How to combat asthma

23 Mar 2015

I’m Peter Krasenstein, I’ve been a pharmacist for nearly 45 years and I’d like to discuss your health.

Normally this only captures everyone’s attention in spring time, and for good reason, but today asthma and hayfever have evolved into much more complex modern day ailments.

I can recall once speaking with a primary school teacher who told me that 75 to 95 per cent of her class used puffers. I nearly fell off my chair! I was gobsmacked and I can tell you it takes a lot to shut me up, but the statistic left me speechless.

The amount of asthmatic drugs being dispensed is a real concern. What’s a greater concern for me though is the need for them.

I have heard so many stories which link this to pollution, with allergens like pollen, with dust and dust mites, and I agree these things can cause this problem in people, but I ask myself why does one person suffer and another not?

It’s my opinion that if we have congestion and mucus in the body it has to get out so it goes to the area of weakness. The area of least resistance - it’s a fundamental of nature in pretty much everything.

If this is the lungs or sinuses, the elimination of mucus results in irritation causing the symptoms of hayfever or asthma .The trigger causing this can be the allergen. There can be a multitude of other causes but this is one which I’ve been working on with patients for many years, with great success.

We all know that the hardest foods to digest are dairy products so I encourage my patients to eliminate all milk, butter, chocolate, cream, ice cream, etc. I’ll allow my patients to eat yogurt.

You can buy products from your local pharmacy which make dairy products more easily digested and can be used as an emergency if it is unavoidable that dairy is in your food. Secondly, I eliminate red meat which is also difficult to digest.

Red meat occasionally is a good thing but as with most things in life, too much of a good thing, well, we’ve all heard that line haven’t we?

Anyway, we also eat many other proteins in our diet, things like fish and chicken,

So I recommend a digestive enzyme for the stomach and one for the small intestine. These help us to digest food better which causes less mucus formation and that’s a really important objective and outcome.

And yet another contributor to this curious cycle of activity, frankly, is stress.

When we are stressed, we pump acid into our stomachs, which destroys the natural enzymes and the cycle starts again.

A multi anti-stress is a big help to overcome or at least minimise this and its impact on our system.

Over the years, I’ve spoken with literally dozens if not hundreds of champion athletes, especially swimmers, who I discovered were chronic asthma sufferers and who are now symptom free.

The fundamental here is the degree to which swimming works the lungs and effectively increases lung capacity, reducing the likelihood of asthma.

Swimming might not be as cathartic for some as running or working out in a gym, but it can be remarkably helpful as well as being a darn good workout, so I recommend swimming often, particularly to asthma sufferers.

If you suffer asthma, it is so important you keep a puffer handy in case of an emergency.  

And always, always, if in doubt or if you experience any discomfort or if any pain persists, then you must please go and see your local chemist or other local healthcare professional.

Note - We just want you to be healthier, seriously. But because of the way of the world today we’re obligated to say that the comments and opinions offered are not intended to substitute for medical advice from your own pharmacist or GP. These comments and opinions have been developed from experience and great success with patients over many, many years, but the information offered is of a general nature only and no one is invited to rely on any of it for any reason whatsoever without the express written permission of the author and of Covad Pty Limited.