What Causes Asthma?
Posted: Saturday, January 29, 2011
by Desiree Lotz
Helping Hands Life Improvement Center, USA, Inc
Anyone who has suffered from asthma or watched someone suffering from it knows how frightening this condition can be. You feel like you’re going to die because you can’t breathe or your breathing is impaired and that’s very scary.
What happens is that the bronchial tubes – these tubes, or airways, let air in and out of your lungs, so you can breathe - go into spasm so the air can’t move in and out freely. This can be caused by environmental factors such as pollen, chemicals or other toxins, certain foods that create an allergic reaction or just plain emotional stress.
Histamine is the chemical (neuro-transmitter) your body produces when you're having an allergic reaction. Although there is always some histamine in your body, a mosquito bite, for example, causes your body to release more histamine in the area of the bite, making your skin red and itchy.
One of the side effects of too much histamine in someone suffering from asthma is tightening of the bronchial tubes, which go into spasm and leads to symptoms like wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath which leads to rapid breathing, difficulty exhaling, anxiety and dehydration.
The more the person can’t breathe, the more stressed they get, the worse the situation gets. Many people use some or other medication or the little pump to alleviate the reaction. The only problem with that is that over time the condition worsens as the real source of the problem is not being addressed.
MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCIES
Magnesium, being a bronchodilator and an antihistamine, naturally reduces the histamine levels in the body creating a calming effect on the muscles of the bronchial tubes and the rest of the body.
Many asthma drugs actually deplete the magnesium stores in the body, worsening the problem. They might be necessary to save a life on an immediate basis but the most important thing is to eliminate the underlying cause of the asthma and replace the magnesium deficiencies which are worsened by the drugs themselves.
CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM PARTNERSHIP
It is important to understand that your body needs both calcium and magnesium to make the nervous system function properly and to build a healthy immune system.
If you take magnesium without the calcium, your body will draw calcium from your bones and/or teeth to balance up with the magnesium. If you’re too low on calcium, then your body won’t be able to use the magnesium you’re taking as it needs the calcium too.
OTHER DEFICIENCIES
Calcium and magnesium are important for asthmatics but there are other nutrients also vitally important. For example, most people know that vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium into the blood stream but you also need the vitamin F (essential fats) so the calcium can be pulled into your tissues.
Just as calcium and magnesium need to be in a 2:1 ratio with each other so do vitamins D and F need to be in balance. These two oils are very important as they are anti-inflammatory and they line your bronchial tubes and help them "wash" the histamines away so the allergic reaction is diminished.
You also need vitamin C and your other vitamins such as B complex and vitamin E. This is the time to make sure you’re getting everything you need as it will help your body handle the histamine onslaught and build your immune system.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Desiree, haven't seen you around for ages! Asthma must be so terrifying. Sometimes when I get stressed it gets a bit hard to breathe and that's frightening enough. Thanks for the info.
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