying. But I want something better!

My number 1 go to herb is ephedra, called ma huang in Chinese. Powerful decongestant, but don't use too much. Lavender helps relax chest muscles and bronchi. Also pleurisy root (butterfly weed) is helpful. If you need additional information, respond to this and I'll reply.
Good health!

Ginger, Pear, Dried Bellflower root (Platycodon grandiflorus,  commonly known as balloon flower) Tea.
Drink the ginger and pear tea if you don't have the bellflower.

2 pears + 2 thick slices of ginger + 100 grams bellflower
Hope it helps.

One of the surprising benefits my husband and I experienced when we started eating low carb (high fat) was a big reduction in our asthma.  Mine's environmentally induced, and I'm at the point where I can just avoid my triggers, so I didn't notice this until a few months later when we visited my inlaws's cat-, dog-, and smoke-infested house.  No asthma for me at all, whereas previously I was always miserable at their house, having to stay outside in the back or hide in the kitchen, the only room without carpet.  What a wonderful change to sit in the living room with the whole family, and not have any symptoms!

My husband, on the other hand, went from using his inhaler multiple times a day to just a few times a month--his asthma has always been much worse than mine, and now ten years on he still uses it just as infrequently.  

The main change in our diet was to cut out sugar and grains, and we added in more animal fats such as butter, cream, and lard.  (We had some other unrelated improvements to our general health too, besides losing weight;  for instance, my husband's migraines became far fewer and much less severe.  We originally made the change in order to control my diabetic husband's blood sugar.)  I don't know if it will work for everyone, but it worked for us.

As an herbalist myself I recommend you link up with a good herbalist you can work with long term.  I've worked with folks with asthma and while there are some fast acting herbs, the key to herbal protocols for asthma is working through a deeper long term approach that fits your unique self.  I typically address constitutional immune triggers, supporting respiratory tissues, and removing other systemic challenges (i.e. pathways of elimination, digestion, etc).  

I agree with other posters who write about diet and environmental exposures (refined foods, artificial scents, cleaning products etc.)  These are all very real triggers of asthma, and in no way required parts of life.  The use of industrial chemicals in foods, homes and workplaces and the increase in chronic illness are related.  Chronic illness will kill most of the people we know, remember this as folks try to defend the convenience of modern toxicities.

Best of luck to you, and kudos for seeking other options for your health!

Naturopathic medicine teaches that asthma is caused from fungus in the lungs...one of best remedies being mullein.  Just drink a cup of strong mullein tea daily for 3 months.  It can be related to sensitivities and allergies.  But it can also be caused from the lungs being dehydrated.  Just water is not enough, it takes the natural minerals and sodium in sea water to get it where it needs to be.  You can  use diluted sea water or a good sea salt, unrefined, and use one level teaspoon per quart of water and drink at least 3 quarts a day of this.  Darko Velcek goes into detail about this,

I was diagnosed with what the doctor called "exercise-induced asthma" at about 13 or 14. I used an inhaler for many years every time I exercised. I had a lot of musculoskeletal pain along with lots of stress and I was very malnourished and out of shape. I have since improved my health by making sure I have enough nutrition and have lowered my stress levels and started doing regular yoga and exercise and removed toxins from my home and what was diagnosed as "asthma" is now gone (by my own measure, I haven't actually been to the doctor in years).

I can't say for sure if I actually had asthma or if it was just a compounding of effects from being generally unhealthy. I found that acupuncture and going to the chiropractor would offer immediate relief, like my back was all knotted up and not letting me take a full breath. Even for people that probably have actual asthma, I'm sure supporting your lungs through a nourishing diet and lifestyle that keeps you healthy will help, even if those things take a long time to work. Yoga and strength-training exercises to keep my breathing muscles healthy and relaxed have been a huge help and my breathing generally feels easier when I do some regular running on the treadmill, although I have been really bad about establishing that as a habit).

Also removing sugar from my diet - I notice that when I eat sugar now I get winded, like it's harder to get a full breath. And the sugar also gives me some sinus congestion. I'm not saying that these things will cure your asthma but I hope considering some of these things I've experimented with for my own health will give you some ideas to try to help your body support your lungs.

Hi Carla,

Regarding Mullein, what part of the plant is used for tea?

I have only used the leaves &/or the flowers. The stalks, dried, are great fire starters, temporary trellises, etc. The flowers are more potent, but the leaves are more abundant, by far. I dry them, and I always strain through the tighter woven muslin-type cheesecloth, to keep the fuzz out of my throat.