BRONCHIAL ASTHMA IS A DISORDER OF INCREASED RESPONSIVENESS OF THE TRACHEOBRONCHIAL TREE TO VARIOUS STIMULI, RESULTING IN WIDE SPEAD SPASMODIC NARROWING OF THE AIR PASSAGES, WHICH MAY BE RELIEVED SPONTANEOUSLY OR BY THERAPY. ASTHMA IS AN EPISOTIC DISEASE MANIFESTED CLINICALLY BY PAROXYSMS OF DYSPNOEA, COUGH AND WHEEZING. HOWEVER, A SEVERE AND UNREMITTING FORM OF THE DISEASE TERMED ‘STATUS ASTHMATICUS’ MAY PROVE FATAL.

TWO MAJOR TYPES OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA ARE RECOGNIZED: EXTRINSIC [ALLERGIC OR REAGIN-MEDIATED] AND INTRINSIC [IDIOPATHIC] OR PRECIPITATED BY VARIOUS FACTORS eg. RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS, ASPIRIN  AND OTHERS.

ATOPIC [ALLERGY] BRONCHIAL ASTHMA, THE MOST COMMON TYPE, IS TRIGGERED BY ENVIRONMENTAL ANTIGENS [DUSTS, POLLENS, FOOD etc], OFTEN WITH A POSITIVE FAMILY HISTORY OF ATOPY / ALLERGY. IT IS ALWAYS Ig E – MEDIATED HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTION. THIS ATOPIC HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTION IS HAVING AN ACUTE PHASE WITH BINDINGS OF ANTIGEN BY Ig E – COATED MAST CELLS CAUSING RELEASE OF PRIMARY MEDIATORS [HISTAMINE, CHEMOTACTIC FACTORS etc] AND SECONDARY MEDIATORS [LEUKOTRIENES, PROSTAGLANDINES, CYTOKINES, NEUROPEPTIDES etc]. THESE ACUTE PHASE MEDIAORS RESULT IN BRONCHOSPASM, EDEMA, MUCUS SECRETION, AND RECRUITMENT OF LEUCOCYTES.AN ENSUING LATE-PHASE REACTION MEDIATED IS BY RECRUITED LEUKOCYTES [BASOPHILS, EOSINOPHILS, NEUTROPHILS AND MONOCYTES]. THE LATE-PHASE IS CHARACTERIZED BY PERSISTENT BRONCHOSPASM AND EDEMA, LEUKOCYTIC INFILTRATION, AND NECROSIS OF EPITHELIAL CELLS.

NON- ATOPIC / NON-ALLERGIC BRONCHIAL ASTHMA IS ALSO VERY COMMON. IT IS OFTEN TRIGGERED BY RESPIRATORY TRACT INFECTIONS, CHEMICAL IRRITANTS, AND DRUGS, USUALLY WITHOUT A FAMILY HISTORY AND WITH LITTLE OR NO EVIDENCE OF IgE – MEDIATED HYPERSENSITIVITY. THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF INCREASED AIRWAYS REACTIVITY IS UNKNOWN.

A THIRD TYPE IS A MIXED PATTERN. MANY PATIENTS DON’T CLEARLY FIT INTO EITHER OF THE ABOVE TWO CATEGORIES AND HAVE MIXED FEATURES OF BOTH TYPES OF THE BRONCHIAL ASTHMA. THOSE PATIENTS WHO DEVELOP ASTHMA IN EARLY LIFE HAVE STRONG ALLERGIC COMPONENTS; WHILE THOSE WHO DEVELOP THE DISEASE LATE TEND TO BE NON-ALLERGIC. EITHER TYPE OF THE BRONCHIAL ASTHMA CAN BE PRECIPITATED BY COLD, EXERCISE, AND EMOTIONAL STRESS.

ASTHMATIC PATIENTS SUFFER FROM EPISOD OF ACUTE EXCERBATIONS INTERSPREAD WITH SYMPTOM – FREE PERIODS. IN BRONCHIAL ASTHMA THE LUNGS ARE OVERINFLATED AND SHOW PATCHY ATELECTASIS, WITH OCCLUSION OF AIRWAYS BY MUCOUS PLUGS. MICROSCOPICALLY, THE LUNGS EXIBIT EDEMA, AN INFLAMMATORY INFILTRATE IN BRONCHIAL WALLS WITH NUMEROUS EOSINOPHILS, HYPERTROPHY OF BRONCHIAL WALL MUSCULATURE AND OF SUBMUCOSAL MUCOUS GLANDS, WHORLED MUCOUS PLUGS AND CRYSTALOID DEBRIS OF EOSINOPHILE MEMBRANE.

