Safe Asthma Treatment

This is only sort of OT, since the reason I'm particularly excited about is
that we will ttc next spring...

The past few weeks, I've been having a terrible time with my asthma. I'd
gone from rarely needing a puff on a rescue inhaler to using it almost every
day, sometimes twice a day, even though I was ALSO using Serevent and
Flovent (which I didn't need before, either.)

It was getting frustrating, because at least one of those was going to have
to "go" during my pregnancy next year.

Then, a couple days ago, I was getting my breakfast at work when I noticed
my collection of supplement bottles on the counter. I'd not taken my
supplements in *weeks*...funny, since a bit before I started having
problems.

So I took them. My supplements include:

Magnesium (300 mg)
a B50 complex with 400 mcg of Folate
An extra 400 mg of Folate
Vitamin E (400IU)

[At home, at night, I take one prenatal vitamin (the recommended "dosage" of
the prenate is 2 per day) and I also often do vitamin C (EmergenC
packets). ]

Within a few hours, my breathing was *normal*.

About 12 hours later, it was starting to get flakey again. So I went out and
got supplements for home, too...

I took some more magnesium.
Breathing better

Next day, I forgot, but when my breathing started to get a little rough
again, I took the magnesium. Was better within an hour. (I don't get "can't
breathe" asthma attacks, I get, "feel like I'm breathing liquid and working
at it" asthma attacks, so I can put up with a slower recovery rate.)

So my planned regimine will be:

Morning: 300 mg Magnesium
100 IU vitamin E (if I'm going to take things at multiple times per day, I
want them lower potency)
B-50 complex
Folate
Vitamin C

After school
Vitamin C or citrus fruit
200 or 300 mg magnesium
100 IU E

Evening
200 to 300 mg magnesium
B-complex or b-containing prenatal vitamin
500 mg Calcium

I get a fair amount of calcium from food, and for me, with my clotting
condition, I need to skew in favor of magnesium in general.

If I can drop *all* of my inhalers except for occasional rescue use, I will
be *very* happy! My normal mode is that asthma is only a problem for me when
I'm otherwise sick or when I'm exercising in the cold. This "constant
wheezy" was just exhausting! I don't mind doing the longer acting inhalers
when I'm sick or a prophylactic puff on the rescue inhaler or a long-acting
dilator before excercising, but I can't stand the idea of being on "three
puffs, every 12 hours" for the rest of my life. It's bad enough being on
Zyrtec and Singulair full time! At least those are pregnancy class B....

I was amazed at how radical a difference the magnesium made, and how
quickly. I'm used to supplements having slow effects, but this was as fast
as I expect a drug to take away pain!

Jenrose

Jen, you need to get back to your doctor and get your asthma properly
assessed and under control. Keep in mind the awful example of what
happened to Circe - and yours sounds like it really isn't being
properly managed.

I am also an asthmatic, and I often need short courses of inhaled
steroids after chest colds where an infection has set up some
inflamation that is triggering attacks etc. Other than that, I almost
never get asthma unless I'm exposed to something specific that I seem
to be super allergic to like a poultry barn at a country fair (which I
can usually avoid if I'm thinking). If you are getting asthma attacks
and having to use a rescue puffer this often, you are treating
symptoms and not the underlying cause and you need to attend to it, or
you will end up in the ER or worse.

Mary G.

I can't imagine how vitamins help asthma.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

Jenrose wrote in message
s.com...
This is only sort of OT, since the reason I'm particularly excited about
is
that we will ttc next spring...

The past few weeks, I've been having a terrible time with my asthma. I'd
gone from rarely needing a puff on a rescue inhaler to using it almost
every
day, sometimes twice a day, even though I was ALSO using Serevent and
Flovent (which I didn't need before, either.)

It was getting frustrating, because at least one of those was going to
have
to "go" during my pregnancy next year.

Then, a couple days ago, I was getting my breakfast at work when I noticed
my collection of supplement bottles on the counter. I'd not taken my
supplements in *weeks*...funny, since a bit before I started having
problems.

So I took them. My supplements include:

Magnesium (300 mg)
a B50 complex with 400 mcg of Folate
An extra 400 mg of Folate
Vitamin E (400IU)

[At home, at night, I take one prenatal vitamin (the recommended "dosage"
of
the prenate is 2 per day) and I also often do vitamin C (EmergenC
packets). ]

Within a few hours, my breathing was *normal*.

About 12 hours later, it was starting to get flakey again. So I went out
and
got supplements for home, too...

I took some more magnesium.
Breathing better

Next day, I forgot, but when my breathing started to get a little rough
again, I took the magnesium. Was better within an hour. (I don't get
"can't
breathe" asthma attacks, I get, "feel like I'm breathing liquid and
working
at it" asthma attacks, so I can put up with a slower recovery rate.)

