Health News

Rehabilitation Homes for Chronic Asthma

Denver has one of the largest institutes in the United States operating under the principle of parentectomy in their asthma rehabilitation program. There are many excellent asthma institutes throughout the country, in most major cities. Some of them do not require the child to live in, but try to provide help on an out-patient basis. These centers may set up small groups for weekly classes in physical fitness. The age limit is usually from six to sixteen, with groups selected according to age and severity of asthma.

Breathing exercises taught in these centers seek to:

a.     Teach the best use of respiratory muscles, especially the diaphragmatic muscle

b.     Teach how to use exercises to stop an asthma attack in its early stages

ñ.     Improve on exercise capacity d. Develop self-confidence

Breathing exercises are not curative. They represent only one additional tool to use in the management of asthma.

The Asthmatic Child at Camp and School

There are many asthma camps located in pollen-free areas which have a resident physician and which will keep a child all summer so that his return home coincides with the end of the allergy season. While at camp, the child must have an identification card containing his name, his phone number, his address, the name and phone number of his doctor, his blood type, his Rh factor, a list of his allergens, the dates of his immunizations, and an emergency kit to use for insect and bee stings. If he has eczema as well, he should avoid sweating (by controlling physical exercise) and excessive exposure to sunlight. He should swim in the ocean, but not in chlorinated pools. His desensitization program should continue while he is at camp.

The school of the asthmatic child should be an allergy-free place in which he may develop his personality, increase his knowledge, and learn to accept his shortcomings. While going to school in winter, he must be properly dressed, not with coarse woolen clothes, but with soft woolens* or synthetics, all of which must be taken out of storage and aired a few days before wearing. On cold days, he must wear a mask while in the street to avoid breathing frigid air. If riding a bus, he should sit near the driver where the fumes are less prevalent. In class, he should not erase blackboards or do cleaning chores that stir up dust or be near flowers, pets, or plants. His lunch should be prepared at home so he may avoid the foods to which he is allergic.

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One enzyme system, involved in detoxification, was found to be defective in

90 per cent of patients with chemical sensitivity. But that same enzyme system is defective in 20 per cent of normal, healthy people. This suggests that there is some other deficiency as well in those with chemical sensitivity – perhaps a defect in another enzyme. But it also suggests that many ‘normal, healthy’ people are not as immune from everyday chemicals as they might appear to be. One in five apparently has a potential problem, considering this one enzyme system alone.

Many of the symptoms shown by food-intolerant and chemical-sensitive patients are symptoms that we all suffer from at times – headaches, tiredness and indigestion for example. Which is why some doctors feel that such patients are ‘not really ill’, simply over-reacting to everyday symptoms. But to look at the problem from another angle, none of us lives in an environment free from synthetic chemicals – if we did, would we still suffer from those ‘everyday symptoms’ such as headaches?

Sceptics will argue that the chemicals we are exposed to have all been tested for safety, and should have no ill-effects at the concentrations we encounter. But the fact is that such tests are done on single chemicals, never on mixtures. So any ‘cocktail effects’ will have gone unnoticed in such tests. Given the mixture of 200 or more chemicals that we may encounter everyday, cocktail effects could be very important. It is also the case that the tests use animals such as rats, not human beings. How does a rat tell the experimenter that it has a headache or feels a bit off-colour? Quite apart from these objections, there are many other doubts about the effectiveness of safety testing.

Perhaps the chemical-sensitive patient is like the miner’s canary, carried along in a cage to detect dangerous accumulations of gas in the pit. This may sound alarmist to some people, especially those in the chemical industry who have a large financial stake in the continuing use of their products, but there is worrying evidence that we are being made ill by the chemicals around us. One study of Parkinson’s disease, an incurable nervous condition, showed that the use of garden pesticides was associated with a higher incidence of the disease. Another study, carried out in America, showed that the children of parents who used pesticide sprays were more likely to suffer from leukemia. Yet these products are supposedly ‘safe’ for domestic use. The recent volte-face by the British government on the dangers of pesticide residues raises doubts about official assurances on other safety matters.

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Relaxation techniques, a calming presence or warm liquids are certainly more natural treatments than theophylline, a commonly used bronchodilator and a cornerstone of the medical management of acute, chronic and disabling asthma. Theophylline drugs are methylxanthines – compounds related to the chemicals caffeine and theobromine (found in coffee, chocolate, tea and other substances). Because some people -particularly children – are very sensitive to methylxanthines, doses of theophylline must be very carefully adjusted to individual tolerance. Otherwise, the drug makes you feel like you just drank thirty cups of coffee.

