Researchers in Boston have disproved their own hypothesis that underuse of anti-inflammatory medications by asthmatics is related to overprescription of antibiotics. They found just the opposite:
Antibiotic use by asthmatic members of a health maintenance organization was directly associated with their level of consumption of asthma medication.
Given the dramatic global increases in asthma prevalence and microbial antibiotic resistance, the potential public-health impact of increased antibiotic use among subgroups of asthmatics is substantial. Heightened attention is warranted to define the appropriate role of antibiotics in the management of asthma.
Chest November, 2001;120:1485-1492
This is a particularly important topic as the number of people with asthma has skyrocketed over the last few decades.
We should all be very grateful for the technology that has developed these very powerful and effective agents that can temporarily reverse the constricted airways that can and actually does kill people every year as a result of uncontrolled asthma.
There is little question that these drugs have saved many lives.
The problem with these drugs is that they have also devastated many people's lives because they were used improperly.
These drugs are never the long-term solution for asthma and if one relies on them for a long-term solution they are invariably exposed to some sort of complication.
The most significant complications come from steroids that are used which can cause osteoporosis, cataracts, and impair growth of children. Other asthma drugs can increase the risk of heart disease.
Fortunately there are simple solutions to controlling asthma. The first, and most important, is optimizing one's eating plan. Usually the single most important offending food is milk, so all milk products (cheese, yogurt and ice cream) should be excluded.
There are a variety of effective bioenergetic balancing techniques that naturally oriented health professionals use to remove the allergy on a permanent basis. We provide a number of those treatments in our office and have been extraordinary results with most patients in controlling their asthma without the use of medications.
For acute asthma flare-ups I have found that intravenous magnesium is usually a safe, rapid and effective therapy that more often than not completely resolves the attack.