Aromatherapy and Asthma

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Aromatherapy and Asthma

 

Asthma is divided into two categories. Intrinsic asthma is when there

seems to be no identifiable cause and often starts later in life.

This tends to be chronic and long lasting. Extrinsic asthma, which

has a cause due to something that is usually inhaled, often

triggering an episodic attack. Exercise induced asthma falls under

this category and is usually brought on by strong exertion. Asthma is

a disorder, which affects the lungs. It causes repeated episodes of

wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early

morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and

avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove

the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse.

 

Asthma attacks occur when, the muscle around the bronchi go into

spasm. The bronchi narrow and breathing becomes difficult.

Inflammation can also swell the lining of the air tubes. Mucous may

increase blockage to the air tubes as well. Symptoms include

wheezing, breathlessness, tightness in the chest and coughing.

 

The reason that bronchospasms can be triggered by allergies is that

histamine, the chemical most responsible for allergy symptoms, seems

to play a role in asthma attacks as well. But many other things

besides histamine can trigger an attack: strenuous exercise,

cigarette smoke, respiratory infections, industrial chemicals,

aspirin, pet dander, indoor pollution and the sulfites added to many

foods.

 

Aromatherapy blends for asthma can be a wonderful adjunct to other

therapies. Aromatherapy can reduce inflammation and incidents of

asthma attacks. Helpful, are essential oils of bergamot, chamomile,

clary sage, eucalyptus, lavender, pine and rose are all beneficial

for asthma problems. These oils can ease pain, discomfort and

inflammation and increase mucus flow.

 

Clary Sage : contains several estrogen-like oils that, when blended

together, work for this condition. Blend these oils together for a

massage oil or add them to bath water.

 

Bergamot with Chamomile and Lavender are anti-inflammatory essential

oils and will help to ease symptoms. Blend these oils in a carrier

oil and massage into the chest.

 

Rose Absolute is an antispasmodic oil and can be used in steam

inhalation to calm attacks due to stress.

 

Pine Needle in the bath or in steam inhalation or in a diffuser, will

help reduce the incidence of attacks.

 

Utilize these blends of essential oils 3 times

 

 

 

Andrew Pacholyk, MS. L.Ac.

Peacefulmind.com

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