Cromolyn sodium is another drug for bronchospasms, but it’s primarily used to help the many asthmatics who experience tightness and wheezing after exercise. When inhaled, cromolyn sodium desensitizes the tissues in the lungs and airways, making them impervious to the stress of exercise. As allergy drugs go, cromolyn sodium seems to be one of the safest. Taking cromolyn sodium can occasionally cause throat irritation, hoarseness, coughing – even wheezing (the last thing an asthmatic needs).

Studies have shown that many natural methods can also prevent exercise-induced attacks, thereby reducing the need for cromolyn sodium. Among them are: taking vitamin C; wearing a face mask; choosing the right type of exercise; and doing a pre-exercise warm-up. Let’s look at them one by one.

Two scientists at Yale University discovered vitamin C’s ability to relieve exercise-induced bronchospasms. Several of their patients were pretreated with 500 milligrams of vitamin Ñ before an exercise test. The vitamin Ñ significantly lessened the severity of the bronchospasms following exercise (Chest).

Dr E. Neil Schachter, one of the investigators, told us, ‘Vitamin Ñ has the potential to help asthmatics, without the unpleasant or dangerous side effects of drugs.’

The reason that exercise throws an asthmatic’s lungs into spasm may be water loss from the air passages, breathing in pollen or other allergens, or cold air that shocks sensitive airways (or all three). A light, cotton face mask may help reduce those effects. Scientists at the National Asthma Center in Denver found that after exercising for six minutes wearing a face mask, ten asthmatic youngsters experienced much less asthma – or none at all. The researchers conclude that a ‘simple face mask may be an inexpensive, [non-drug] alternative for the alleviation of exercise-induced asthma’ and may also be practical for asthmatic runners and skiers (Journal of the American Medical Association).

Wearing a scarf over the mouth before going outside, especially in winter, accomplishes the same thing. And breathing through your nose, instead of your mouth, also helps to warm and filter air before it reaches the airways, according to doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology).

The type of sport an asthmatic engages in may influence how well he or she tolerates exertion. Sports that involve brief spurts of activity, separated by rest intervals, are far less likely to cause an attack than is continuous exertion. An asthmatic who plays baseball or soccer, for instance, is less apt to suffer asthma than one who runs the mile, and is therefore less likely to need cromolyn sodium or other asthma medication. Swimming, too, is ideal for asthmatics, provided the water isn’t too cold and proper rest breaks are taken.

Deep-breathing and warm-up exercises also help asthmatics to handle exercise without stress. The American Lung Association recommends the following warm-up routine for kids with asthma. (Adults can benefit, too.)

1. Lie down and do twelve deep-breathing exercises (as described earlier in this chapter).

2. Bend your knees and bicycle slowly for a minute or so. Stand up.

3. Stretch each arm straight above your head, six times.

4. Touch your toes six times.

5. Put your hands on your head and twist your trunk from side to side, six times.

6. Do twelve jumping jacks.

Then go out and enjoy yourself!

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A schizophrenic doesn’t have a split personality – he or she has no personality at all. Schizophrenics usually think and perceive things unrealistically. They have little social life and few outside interests. Quite often, they feel that someone or something is directing their actions. The closest a schizophrenic comes to having a ‘split’ personality is that he or she tends to act unpredictably, doing odd things for no rational reason.

A touch of schizophrenia may produce a great artist like Vincent van Gogh. Fully-fledged schizophrenia, on the other hand, can produce a deranged killer like Son of Sam. (Both van Gogh and David Berkowitz are considered to have been schizophrenic.) But most schizophrenics are more likely to be unexceptional people who act according to a bizarre set of rules they make up (and break) as they go along.

Psychiatrists say that schizophrenia is the most common type of psychosis. But few schizophrenics ever recover from the disorder. Drugs can help the individual to think rationally, but they produce serious side effects when used for months or years.

Schizophrenia is like cancer in that there are not only various kinds of the disease but various causes, most of which are not clearly understood. Besides genetic and psychological factors, some experts have tied schizophrenia to viruses, toxins in the air and water, and nutritional deficiencies. And one school of thought holds that allergies to foods or inhalants may be responsible in some cases.

