Hello Readers!

Today I am here to write a little about adult asthma from the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

For Western Medicine, asthma is characterized by a partial obstruction of airflow in the bronchial tree. This is caused by a temporary narrowing of the bronchi due to muscle spasm, followed by mucosa edema. This narrowing can happen for an unknown cause or because of a reaction to allergens.

For Chinese Medicine, asthma can happen by:

• Invasion of Cold Wind or Wind Heat
• Excessive consumption of milk and dairy products
• Weak constitution
• Emotional Stress

It is common to see people with asthma in childhood, but when asthma appears in adulthood, we need to redouble our attention. This fact occurs, most of the times by the energetic affection of the Kidney or the Liver, besides of course, the Lung.

When an adult abuses of physical activity or work, eats poorly, gets too stressed or abuses of sexual activity, he seriously impairs the energy of the Kidneys, which weak, will consume the energy of the Lung, resulting in asthma.

Thus, it is important that the adult rebalances daily life habits and some acupuncture points may be useful to alleviate crises, such as: KI-3, KI-25, KI-27, CV-4 and GV-4. In auriculotherapy, the Kidney point and Ping Chuan points are indicated.

It is recommended that neutral foods for the Water Element be placed in the Diet, such as egg yolk, corn, pork, raspberry, black sesame, etc. The table of foods you can find at:

https://www.facilitatingacupuncture.com/therapeutic-food-tables/

The Liver can cause asthma in adults directly due to uncontrolled stress. When there is Stagnation of Liver Qi or Blood, or Liver Fire, there may be a blood or Qi rebellion towards the chest, against dominating the Lung and causing shortness of breath.

In this case, the crises are abrupt and must be controlled through the points that remove the Heat or Stagnation of Liver Qi / Blood, such as LR-2, LR-3, LR-5, LR-8, LR14.

In auriculotherapy the Liver Yang point is recommended in these cases, as well as Ping Chuan points. Fresh and neutral foods for the Wood Element should be consumed, such as: apple, pear, blackberry, dates, strawberry, saffron, carrot, etc.

The Lung should always be strengthened and balanced. Points like: BL-13, BL-42, LU-7 and Lu9 are always a good choice.

Adult asthma, for the most part, has effective control with Acupuncture, Auriculotherapy and Chinese Therapeutic Food, but the patient must be aware of other possible Lung disorders. A visit to the medical professional is recommended for a check up at least once a year 🙂

I hope you enjoyed.

A big hug.

Profa. Fernanda Mara