"We have just completed our second month of using RespirActin® and I can't begin to tell you how our lives have changed."
- HL, Anderson, IN


"I am writing to thank you for your product RespirActin®. It's the best and fastest relief I have had for asthma and allergy-related chest congestion ever."
- J.O., Clearwater, FI


"I began using RespirActin® approximately three weeks ago and have found my back muscles have eased considerably. I am happy to say that I no longer use or need my puffer at all."
-K.M., Rockwood, ON


"I wish to congratulate you on a wonderful product. RespirActin® does what it claims and more. using RespirActin® as directed I began to breathe freely and I experienced stamina I had not known for years."
- G.E., Edmonton, AB


"We introduced our daughter to RespirActin® this year and have had enormous success. She is now able to perform daily activities without the aid of any prescribed medication. We feel much relief knowing she is taking natural herbal products versus drugs"
- Mr. & Mrs. WH, Hamilton ON


"This product worked wonders on my father. It's the first time in years we have seen him get out of a chair and go outside"
- D.W., Waterloo, ON

Asthma - You Can Control It Naturally
For the past 3-fall/winter seasons, I've been doing lectures, radio talk shows, and TV appearances across Canada to help people get started on natural asthma treatment and prevention programs. Ten percent of Canadians have asthma (12%+ in the metro Toronto area), and the costs are bankrupting their "socialist" national health care system. People are realizing that they can no longer rely on expensive drugs and emergency medical treatment, and must seek alternative treatments. To make matters worse, kids in North America are getting fatter, and linked to obesity is a higher incidence of childhood asthma. Although I've done this topic before, my experience has broadened, and I feel compelled to update the recommendations.

In the US, 15 million people have asthma, and the incidence has been increasing in the past four decades, more than doubling since 1980. Although a tendency to develop asthma can be genetic, environmental and dietary factors are the major causes for this increase. For example, the incidence of asthma, especially in children, is much greater in urban than in rural areas. In the country the air is cleaner, and children work and play outdoors more often. Even more striking is that asthma is a "new" disease. Like coronary artery disease, asthma was virtually unknown 100 years ago, and is still rare in many developing countries.

Asthma is best described as a chronic inflammatory condition rather than a respiratory disease. The origins of asthma have more in common with arthritis than they do emphysema or tuberculosis: asthma is a chronic inflammation of the airway instead of the joints. People with asthma have inflamed, hyper reactive airways, and produce excessive bronchial mucus. After repeated asthma attacks, the tissue that lines the airway becomes abnormally thickened and inflexible, and immune cells which cause or exacerbate inflammation proliferate in the airway wall.

Over the long term, asthma permanently damages the airway, making it more prone to inflammation and less functional. This is similar to the permanent damage done by continuing to exercise an injured joint (often by masking the pain with drugs) without resting or truly attempting to heal the injury.

Asthma is amenable to natural treatment in conjunction with appropriate medical care. Various triggers set the inflammatory process in motion: if your trigger threshold is set very low, then you'll have frequent, severe asthma attacks. Conversely, if you identify your inflammatory triggers and make use of natural products that raise your trigger threshold, you can reduce the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. Note that chronic yeast infections and hormone replacement therapy can initiate asthma in adults who did not have symptoms previously. Asthmatics using medications should not discontinue them abruptly. Phase in natural treatments and gradually improve your health, then work with your physician to safely reduce medication dosages or change prescriptions.

The Asthma-Allergy Link

Almost everyone with asthma has allergies, although the allergies may not be fully diagnosed. Allergic reactions are the most common triggers for asthma attacks. Asthma and allergy attacks can be triggered by histamine, which is produced when special connective tissue cells called mast cells are activated. Mast cells are activated by circulating immune system cells that sense danger from infection, toxins or irritants. We are all familiar with antihistamines, used to control the sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes caused by pollen during "hay fever" season.

Examples of allergens/irritants which are known to cause asthma are air pollution, tobacco smoke, pet dander, dust mites, pollen, cockroaches, perfumes, cleaning products, kerosene heaters, mold and mildew. Bakers, manicurists, hairdressers, painters; and construction, auto body, food processing and petroleum refinery workers have been shown to develop occupational asthma due to breathing chemical and food vapors, paint, flour and dust.

TOTAL HEALTH MAGAZINE MAY/JUNE 2001