A wheat-schizophrenia link was first suspected as a result of studies done by Dr F. Ñ Dohan, in Philadelphia. Dr Dohan found that when schizophrenics who had coeliac disease (an inability to absorb the gluten protein in wheat and other cereal grains) ate a gluten-free diet, their schizophrenia began to subside. They got much worse when they once again ate wheat or other gluten-containing cereals [rye, oats, rice or barley].

Later studies, by Man Singh, of Memphis, Tennessee, showed that schizophrenics improved when placed on a diet free of both wheat and milk. Considering that milk frequently aggravates coeliac disease, that discovery meshes well with the gluten-intolerance observation.

James R. Rice and associates report a schizophrenic who had been hospitalized for more than thirteen years, but who improved substantially on an eight-week gluten-free and milk-free diet, after which she was discharged. Another woman, hospitalized with schizophrenia for fourteen years, improved considerably on a gluten-free and milk-free diet, and lapsed back into schizophrenia when she once again ate gluten.

Most recently, A. Arthur Sugerman, of Belle Mead, New Jersey, found that 80 per cent of the schizophrenics he tested were allergic to eggs.

Drinking too much caffeine, it seems, can accentuate schizophrenic behavior. One woman, diagnosed as schizophrenic, noted that she felt very strange and paranoid if she drank more than four or five cups of coffee a day. The effect was so dramatic that she decided to do without coffee altogether, and felt much better.

Airborne allergens can add to the problem. William Philpott, a psychiatrist who’s probably done more research on the link between allergy and emotional illness than anyone else, tells of several individuals whose schizophrenia was aggravated by fumes of natural gas, cigarette smoke, car exhaust or other pollutants.

‘Approximately one-third of my patients react to various chemicals common to our environment,’ says Dr Philpott. Reducing their exposure to chemicals alleviates their schizophrenia, reports Dr Philpott (Brain Allergies: The Psycho-Nutrient Connection).

Nearly all of us eat wheat or eggs or drink milk, though. Most adults drink coffee or other caffeine-containing beverages. And we all breathe fumes and odours. Yet few of us are schizophrenic. Evidently, those items have a disorienting effect on certain people predisposed to schizophrenia – possibly in the form of allergic reactions. You might think of allergy-induced schizophrenia as ‘hives of the brain’.

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For years, the only known treatment for hyperactive behavior was daily doses of Ritalin, an amphetamine-like drug that suppresses hyperactivity. Many parents, of course, were uneasy about putting their children on a drug. But short of calling in an exorcist, parents were given no other choice. Even then, Ritalin worked in only 50 per cent of the children for whom it was prescribed. And while behavior improved, concentration and learning skills did not.

Ten years ago, real hope emerged. The late Dr Benjamin Feingold, an allergist and pediatrician in San Francisco, proposed that hyperactive behavior is caused primarily by food additives. (He also suspected aspirin-related compounds known as salicylates, found in various fruits.) Placing a hyperactive child on a diet free of those additives and compounds, said Dr Feingold, produced a dramatic improvement in behavior in 50 per cent of the children treated. Dr Feingold published his dietary theory and programme in two popular books, Why Your Child Is Hyperactive (Random House) and The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children (Random House).

Parents of hundreds of thousands of hyperactive children, eager for an alternative to Ritalin, put their children on the diet. And happily, many children improved. Yet in other children there was no change. Because the Feingold diet worked for some children – but not others – critics began to wonder if there was any real basis to the claims that the Feingold diet was a success. And many pediatricians flatly rejected the notion of any link between diet and hyperactivity. (Some still do.) Other pediatricians, however, believe that the Feingold diet sometimes fails because it doesn’t consider all possible triggers. It’s true that food colouring, flavouring and preservatives (such as BHA and BHT) can cause hyperactivity. But, say these doctors, so can sugar, milk, wheat – or any other food, for that matter. And they point out that hyperactive behavior was first described in medical journals over 100 years ago – long before artificial additives became standard food ingredients.

These doctors have found that once the offending food or food ingredients are identified, diet therapy for hyperactivity works quite well – in almost all cases. One of those pediatricians is Dr William G. Crook, of Jackson, Tennessee.

‘In my opinion,’ says Dr Crook, ‘too much of the controversy over diet and hyperactivity has revolved around the food colors, dyes and additives, rather than taking a broader look at the child’s diet and considering the possibility that the hyperactivity may be related to adverse or allergic reactions to other common foods, including sugar, milk, corn, wheat, eggs, chocolate and citrus fruits.

