06 Mar Remedies For Child Asthma
I’m not a stranger to child asthma – I used to have it when I was a kid. And it sucked. Anytime I would get a simple head cold, it would go straight to my lungs. Vicks made me worse. I was doing breathing treatments throughout the day and night. I would take steroids on my bad days. Days would be missed from school. No sleep. Feeling miserable. I’ve been there. When I was younger, I didn’t know anything about remedies for child asthma, only my medications.
This isn’t a substitute for your medications, but something that you can change and improve and maybe lessen your severity! There’s only so much I can share in a blog and I would love to see you and your child in our practice if you’re looking for more one on one help, where we can dive in to root causes, nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, gut health, and just get to know you inside and out! There’s only so much I can share in a blog and I would love to see you and your child in our practice if you’re looking for more one on one help, or we can dive in to root causes, nutrient deficiencies, food sensitivities, gut health, and just get to know you inside and out! This is the kind of care most families need. Request your free appointment here!
Back to my personal experience! Then again, I didn’t live a “healthy lifestyle.” I ate the Standard American Diet. Treatments only consisted of pharmaceuticals. If I could go back in time and take what I know now and change things, that would be awesome. But, that’s impossible.
All I can do now, is teach you for your kids! Don’t lose hope if your child is suffering from asthma. There are things that you can do at home that are evidence-based to help your child naturally.
What Is Research Saying?
Diet plays a huge influence on our health – I mean, do I really have to tell you that? ? Analysis shows that a diet high in fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of childhood asthma. In a society that is bombarded with so much processed foods for kids, our kids are eating less fruits and vegetables than we would like. Their palates are wanting those artificial flavors from Doritos versus the goodness of vegetables and fruits.
Wheat is a big culprit with asthma too! Does your kids eat a lot wheat? Taking it out of their diet may be the right choice for your family if your children are suffering from asthma.
I love Dr. Hyman’s story about treating a patient that took many medications for asthma and went to many specialists and no one could find out what was wrong. He tested her and found she had a gluten intolerance, so severe it was celiac disease and when he cleaned up her diet, she was asthma free! You don’t have to have celiac disease for you to be gluten sensitive. Gluten, that is a protein in wheat, can be very inflammatory to us and trigger inflammation that shows up like asthma.
Since dairy is a popular allergen, I personally would take out dairy too. I’ve heard success stories with taking out dairy. While I couldn’t find many studies supporting this theory, I know that the conventional pasteurized dairy that is in our stores is problematic. A study showed that raw milk actually could help protect against asthma. Since raw dairy is usually straight from a cow without being heated and the cows are raised on a pasture eating the correct diet, health benefits can lie within this kind of milk. NOT the milk we buy in stores.
Children and adults who suffer from asthma also are studied to be deficient/have low magnesium levels. In a hospital children’s study, the group that took magnesium through an IV had better improvement with their asthma versus the group that just took the placebo (saline solution). They also were more likely to go home versus stay in the hospital. If there is a deficiency in magnesium, there can be elevated histamine, which can trigger allergy-asthma problems. Bronchial spasms increase with low magnesium levels, so increasing magnesium can help relieve this problem.
A study showed that Petasites hybridus (Butterbur root) was an effective and safe treatment for asthma.
The number, duration, and severity of asthma attacks decreased, while peak flow, forced expiratory volume (FEV1), and all measured symptoms improved during therapy. In addition, more than 40 percent of patients using asthma medications at baseline reduced intake of these medications by the end of the study.
Another study showed that butterbur complemented inhaled steroids by giving more anti-inflammatory properties in asthmatic patients. Turmeric is another food that has been shown to provide anti-inflammatory properties and even another good add-on therapy for asthmatic patients by decreasing airway blockage.
And of course, breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of your child getting asthma because of how breastfeeding helps regulate the immune system. A lower risk of asthma isn’t the only benefit from breastfeeding, so I also encourage moms to partner up with other breastfeeding moms and a lactation consultant to get all the help they can to successfully breastfeed for at least the first year. I couldn’t have done it without my mommy friends encouraging me along the way!
Steroids are a popular medication prescribed for asthma. Unfortunately, steroids can suppress your immune system – which in the long run is not recommended, since our immune system is our “fight” system within our body to keep us healthy against other pathogens. A study showed that supplementing with vitamin D3 can prevent the adverse reaction from steroids. This is great to do, if you do have to take steroids for any reason!
I like to explain that asthma is a symptom. A symptom from a bigger problem. You have to DIG for what is upsetting the balance of you or your child’s body. You can’t rely just on doctors to figure this out – you will always be the biggest proponent of you and your family’s health.
These are just some of the remedies for child asthma, but it can be a lot more and really boils down to bio individuality.
