My grandmother was born in 1892, and she suffered with asthma all her life. She, of course, didn’t have the luxuries afforded us by modern medicine, but she managed her symptoms well with herbs, dietary, environmental changes, and her home remedies. Grandma often took me on trips to the fields, meadows, and into the woods or along the riverside to collect herbs. Now I regret that I did not continue learning from her, after I was twelve or so. Back then—just like any teenager—I thought I was smarter and the “old medicine” was just that, old.
In nursing school and later when I studied Alternative Medicine, I learned what I could have learned from Grandma, how to ease the constriction and tightening of the muscles surrounding the airways, inflammation, soreness, swelling, and irritation of the airways in the lungs. Although there is no cure for asthma, the symptoms can be managed with medications, dietary changes, and prevention with alternative methods and the elimination of environmental triggers.
