Recently, I've been reading the 'Flipside' magazine July 2008's edition after I had my lunch. There are many interesting articles inside it. One of it is about Hay Fever and allergies.
I learned that, for instance a person who's allergic to dust (harmless), its immune system will overreact over a such small thing. The immune system will release a protein known as Immunoglobin E (IgE) to 'kill' the dust particles. So I read again, as I was amazed about the fact of the immune system. According to the article, increasing in the amount of IgE will trigger the formation of histamine, a chemical that causes tissue inflammation. In simpler saying, the tissues swell up. This can cause breathlessness, because the tissue surrounding the airway will swell and block the airway.
Reading such article has brought me back to my past, when I was about 2 years old. By that time, I suffered from asthma, but I still couldn't figure what I was allergic to. I would get breathless when it was midnight, never during the day. Source of allergy was yet again unknown. I thought it would probably dust. But every time I was breathless, my dad who was tired of sending me to hospital would ask me to inhale the fresh cold air from the air conditioner. So all the night I would stand under the air conditioner, trying to slow down my heavy fast breath, until my asthma was gone. It really did help, at least it helped to reduce the cost of fuel going from home to hospital and vice versa. Although, it helped and reduced it, but it could not stop the attack. Two years after that, my mom fed me with smoked camel's meat that was especially imported from Mecca. And after that, the asthma never attacked me again. Miracles? It sounded like one.
Unlike me, my little brother was allergic to citrus fruit. If he smelled any of it, his immune system would go wild. My mom did the same technique as she did to me, teaching him to control breathing when the asthma attacked and also fed him with the smoked meat that she had once given to me. None of these worked. So feeling desperate, because asthma could take life, she went to Kuala Belait, to meet this Chinese doctor. He was really famous for curing asthma. He massaged my brother using egg albumen. He spread the egg albumen over my brother's back and massaged him, pressing his fingers hard and carefully. After a while, something weird happened. Fine little black hairs came out of my brother's back. The hairs were not originally from brother's back, they were from somewhere. So the Chinese doctor wiped out the hairs, and many days later, my brother was able to eat an orange( a citrus fruit). The asthma is not gone, but remain dormant. It could be triggered one day, but I'm not sure how.
Some of the techniques cannot be explained scientifically, but believe that miracles can happen. So for asthmatic people, I think they should try to control breathing immediately when the first sign shows itself. Therefore, you could manage to control your asthma even without your inhaler. But if, your body starts to swell up, don't hesitate to use the inhaler, or else you'd lose your life. Train your immune system by doing that, and focus your mind to slow the ventilation rate.
Another thing I forgot to mention, the Chinese doctor said one thing that you definitely should avoid - a fish called 'grouper'. Never eat it, once and for all! He said that, although we may have another allergies, but our asthma would definitely be triggered immediately if we just have a bite on the grouper. So beware!
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