So my planned regimine will be:

Morning: 300 mg Magnesium
100 IU vitamin E (if I'm going to take things at multiple times per day, I
want them lower potency)
B-50 complex
Folate
Vitamin C

After school
Vitamin C or citrus fruit
200 or 300 mg magnesium
100 IU E

Evening
200 to 300 mg magnesium
B-complex or b-containing prenatal vitamin
500 mg Calcium

I get a fair amount of calcium from food, and for me, with my clotting
condition, I need to skew in favor of magnesium in general.

If I can drop *all* of my inhalers except for occasional rescue use, I
will
be *very* happy! My normal mode is that asthma is only a problem for me
when
I'm otherwise sick or when I'm exercising in the cold. This "constant
wheezy" was just exhausting! I don't mind doing the longer acting inhalers
when I'm sick or a prophylactic puff on the rescue inhaler or a
long-acting
dilator before excercising, but I can't stand the idea of being on "three
puffs, every 12 hours" for the rest of my life. It's bad enough being on
Zyrtec and Singulair full time! At least those are pregnancy class B....

I was amazed at how radical a difference the magnesium made, and how
quickly. I'm used to supplements having slow effects, but this was as fast
as I expect a drug to take away pain!

Jenrose

Jenrose, Be aware that your current vitamin and mineral regimen may or can
be toxic or problematic for the baby or your pregnancy when you get
pregnant. I recommend seeing a specialist about more effective and safer
asthma management methods. There is no guarantee that your asthma will not
get worse during pregnancy. Playing around with your vitamins and minerals
can prove more harmful than helpful for both you and the baby.

For example, there is a precaution that pregnant women should not take more
than 350 mgs of magnesium a day unless your doctor approves it. For one
thing, if you are not careful, the high dosage of magnesium can interfere
with your iron absorption needed for a healthy pregnancy and birth. You
should discuss your vitamin and mineral regimen with your doctor, since you
will be TTC next Spring.

Good luck.

----
EDD: 2/16/04 Baby girl
Age 39 First baby

"Jenrose" wrote in message
s.com...
This is only sort of OT, since the reason I'm particularly excited about
is
that we will ttc next spring...

The past few weeks, I've been having a terrible time with my asthma. I'd
gone from rarely needing a puff on a rescue inhaler to using it almost
every
day, sometimes twice a day, even though I was ALSO using Serevent and
Flovent (which I didn't need before, either.)

It was getting frustrating, because at least one of those was going to
have
to "go" during my pregnancy next year.

Then, a couple days ago, I was getting my breakfast at work when I noticed
my collection of supplement bottles on the counter. I'd not taken my
supplements in *weeks*...funny, since a bit before I started having
problems.

So I took them. My supplements include:

Magnesium (300 mg)
a B50 complex with 400 mcg of Folate
An extra 400 mg of Folate
Vitamin E (400IU)

[At home, at night, I take one prenatal vitamin (the recommended "dosage"
of
the prenate is 2 per day) and I also often do vitamin C (EmergenC
packets). ]

Within a few hours, my breathing was *normal*.

About 12 hours later, it was starting to get flakey again. So I went out
and
got supplements for home, too...

I took some more magnesium.
Breathing better

Next day, I forgot, but when my breathing started to get a little rough
again, I took the magnesium. Was better within an hour. (I don't get
"can't
breathe" asthma attacks, I get, "feel like I'm breathing liquid and
working
at it" asthma attacks, so I can put up with a slower recovery rate.)

So my planned regimine will be:

Morning: 300 mg Magnesium
100 IU vitamin E (if I'm going to take things at multiple times per day, I
want them lower potency)
B-50 complex
Folate
Vitamin C

After school
Vitamin C or citrus fruit
200 or 300 mg magnesium
100 IU E

Evening
200 to 300 mg magnesium
B-complex or b-containing prenatal vitamin
500 mg Calcium

I get a fair amount of calcium from food, and for me, with my clotting
condition, I need to skew in favor of magnesium in general.

If I can drop *all* of my inhalers except for occasional rescue use, I
will
be *very* happy! My normal mode is that asthma is only a problem for me
when
I'm otherwise sick or when I'm exercising in the cold. This "constant
wheezy" was just exhausting! I don't mind doing the longer acting inhalers
when I'm sick or a prophylactic puff on the rescue inhaler or a
long-acting
dilator before excercising, but I can't stand the idea of being on "three
puffs, every 12 hours" for the rest of my life. It's bad enough being on
Zyrtec and Singulair full time! At least those are pregnancy class B....

I was amazed at how radical a difference the magnesium made, and how
quickly. I'm used to supplements having slow effects, but this was as fast
as I expect a drug to take away pain!

Jenrose

"Mary Gordon" wrote in message
om...
Jen, you need to get back to your doctor and get your asthma properly
assessed and under control. Keep in mind the awful example of what
happened to Circe - and yours sounds like it really isn't being
properly managed.

