What’s the best option for mild problem

I am 23 and noticed breathing issues a few years ago. I was in college at the time and didn't want to go to the doctor because I didn't have trouble breathing, I just didn't have as much breath as I thought I should have (and as I remembered having in High School).

After chest pains a few weeks ago, my worried and sweet wife convinced me to go to the doctor. After some pulmonary tests, EKG (to make sure the chest pains were not my heart) and X-rays (no heart swelling, thank goodness) the doctor said I had mild asthma and put me on Advair. It's been a week now, and if anything my chest hurts MORE. It's still not too bad, but I definitely don't feel any better.

I don't have major asthma attacks, but I do wake up sometimes with slight breathing issues and need to get a drink of water and cough a few times to go back to sleep. I also get a tight and painful chest (normally on the left side, but this morning on the right) sometimes.

What can I expect from the medicine and what’s the best way?

Thanks in advance!

You need to tell your doctor this. It could be one of the side effects of the medication. This medication may not be for you also. Your problem is maybe not what the doctor thinks it is, and you need to convey these side effects to him/her, so he/she can make a more informed diagnosis on what you may really have. The body is so complex that it could be alot of things, the doctors make their best educated guess and then go from there.

So my advice is to talk to your doctor.

My other advise is to taking flax seed oil, some green drink (spirulina is good), and exercise cardio style. Both my sons developed exercise induced asthma and I put them on this regiment with a breath exerciser (from Gaiam) to improve their lungs. I also tried to get them to take New Chapter's Breathe formula that uses mushrooms to help increase stamina and vigor of lungs. The oldest took them for awhile, but the youngest one had a really hard time with taking pills. The oldest one did get over quicker than the youngest, but that could just be an age thing, and not the Breathe pills. (They are both midfielders in soccer, so they run alot, and since they are good the coach keeps them in for long periods of time). This is based only on what I did for my kids. Your situation is probably different. My other experience is my husband's sleep apnea, in which he stops his really loud snoring/stops breathing about 20 times a night. We are still working on that. "We" being my holistic training, the doctors who are the experts, and also him (how it effects his body and not putting up with stuff that doesn't work or what he won't do - like surgery or the sleeping mask thing. Like you, it is just annoying -especially for me !). And the doctors are trying things for him to use cause they don't know what will work for him, and I don't know what will work for him herbally . . . . yet ! You have to communicate to work on it effectively though. So back to my first advice, talk with the doctor.

Your doctor may prescribe things for you to use against what seems to be mild asthma which may not be too good for you in the long run. The Buteyko method is proven, safe and very effective. The book Close Your Mouth and ABC to be asthma free are self help books to teach yourself the Buteykjo clinic method. They are available from www.amazon.com for USA and amazon.co.uk for UK and other countries. Patrick McKeown a renowned practitioner teaches many other natural clinic methods at his site www.asthmacare.ie It will be well worth your time.

My advice is to ditch your doctor and ask Dr. Fuhrman for $30. He cures asthma and most everything else all the time.

Another advice on doctors, is to use them for lab reports and to see if what you are doing on your own (Fuhrman, or the Buteyko method, or herbally, or whatever you investigate to work for you) is working for you. This way with lab tests he/she can do for your body, you can check on your progress.

IMHO there is only one question which has to be answered:

What causes the asthma?

You do not show those symptoms called asthma because of not enough Advair.

Maybe this aproach will give you another perspective on your symptoms.

This is the true approach to anything that is imbalanced within the body (and usually outside the body).

The only thing, is that while you are investigating, sometimes it is helpful to hold the symptoms off, while you can figure out what the real cause of the problem is. Don't let the medication that is treating the symptom make you think you have been cured. It is just a bandaid till you figure out what is really getting to you.

Besides all the other stuff that I suggested to use herbally and food wise (keep away from mucus-producing food, which is mainly processed food), you can physically use a neti pot to wash the pollen grains out of your sinuses with a nice warm saline solution if it is outside or inside allergies that are causing it. Just a thought.

With the craze on low fat diet, essential fatty acids COULD BE your answer to Asthma and chestpain problem .

http://www.nutrisana.com/canada/ADD-Udo_Erasmus.html

http://www.brianpeskin.com/NEXUS%20Hidden%20Story%20Article.pdf

Healthy Vegetarian source : Walnuts(Omega 3), Flaxseed (Omega 3 ), Primrose (Omega 6 , GLA) , Safflower( Omega 6) and etc

Good luck !

I second the recommendation made by Escapee if you are not already including these type of fats in your diet. From what I understand, asthma is a disease characterized by inflammation and omega-3 fatty acids are a very potent anti-inflammatory.

For instance, I get my omega-3s from hemp protein powder (Manitoba Harvest - 1.3 grams per serving), Vega (3.5 grams per serving - Nice!) and flaxseed.

If you're already getting these types of fat, then keep us posted on what you find out.

Note: I didn't read the article provided by Escapee.

I second the recommendation made by Escapee if you are not already including these type of fats in your diet. From what I understand, asthma is a disease characterized by inflammation and omega-3 fatty acids are a very potent anti-inflammatory.

I think it is more important to eliminate the cuase of the inflammation rather than to eat fatty acids that act against the symptom.

I think it is more important to eliminate the cuase of the inflammation rather than to eat fatty acids that act against the symptom.

Bad fats ( Trans fats and the commercial vegetable oil) causes inflammation while the unadulterated and functional EFA fats heal.

http://www.yes-supplements.com/yes-efas-art/oil-processing-chart.jpg

Bad fats ( Trans fats and the commercial vegetable oil) causes inflammation while the unadulterated and functional EFA fats heal.

