It’s pretty scary when you’re coughing and wheezing and struggling to breathe. There’s a good chance you’ve heard that conventional medical treatments for asthma can increase your risk of heart disease, infection, weight gain and osteoporosis. But did you know that non-steroidal bronchodilators can double your risk of having a heart attack. I’d like to share with you some safe, natural treatments that can virtually eliminate your need for dangerous drugs.
1. The Mind-Body Connection: For many years it’s been known that there is a psychosomatic component to asthma. That doesn’t mean it’s all in your head, it means that one way of controlling strong emotions is to slow down your breathing and tighten up various muscles in your chest. Unfortunately this tightness can stay, weaken the immune system and can help bring on an asthma attack. When part of you wants to express emotion and another part of you wants to hold it back at the same time, it creates a tension chest and lungs. The conflict between these two powerful forces is called emotional armoring. For a year before I became a chiropractor I studied Reichian therapy. Dr. Wilhelm Reich used breathing and movement to release emotions. Since then, I’ve discovered that when you have emotional armoring in the lungs and chest, it can not only cause difficulty breathing but environmental allergies and asthma as well. I also developed a treatment called chakra or release of emotions or CARE which gently releases chronic emotional blockage in the lungs which can cause asthma and allergies to be chronic. Once the armor is released, you can breathe more freely, your heart will be more open and you’ll have much more energy. In addition to CARE, there are nutritional supplements for asthma that are very effective.
Diet and Nutritional supplements for asthma include: Vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, probiotics and the essential fatty acids in fish oil. Several studies have shown that increasing vitamin C intake may improve lung function in people with asthma and provide a protective effect against exercise-induced asthma. Avoid all commercial milk products. They are notorious for making asthma worse. 
Studies have suggested that children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for asthma. Vitamin D has been linked to immune system and lung development in utero, and studies show that higher vitamin D intake by pregnant mothers reduces asthma risk by as much as 40 percent in children 3 to 5 years old.
Much like vitamin D, higher vitamin E in intake has also been associated a lower frequency of allergic sensitivity. When you come in, I can arrange for you to have your vitamin D levels checked at a local lab. If you get your levels to about 60 ng/ml, there’s a strong likelihood -- especially if you combine it with exercise and balancing out your omega 3 and omega 6 fats that you will not experience the symptoms of asthma.
Healthy Intestinal Flora: Antibiotic use early in life has been linked to development of asthma. It is thought that antibiotics make one susceptible to development of asthma because they modify gut flora and thus the immune system. A very important test is the comprehensive stool specimen test. A DNA scan is done of your bowel movement. With this test, in addition to picking up bacterial infections, can determine which probiotics you’re low in and start supplementing them.
To review, come in to see if you have any emotional armoring in your lungs, thymus gland or in your brain. Get it cleared out as soon as possible and keep it cleared out. This often helps improve breathing immediately. Also, make arrangements to have your vitamin D and probiotic levels tested.
Chiropractic Adjustments: I can also check T3, the 3rd thoracic vertebra which houses the nerve supply to your lungs.
Allergy Testing: Attacks can be prevented by avoiding triggering factors such as allergens. Continuous exposure to airborne or food allergies can cause inflammation of the lungs and a weakening of the immune system. Build your immune system by coming in and having your allergies tested. Correcting the root cause of the asthma and allergies will help alleviate this problem tremendously.
Exercise – Get regular exercise (especially out in the fresh air) if you’re an asthmatic. Research has also shown that asthmatics who exercise tend to show improvement in: Maximum ventilation, oxygen uptake and heart
If you are suffering from asthma please call me for a free consultation at 510-558-0164 or e-mail me at drrettner@sbcglobal.net I would love a chance to relieve your symptoms and help you to achieve a happier, healthier life style. Thank you.
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Author's Bio: 

Dr. Raphael Rettner is a Palmer College of Chiropractic West graduate and has been in practice since 1982. Dr. Rettner is one of the most highly skilled and respected chiropractors in the United States. He has made numerous radio and T.V. appearances, is the author of Vegetarian Cooking for People with Allergies and has produced several DVDs including: End P.M.S Now!, The Ultimate Diet, and Twelve Causes of an Unstable Spine. He has studied both force and non-force techniques such as Advanced Biostructural Correction, Applied Kinesiology, Biophysics, Gonstead, S.O.T. and over a dozen others. With a combination of creative thinking and an insatiable quest for knowledge, Dr. Rettner has developed several new and exciting chiropractic techniques. Since 1994 he has taught these in his Applied Trigger Points seminar to chiropractors all across the United States, Australia, Canada and England.
You can reach Raphael at drrettner@sbcglobal.net