Unconventional therapy in asthma

Conclusion

Every city must have a population of individuals who support or practice alternative medical care (1). The numerous techniques vary from crystal therapy to pyramid power at the one extreme to harmless dietary fads and physical maneuvers, such as enemas (perhaps supplemented with oxygen) at the other extreme. In between, even in sophisticated Western societies, fortune tellers, astronomers, tarot card readers, exercisers and exorcisers, nutritionists, and stress reducers all ply their trades. Many patients with mild asthma or imagined asthma undoubtedly find solace if not cure at the hands of these practitioners of alternative and complementary health care. It is perhaps not so relevant to ask if such techniques can help as it is to ask why patients seek out such care when orthodox therapy is so successful. We may share the same concern expressed in a recent article inThorax that examined these alternative practices, in which it was asked: “Should we as a profession protest about treatments that have not been tested in any scientific way being offered (at a cost) to patients?” (7). However, it is important to recollect that orthodox medicine has its own doubts about the safety of β-adrenergics, the value of theophylline, the effectiveness of cromolyn, the role of steroids and the acceptability of immunotherapy. Thus, scientific therapy alone will not satisfy all asthmatics, and it is inevitable that individual patients will make their choices regarding whether to accept the therapy of a pulmonologist, an allergist, or one of a host of other health purveyors who can claim that they help patients with asthma. Perhaps we need to give more attention to the passions that inflame the minds of asthmatics, rather than striving to correct the cytoneurochemical events that cause inflammation in the lungs. It is clear that asthma, as much as or more than most other chronic diseases, may respond to Osler’s prescription of “time, in divided doses”. (38). Thus, it is not surprising that unorthodox remedies have such a large following among patients with true asthma and pseudoasthma, and that prolonged courses of scientifically inappropriate therapies can lead to excellent outcomes.