CHARACTERISTIC CLINICAL FEATURES OF THE BRONCHIAL ASTHMA ARE PAROXYSMS OF DYSPNOEA. MOST ATTACKS TYPICALLY LAST FOR A FEW MINUTES TO HOURS. WHEN ATTACKS OCCUR CONTINUOUSLY IT MAY RESULT IN MORE SERIOUS CONDITION CALLED ‘STATUS ASTHMATICUS’. THE CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS IS SUPPORTED BY DEMONSTRATION OF CIRCULATING EOSINOPHILIA AND THE SAME IN THE SPUTUM. SEVERE AND MULTIPLE WHEEZE PREVENTS THE PATIENT EVEN FINISHING SENTENCES IN ONE BREATH. MORE THAN TWENTY FIVE BREATHS PER MINUTE ARE VERY COMMON. CYANOSIS, PARADOXUS PLUSES, TACHYCARDIA OVER HUNDRED TEN PER MINUTE, ARE COMMONLY RECORDED FEATURES AMONG PATIENTS WITH ACUTE BRONCHIAL ASTHMA. LIFE-THREATENING SIGNS ARE: PEACK AIR FLOW LESS THAN 33% OF PREDICTED, SILENT CHEST, COMA, FALL OF BLOOD PRESSURE & PULSE, SEVERELY DERRANGED ACID / BASE BALANCE. HENCE FULL RESPECT IS PAID TO ANY CONDITION OF THE BRONCHIAL ASTHMA. YOUNG PEOPLE ARE STILL DYING FROM IT AND THE MORTALITY APPEARS TO BE RISING VERY HIGH. OTHERWISE, MOST CHRONIC CASES MAY DEVELOP ‘COR PULMONALE’ AND OR MAY TERMINATE INTO ‘CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASES. THIS INCLUDES CHRONIC BRONCHITIS, EMPHYSEMA, BRONCHIECTASIS, SMALL AIRWAYS DISEASES, AND IMMUNOLOGIC LUNG DISEASES [ASTHMA, PNEUMONITIS, PULMONARY EOSINOPHILIA, GOOD-PASTURE’S SYNDROME, AND ALVEOLAR PROTEINOSIS].

THE PATIENTS ARE REGULARLY KEPT ON BRONCHODILATORS, STEROIDS, THEOPHYLLINE AND OR ON DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF INHALERS. VERY OFTEN THE PATIENTS DEVELOP ACUTE ATTACK LEADING TO ‘STATUS ASTHMATICUS’. MANAGEMENT OF THIS CONDITION REQUIRES HOSPITALIZATION AND HIGHLY EQUIPPED EXPERTS’ SERVICES. IT IS SAID ‘ASTHMA ENDS WITH DEATH’ LEADING TO ONE AFTER ANOTHER COMPLICATIONS.

AMONG THE PATIENTS UNDER AUTOPATHY TREATMENT ‘ STATUS ASTHMATICUS’ BECOMES A RARE EVENT. TREATMENT – ASSISTS [WHICH WERE EARLIER GIVEN AS ALLOPATHY TREATMENT] ARE GRADUALLY TAPPERED OFF. MANY PATIENTS BECOME DRUG-FREE AND GRADUALLY LEARN TO LIVE NORMAL LIFE. ALL KINDS OF ALLERGIC / METABOLIC – CHEMICAL REACTIVITIES’ RESPONSES RETURN TO ‘ NORMAL’. MANY MORPHOLOGICAL AND PARACLINICAL INVESTIGATIONS, GRADUALLY IN COURSE OF A FEW YEARS, ARE CONVERTED TOWARD NORMAL RANGES.

PATIENTS UNDER AUTOPATHY TREATMENTS ARE INSISTED TO CONTINUE THE ‘GARLIC-LEMON THERAPY’ ONCE IN THE MORNING IN EMPTY STOMACH, AND TO CONTINUE NASAL CLEANING TWO-THREE TIMES A DAY [AS AND WHEN THEY DO HAVE ROUTINE BATHS ]. ONCE A YEAR THEY ARE SUGGESTED TO TAKE ONE COURSE [10 ml I / M, ALTERNATE DAY, TEN TO FIFTEEN INJECTIONS] OF CALCIUM GLUCONATE. IT IS ALSO ADVISABLE TO MAINTAIN NASAL DEEP BREATHING EXERCISE AT LEAST ONCE A DAY FOR FIVE TO TEN MINUTES. DEHELMINTHIAZATION AND ALL KINDS OF SANITATIONS ARE RECOMMENDED TO BE STRICKTLY FOLLOWED AND ADOPTED BY THE PATIENTS.

ALONG WITH THE PRESCRIBED ALLOPATHY TREATMENTS, BASED ON THE AUTOPATHY INVESTIGATIONS AND ALLOPATHY PARAMEDICAL TESTS’ REPORTS, 120 CAPSULES OF AAA-II THERAPY [CONTAINING 250 T0 750 microgram ACTIVE PRINCIPALS IN EACH CAPSULES] IS PRESCRIBED TO BE TAKEN SUBLINGUALLY.THIS AAA- THERAPY IS COMBINED WITH HYDROCORTISONE, IMMUMOD, ANTIOXIDANTS – VITAMINS, NASAL DECONGESTANT [EFFCORLINE NASAL DROPS] AND ANTIBIOTICS – SAY, ROXYTHROMYCINE, FOR VERY SHORT TIME ONLY. THE AAA- AUTOPATHY TREATMENT IS REPEATED ONCE A YEAR. DEPENDING ON LENGTH & PATHOLOGICAL DERRANGEMENTS / SEVERITY / RECURRANCES THE TREATMENT – ASSISTS MAY CONTINUE, OR MAY BE READMINISTRED. BUT THE AAA – THERAPY IS GIVEN ONLY ONCE A YEAR, LET SO BE FOR FIVE TO TEN YEARS. NOW THE ‘ASTHMA LEAVES BACK PATIENTS TO SURVIVE ITS OWN LIFE’, AND THE AUTOPATHY TREATMENT, AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, HELPS RECOVERING FROM ALL KINDS OF IMMUNOLOGIC AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES.