Asthma, a health condition that causes inconvenience in breathing can be effectively controlled by use of herbal remedies. Corticosteroids are the most commonly used drugs to control the symptoms of asthma. But long term usage of corticosteroids is associated with side effects like nausea, vomiting, headaches, loss of senses, liver damage and extreme fatigue. Thus, the risky side effects of corticosteroids are forcing most of them to search for medicines with least or zero side effects. If you are an asthma patient in search of such miracle medicines, your search ends here. Here is a list of herbal remedies for treating asthma.

• A flower that is most widely used for treating asthma is roman chamomile. It is the inhalation of the soothing steam of the flower that is generated by boiling of flowers in the water.

• Herb oil that relieves the congestion problem is eucalyptus oil. Inhalation of the oil has profound effect in relieving the symptoms of asthma.

• Herbal remedies that are well known to reduce the problems of allergic infection include the chamomile tea, green tea, mullein oil, nettle and ginger. This generally serves the purpose of antihistamines.

• To relieve nasal congestion, elderberry herb, hyssop herb, ephedra are widely used.

• To those with dry cough, licorice root helps to increase mucus production.

• Lobelia tincture or capsules help to not only relieve the symptoms of asthma by opening the air passages, but also heal the damaged bronchial passages.

Most of the above herbs are directed towards the respiratory system. Other body systems that also needs to be taken care of to gain control over asthma include the nervous system, the adrenal glands and the most important is the immune system.

Allopathic medicines make use of corticosteroids to control the symptoms of asthma. However, these corticosteroids are produced internally by adrenal glands. Hence, by working on these adrenal glands you can prevent the use of corticosteroids. Herbs that have stimulating effect on adrenal glands include Yerba Mate. This not only stimulates the release of corticosteroids but also unblocks the air passages.

Nervous system plays a great role in cause of symptoms of cold, cough and asthma. Ephedra which contains ephedrine and pseudoephedrine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to relieve the symptoms of asthma. But the drug should not be used by patients with high blood pressure and heart related problems.

Herbs that reduce the dependency of inhalers are skunk cabbage rhizome, grindelia and cherry bark. These are antispasmodic and have dilating effect on bronchioles just like the bronchial dilators which are propelled through the inhalers. Regular use of these herbs helps to forget your inhaler episodes in about two to four months.

Apart from the use of the herbal remedies to cure the symptoms of asthma, change in lifestyle like those of the eating habits and cleanliness helps to prevent asthma attacks in allergic patients. If cigarette smoking is the main cause of your asthma problems, you can gain control over smoking by use of the herb lobelia. It is advisable to consume a drug at low doses as it induces vomiting at higher doses.

Mark Perry

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