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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / February 2007Dr. Greenfield Sluder on asthma
Dr. G.Sluder 1865-1928 of St. Louis was a renowned ENT specialist with the view, shared by some others, on asthma that it is caused by a nose condition. He did not develop any treatment for asthma however. If in fact some nose condition causes asthma, then it is only logical to assume that a functionally impaired nose would make itself felt in some aspects of breathing without experimenting until some damage to the lungs is caused. This would seem to be the case in as far as mouth breathing with the nose held (i.e. with the nose completely out of action) leads to an inability to take a deep upper chest breath as on extreme exertion such as with a "try your strength machine" on a fairground. With the nose held the shoulders cannot be drawn upwards in the normal way. Since Dr. Sluder did not limit his assertion about nose function and asthma to a particular group of persons, it is logical to suppose that the inhibition of taking a deep breath with the shoulders pulled upwards by nose holding would not be limited to certain persons either. In view of the particular configuration of the chest during taking an extreme deep breath it also seems reasonable to suppose that such a maneuver also widens airways in the lungs for a sort of supercharging action. This might explain asthma: the asthmatic cannot open up his airways like a healthy person and fails the diagnostic challenge with a substance causing constriction, because he cannot naturally re-widen the bronchi etc. This is a common finding in research. Since, if this surmise is in fact correct, asthma would be a failure of muscle coordination, treatment might be more locally based on breath therapy and not on drugs acting on the lungs, whose inflation is subject to control by the nose, according to Dr. Sluder. Respectfully submitted, Richard Friedel On Feb 3, 10:38?am, "Richard Friedel" <s3e0...@mailin.lrz-muenchen.de> wrote: I appreciate this, Richard Friedel. It looks like yet another variation on the model of asthma that involves a neuro-muscular imbalance. I'm 46, was first diagnosed with asthma around age 10, and had major attacks until around age 17, when they mysteriously waned until I was about 30, and they came back w/a vengeance. Eventually I started on Pulmicort, and it's been a miracle drug for me. It allowed me to feel somewhat "normal." But more than 3/4 of the time I get a cold or flu it ends up badly, with some intransigent upper-respiratory infection that invariably gets knocked out by antibiotics. OKAY, but: when I started learning yogic breathing techniques I noticed my breathing got even better. But only when I was "healthy." The etiology of asthma seems like a hard problem to me. As a layman, I've read a lot. Because it's more syndrome-ish I feel it's just wrong to attack any and every approach that diverts from the allopathic medical model (treat symptoms w/a beta agonist, but keep symptoms under control w/an inhlaled corticosteroid seems far and away the main model in the US) should receive open yet critical and educated minds. (Save for those "If you just click on our link here and buy our herbs you'll be CURED!!!" crapola, of course. There are many variations of this, and frankly I find them crass and callous.) Buteyko has been attacked quite a lot here over the years, but there's probably something to it, depending on the individual asthamatic. I have not learned the Buteyko method, but a variety of breathing techniques drawn from the 3000 yr old yoga tradition HAS helped me, and I can only speak for myself. It has not "cured" me, and I wd always be skeptical of cure claims. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary data and "proof." I still take my Pulmicort. Finally: what I'm getting at here is that asthmatics ought not be passive. Learn about the latest theories as to why asthma seems to be on the rise worldwide. Discuss the ideas. Some ideas seem far more potent than others, but few ideas/approaches qualify as 99% right or 0% wrong. Be open-minded about your triggers. Deep down you may not desire to acknowledge that perhaps for you, emotions may be a trigger for you. Just as an example... -michael > On Feb 3, 10:38?am, "Richard Friedel" <s3e0...@mailin.lrz-muenchen.de> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > -michael Hi Michael, A tenet of all asthma as discussed here or in altmed circles is that lung inflation and deflation has got to be based on fluid mechanics as applied to air conditioning and pneumatic power systems. At least according to generally available accounts in spirometry the nose is clipped so that "total lung capacity" (tlc) has a special meaning. "Common sense" tells us that as regards getting air into and out of the lungs during mouth breathing holding the nose would not make any difference. The nose is supposed only to "humidify, warm and filter" the inhaled air so that while breathing in humid, warmed and filtered air we could (according to medical theory) exert ourselves with the nose stuffed up but otherwise in a health condition. This would be a reason to believe that asthma can be culture bound. The fact that there is more asthma in educated societies than in those ignorant of western ideas on breathing based on fluid mechanics would seem to support this notion. If basic ideas on breathing in the west are heavily flawed or debunked, then logically "asthma" might be more readily cured than people in the west presently believe. Nose treatment can be given a high priority for asthma, see hhttp://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2000/10_00/muller.htm. However this would also speak in favor of part of yoga treatment of asthma, namely irrigating the nose. One German health insurance outfit (GEZ) distributes nasal irrigation cans for free, for example, to clear pollen from the nose, but (unfortunately) itstops short of saying this would be asthma treatment. As you say yourself being informed about all details of asthma is important. Maybe you could reach the point of getting some philosophical asthma specialist to treat you on the basis that Sluder was right and that his opinion, as a well known physician, that by implication, asthma does not exist in the sense most people believe, should be honored. If you care to look at the 1 hour Ramdev video (http:// video.google.com/videoplay? docid=-386913693756370208&q=ramdev&hl=en),l you will see that in Bhastrika Ramdev and co-trainers are breathing slowly with emphasis on upper chest expansion and saying that this is a cure for asthma. Compare this with the usual asthma viewpoint (http:// www.doctorsecrets.com/your-medicine/symptoms-of-an-asthma-attack.html) on an attack. Is it really ethical to say that theoretically (the tactical aspect is of course different in a real ER situation) it would not be a good idea to study what the victim in the attack is doing wrong, absent organic nose damage? Would not referral to a competent yoga specialist not be a medical and ethical option for all docs who are not medication hardliners? Regards, Richard Friedel |
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