I am also an asthmatic, and I often need short courses of inhaled
steroids after chest colds where an infection has set up some
inflamation that is triggering attacks etc. Other than that, I almost
never get asthma unless I'm exposed to something specific that I seem
to be super allergic to like a poultry barn at a country fair (which I
can usually avoid if I'm thinking). If you are getting asthma attacks
and having to use a rescue puffer this often, you are treating
symptoms and not the underlying cause and you need to attend to it, or
you will end up in the ER or worse.

I was on the verge of making that appt. when I started taking magnesium
again. Now, I'm not even having to do the steroids to be symptom free. So it
is, now, well controlled.

If I have symptoms, I do use meds. Carry them with me all the time. But I
have never, once, had an asthma attack where I actually could not breathe.
For me, a "bad attack" is where my lung capacity is about 70% of acceptable.
Since I was able to oxygenate at 80%+ while having a pulmonary embolism
where 3/4 of my lung capacity was non functional, 70% is merely annoying,
not "scary". I take meds long before it gets "scary."

Jenrose

"Sue" wrote in message news:yZmCb.519524$Fm2.504525@attbi_s04...
Jenrose, Be aware that your current vitamin and mineral regimen may or can
be toxic or problematic for the baby or your pregnancy when you get
pregnant. I recommend seeing a specialist about more effective and safer
asthma management methods. There is no guarantee that your asthma will not
get worse during pregnancy. Playing around with your vitamins and
minerals
can prove more harmful than helpful for both you and the baby.

For example, there is a precaution that pregnant women should not take
more
than 350 mgs of magnesium a day unless your doctor approves it. For one
thing, if you are not careful, the high dosage of magnesium can interfere
with your iron absorption needed for a healthy pregnancy and birth. You
should discuss your vitamin and mineral regimen with your doctor, since
you
will be TTC next Spring.



I am not taking high doses--I am taking modest doses several times per day.
And it was as effective if not moreso than most of the meds I've tried.
Since most of the reading I've done of the research indicates that the
majority of pregnant women get far too *little* magnesium, and because
magnesium plays such an important role in blood clotting ( I have a clotting
disorder), the risks are slight if any at the levels I'm talking about. As
for iron absorbtion... I am not and have never been anemic. Also, there is
significant research indicating that higher hemaglobin levels are associated
with *more* pregnancy problems than low-normal/mildly anemic levels.

As for the other vitamins--I am very careful about which vitamins I take and
how much. I choose my prenatal vitamin based on ones that come in "multiple
pills/capsules per recommended daily dose", to reduce my overall vitamin
load on the things I do extra of. Also, most prenatals contain far too much
vitamin A.

I do pay attention to my total vitamin load from all sources, particularly
the fat soluble vitamins. But I know that for me, with my various medical
conditions, that the vitamins I take are far safe for me, and my future
offspring, than the medications which would be prescribed. I have found very
few doctors who have enough background in alternatives to "regular"
treatment--my expertise in how nutrition, vitamins and herbs affect my
conditions, as well as those alternative treatements safety in pregnancy
tends to be much deeper than most of the doctors I've talked to. Their goal
is to treat disease. My goal is to avoid needing treatment.

I am not "playing around". But I am using my brain, my ability to read and
research, my knowledge of my own body, and my experience to make decisions
about my health care.

My experience may be helpful to someone else-- certainly for someone with
mild chronic asthma, seeing what a magnesium supplement can do is a
relatively safe, non-toxic approach. I did not use the medicine "instead of"
treatment--I was within an hour or so of taking another dose of my meds when
I did the supplementation, and then discovered that I didn't need them. It
was so dramatic, and so immediate, that I decided to continue the
experiement. A few days later, I did need a puff on the rescue inhaler--and
decided to break my dose down to more times per day, less per dose of the
mag. One evening it wasn't quite enough, so I did my meds. Haven't needed
them since, but I still have them and will use them if I need them.

Is this conventional medical practice? NO. I'm not a doctor. But I'm also
not willing to put a one-size-fits-all therapy on my body if I can find
something that works very well for me. If I can reduce my dependance on
medications significantly and safely, that can only be better for me and my
baby.

Getting 600-800 mg of magnesium per day is in no way going to be more toxic
for me than inhaling corticosteroids and bronchodilators twice a day, every
day. Particularly not if I am also attending to my other nutritional needs
and getting sufficient of the other minerals in the magnesium/calcium chain.

They give 4 *grams* of mag sulfate in 15 minutes for preeclampsia. Since I
am technically at increased risk for both high blood pressure and
preeclampsia (factor V, sleep apnea and asthma), increasing my magnesium
level is just plain logical. I would prefer, above all else, to avoid
needing that 4 g of Mag monster done through an IV...

Jenrose