Serevent is a popular asthma inhaler that has worldwide sales close to $1 billion--it is a classic example of the Band-Aid approach that traditional medicine has to chronic illness. Find an expensive drug solution that drug companies can reap huge profits from and ignore the underlying foundational causes as no one makes much money on finding solutions for the cause.

This is because once you have solved the problem, you can’t continue to sell them the Band-Aid. The problem with this shortsighted and self-serving approach is that it ignores the central issue that humans will perpetually have health problems, as that is the nature of being alive.

It is just a matter of degree. Rather than having to struggle with life-threatening disabling challenges we could focus on fine-tuning the challenges of improving our emotional base and relationships so we can more fully express love in our lives and improve the quality of society in general.

With respect to asthma, simple changes can produce very profound improvements in your ability to breathe. Following the nutrition plan is one of the first steps--avoiding sugar, fruit juices, most grains and pasteurized dairy products is nearly always helpful. Replacing commercial milk with raw milk from grass-fed cows is also usually well tolerated and highly health promoting.

Making certain that enough long-chain omega-3 fats (DHA and EPA) from fish oils are included in your diet is also helpful. I find Carlson fish oil and cod liver oil to be one of the most superior brands available as it conforms to the strictest guidelines for purity and freshness. It is available in most health food stores, and Carlson fish oil and cod liver oil are also available in our online store.

It important to realize that spring is around the corner and for many of you that will mean that you will be getting regular sun exposure. If that is true for you it is important to switch from cod liver oil to fish oil at this time of year to prevent vitamin D toxicity.

The best way to know whether your vitamin D levels are within safe limits is to check your blood level of vitamin D, but I know it's likely that many of you will not be doing that. So be on the safe side and switch over to fish oil now unless you know for sure that your vitamin D levels still require some further boosting.

For more severe and resistant cases of asthma, allergy skin testing can be appropriate. Traditional allergy treatments are one of medicine’s safer and better approaches, however it has great room for improvement. My experience with conventional allergy testing, whether done through the blood (RAST) or skin is that only 20 percent to 30 percent of patients do exceptionally well with it. It is also highly inconvenient, as patients need to go to the doctor’s office every week for months or years. It clearly does not work for the majority of patients.

For the last 10 years, I have been using a much improved version of this testing, which is taught by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine, called Provocation Neutralization (PN). The success rate for this approach is in the 80 percent to 90 percent range and patients can receive their treatment at home.

Both systems are time consuming and expensive though. A course of PN treatment and testing can run about $1,000 to $2,000. However, this is less than many patients are already spending on one year’s worth of allergy medicines, and it is a long-term solution that will, in most cases, provide a permanent treatment. There are also virtually no side effects with the treatment, unlike with conventional drugs.

It is important to remember that the allergy desensitization program is in addition to, not a replacement for, a comprehensive nutritional approach.

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