You are right but there are a lot more possible reasons for the inflammation. What I said is: Better stop eating/doing what causes the inflammation than eating e.g. omega-3s to suppress the symptoms or "heal" the inflammation.

You would not function without Polyunsaturated fats like Omega 3 and omega 6. Both PURAs are needed for life .

Well, duh. He should do his best to figure what is causing him problems in the first place but there certainly isn't anything wrong with getting omega 3 fats to help with the inflammation. They would be beneficial anyways.

That's like telling people that have heart disease or knee problems that they should find out what is causing their knee problems or heart disease first before they start eating omega 3 fats to supress their symptoms. Correct me if I missing something here.

Yeah, figuring out what is causing the symptoms and treating them is far more important than getting some EFAs, but it still doesn't hurt to begin to include them to help the process. One of the major causes of inflammation is an overabundance of omega-6 and a deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids. So, there isn't really a need to worry about omega-6 if you are on a vegan diet or most any other diet for that matter, because they are in so many overt fat products. The threes are where you run into problems.

@ escapee: I never stated that humans do not need omega3s or 6s. I said it does not make sense to use them to cover symptoms of inflammation instead of looking for the cause of the inflammation.

@ endurancewannabe: IMO you are nissing something: Of course it is important to include omega 3s and 6s in once diet. And about suppressing symptoms before finding the cause: This is what physician usually do. When the symptoms are gone (supressed) there is no nedd for patient or physician to find the cause and really heal the illness. Finding the problem should always be of highest priority.

@ cubby2112: I seriously doubt that "overabundance of omega-6 and a deficiency in omega-3 fatty acids" cause inflammation. If a epiodemic study shows that persons with a certain proportion of 3s to 6s have more inflammation that means those persons eat certain "foods" that cause diseases that incorporate inflammation. This finding does not mean everyone who eats to much 6s and not enough 3s will have inflammtion.

It isn't like you will surely end up with inflammation if you don't get enough omega-3s in your diet, it is just another thing that helps to irritate inflammation. I guess I shouldn't have said that it is one of the main "causes" but one of the main "irritants" I have heard of within the diet.

Flanders: Agreed.

It isn't like you will surely end up with inflammation if you don't get enough omega-3s in your diet, it is just another thing that helps to irritate inflammation. I guess I shouldn't have said that it is one of the main "causes" but one of the main "irritants" I have heard of within the diet.

IMO we want to say the same: To prevent the risk of inflammation (and many other risks) humans should eat a diet providing all essential nutrients in adequate amounts and a diet which is free of all substances that do not do the body any good.

Diet can prevent and heal disease. What I wanted to emphazise was that we have to look at the causes of a disease (this maybe an inbalanced diet) first and than eliminate them (this may include a change of the diet). I do not think reducing the diet to some elements (like omega 3s and 6s) is helpful because this may lead the way towards supplemetation and not towards healing.

It isn't like you will surely end up with inflammation if you don't get enough omega-3s in your diet, it is just another thing that helps to irritate inflammation. I guess I shouldn't have said that it is one of the main "causes" but one of the main "irritants" I have heard of within the diet.

 

IMO we want to say the same: To prevent the risk of inflammation (and many other risks) humans should eat a diet providing all essential nutrients in adequate amounts and a diet which is free of all substances that do not do the body any good.

Diet can prevent and heal disease. What I wanted to emphazise was that we have to look at the causes of a disease (this maybe an inbalanced diet) first and than eliminate them (this may include a change of the diet). I do not think reducing the diet to some elements (like omega 3s and 6s) is not always helpful because this may lead the way towards supplemetation and not towards healing.

Yes, I certainly agree with all that. Good point.

The general understanding that our diet is over abundance on the real functional Omega 6 is disputable. You just have to open your mind and read the article below.

http://www.brianpeskin.com/efa-analysis.pdf

Skin ( 1000 : 1 ) Omega 6 : Omega 3

Brain ( 1 : 1 ) Omega 6 : Omega 3

Fatty tissue ( 25-35 : 1 ) Omega 6 : Omega 3

Muscle ( 6 : 1) Omega 6 : omega 3

unprocessed organic raw nuts and seeds (I'm eating some now . hmm) are good source of EFAs .

Seventh Day adventist

http://news.adventist.org/data/2001/06/0995375716/index.html.en

On the other hand, life expectancy dropped nine to 10 years for Adventists who were overweight, past smokers, and non-vegetarian, and who did not exercise or eat nuts regularly.

@escapee:

I have to quote myself (which I usually not do because you always come back to the reductional perspective. Actually you did not respond to my statement below.

It isn't like you will surely end up with inflammation if you don't get enough omega-3s in your diet, it is just another thing that helps to irritate inflammation. I guess I shouldn't have said that it is one of the main "causes" but one of the main "irritants" I have heard of within the diet.

 

IMO we want to say the same: To prevent the risk of inflammation (and many other risks) humans should eat a diet providing all essential nutrients in adequate amounts and a diet which is free of all substances that do not do the body any good.

Diet can prevent and heal disease. What I wanted to emphazise was that we have to look at the causes of a disease (this maybe an inbalanced diet) first and than eliminate them (this may include a change of the diet). I do not think reducing the diet to some elements (like omega 3s and 6s) is helpful because this may lead the way towards supplemetation and not towards healing.

What you're saying was more like a common sense to me.

I was in no way suggesting that ppl should just eat nuts all day to replenish the omega 6 and 3. Moderation is always the key when it comes to healthy food.