Question:
I have a 19-yr old who is a severe asthmatic. She's been treated with
medication since she was four and pulses on predizone with increasing
frequency. She is now not responding to the predizone and her doctor says
one last resort is methatrexate, a drug normally used in cancer patients.
Does anyone have any experience using this drug to treat asthma.
Answer:
A woman at my work was using a nebulizer(sp?) daily until approximately 4
months ago. I suggested Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus) tea 3 times a day. Her
doctor had no problems with the use of herbs so she gave it a try. She is
now having to use a nebulizer at most once a week. The tea is one heaping
tablespoon steeped in one cup of boiling water for 5 minutes.
There are hundreds, if not thousands,of herbal treatments for asthma-- From
coltsfoot to Ephedra to wild yam, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Which one is best for
you would depend on What sort of asthma attacks you have and what brings them
on. In general, ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is a good bronchodilator, sort
of like albuterol, a catch-all for lung problems. If you'd like, I can discuss
some of the many herbs for asthma with you by email, if you'll tell me more
about -your- asthma. And I won't try to sell you anything.
If it's a nebulizer.... I'm impressed she was capable of going to work
at all. I have fairly severe asthma (I take three different
maintenance meds twice daily, and still need hits from my crisis
inhaler often) and have had one nebulizer treatment in my life, and a
friend of mine, hailed the Asthma Queen since she moved from Madison,
WI, to Seattle's humid rainforest-climate, has had only three or four.
