complementary medicine

Asthma can be treated in many ways

1. Using conventional medicines and therapies
2. Using alternative medicines such as herbs or other traditional medicines
3. By using alternative therapies such as Yoga
Acupuncture
etc...

Every type of therapy has its own scope and time span. The first and the most widely accepted therapy is the conventional medicines and procedures. In this procedure of asthma treatment
the patient is treated in two ways

1. Short term treatment
2. Long term treatment

Short term asthma treatment involves the instant relief of the patient from asthma attacks. Short term treatment involves the administration of inhalers and orally administered drugs. Asthma cannot be cured
but the scope of asthma can be controlled with the help of a proper asthma management program.

Short term treatment is done mainly by using Metered Dose Inhalers or MDIs. Dry powder inhalers are also gaining favor in the treatment of asthma.
For those patients who cannot use the MDI’s
nebulizer therapy is used.

Long term asthma treatment involves more of Parallel treatment and lesser use of drugs.

In parallel asthma treatment
environmental components and surrounding analysis is done to minimize the factors that lead to Asthma attacks. In this type of treatment environment components such as pollen grains
allergens etc are minimized from the patient’s surroundings to minimize the chances of an asthma attack.

For this it is necessary that the patient’s place of residence be cleaned every week
the patient must be kept away from pets with fur or feather
weekly washing of the bedding of the patient in hot water.

Avoid using synthetic material in the patient’s bedding
replace upholstery based furniture to vinyl or leather ones.

Remove carpeted floors. They may contain dust particles that could cause problems to the asthma patient.

Use the Air conditioner to protect the patient from subtle temperature changes.

Keep the house dry. Humidity effects the asthma patient.

After the parallel asthma treatment is completed
lung functioning is monitored to look for effective changes. After this
medicines like corticosteroids and bronchodilators are administered. Periodic check up is necessary to know about any changes in the condition of the patient.

For patients have persistent asthma attacks
an annual dose of influenza vaccine is necessary.

Written by Bruno Brown for Asthma Treatment. This article can be reproduced as long as the autor's name and ACTIVE link are displayed.