ASTHMA & MODERN MEDICINE

ASTHMA--Description of the Ailment :- People who look apparently healthy suffer from Asthma & bronchitis all of a sudden because of exposure to cold wind, rain, dietetic irregularities & mental strain. Sometimes an attack of Asthma becomes so acute that the patient cannot sleep or walk or even talk. This creates an alarming situation among his family members and relations. Asthma can be caused by afflictions of the lungs, the heart, liver and the kidneys. In spite of phenomenal progress in the medical sciences, the treatment of Asthma has remained obscure except for some palliative symptomatic remedies. Powerful drugs have been discovered to dilate the bronchial tree and cause expectoration. But all their effects are temporary and the patient gets the attack regularly and repeatedly.Day by day the patient who, in the beginning, appears absolutely healthy becomes weak and emaciated. He loses his productive capacity and energy. With the progress of age, he develops bronchiectasis, a condition in which phlegm accumulates at the terminal point of the bronchial tree in the lungs. In some patients, the alveoli get dilated and remain as such thereby interfering with the exchange of carbon-dioxide and oxygen in the capillaries of the lungs. In order to get relief, the dose of medicine is increased and ultimately it is the adverse effects of these medicines rather than the disease itself which lands the patient in a serious condition.