‘In my experience and in the experience of many other physicians who have placed their patients on properly designed and carefully executed elimination diets, most hyperactive allergic children will improve within five to seven days after being placed on such a diet. However, in approximately 20 per cent of my patients, the symptoms do not improve significantly until the offending food or foods are avoided for eight to fourteen days.

And occasionally, a three-week period of avoidance is required’ {Pediatrics.)

Whether your child responds sooner or later may depend on age. Over the years, Dr Feingold observed that younger children seemed to respond much sooner than older children and teenagers, probably because older children have been exposed to chemicals longer. Either way, parents who see their little hellions transformed into cherubic darlings in a matter of days feel their prayers have been answered at last.

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For the first four or five months of life, babies do little more than eat, sleep and cry. If the crying goes beyond occasional fussiness to hours of constant shrieking, parents become frustrated. And if a clean nappy, a warm breast or bottle and lots of cuddling fail to silence the baby’s cries, parents become frightened – and probably ask their doctor for help. In most cases, the doctor says the baby has colic. In other words large amounts of gas are building up in the baby’s intestines, causing lots of discomfort and the constant crying.

Allergy to milk is the most common cause of colic. In bottle-fed infants, the treatment is simple and obvious: change from a milk-based formula to a soya-based or other type of milk-free formula.

But occasionally, even a breastfed infant will get colic.

‘The colicky breast-fed infant is also allergic to milk,’ says Del Stigler, a pediatrician and allergist in Denver. ‘Not to the mother’s milk, though, but to the cow’s milk the mother is drinking. Particles of cow’s milk reach the infant through the breast milk and cause colic. Take the mother off cow’s milk and the baby will be well in two or three days.’

Many parents have been delighted to discover that a milk-free diet for Mum wipes out colic for baby. In a study by Swedish doctors, eighteen mothers of colicky babies were put on a milk-free diet. ‘Colic promptly disappeared in thirteen of the infants,’ say the researchers. ‘We conclude that infantile colic in breastfed infants can be caused by cow’s milk consumption by the mother, and we suggest a diet free of cow’s milk for the mother’. (Lancet.)

Any hard-to-digest foods that a nursing mother eats or drinks are also apt to pass through her breast milk to the baby and cause colic. So in addition to suggesting a milk-free diet to nursing mothers, many pediatricians recommend that they avoid ‘gassy’ foods such as beans, beer, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carbonated beverages, champagne, lentils and mushrooms, plus any spices that seem to cause irritability in the breastfed baby.

If colic persists, the next step is to eliminate cereals or any other solid foods that the baby is eating. Most foods require several enzymes for digestion. A young baby’s body needs time to develop all the enzymes required to digest more complex food. If you give a baby solid food before his stomach and intestines are equipped to handle it, he’ll get gas. After a couple of months of freedom from colic, you can reintroduce solid foods – one at a time and several days apart – to test the baby’s tolerance.

Doctors sometimes also suggest that parents of a colicky baby temporarily withhold the baby’s vitamin supplements, to see if sugars or additives in those products could be the problem.

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Some people, of course, have so many allergies or are so highly sensitive that in spite of all their efforts to ‘buck up’, they still have days – or weeks – when they feel sorry for themselves. For them Dr Bell has found that keeping a personal journal can help put things in perspective.

‘Keeping a journal can be very helpful and supportive, like a sympathetic friend with whom you can talk everything out. I’ve used it myself,’ says Dr Bell, who has some allergies. ‘By a journal, I don’t mean a documentation of every symptom you have, although certainly symptoms are part of it. But by writing down how you’re feeling amidst the events that are swirling around you, you have something to which to return later, to look at yourself when you were last feeling down, when it seems there was no sky above. Then read the next entries and see how you got out of it. And notice how quickly you got better. Because during a depressed period, you may feel like you’re always sick, when in fact reactions may last only a few hours or less.

‘You can also refer to your journal when you can’t remember the last time you felt well,’ adds Dr Bell. ‘It corrects the kind of negative thinking that depressed people fall into, the all-or-nothing view of things. It reminds you that you felt good once, and you’ll feel good again.’

Whatever psychological resources you choose – imagery, meditation, exercise, a journal – all help you enjoy life in spite of your allergies. You may even find yourself laughing at some of the absurd problems created by allergies.

‘When a person begins to look at everything as a threat to their health, they lose their sense of humour. And a sense of humour is very important,’ says Dr Bell. ‘I really believe in laughter as a way of treatment.’

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