asthma
what is asthma?
Asthma is among the most common chronic diseases of the western world. It is a respiratory illness in which sufferers experience repeated attacks of coughing and difficulty in breathing. Around the world, asthma seems to be on the increase, with ever more patients feeling its debilitating effects as it impacts on both their quality of life and on their health.
Asthma is, however, a condition that frequently responds well to Clinical Hypnosis.
causes of asthma
Most asthma sufferers seem to have been born with a predisposition to the condition, which can be triggered by various environmental irritants. These include cold, smoke, scents, pollution or some more specific allergens like pollen, dust, animal fur etc. It can also be brought on by exertion or by stress.
an asthmatic attack
To get a better understanding of what actually happens during an asthmatic attack, it may be helpful to picture the airway tubes in our lungs:
En route from our nose and mouth, our trachea or windpipe first divides into left and right bronchi, the main branches leading to each lung. Then, a bit like and up-side-down tree, they again divide a number of times into smaller and smaller tubes, called bronchioles. The smallest of these are only millimetres wide and are made up of ringed muscles that are able to either contract or relax.
When these tiny muscles in our bronchioles contract, as they do during an asthma attack, the air passages become even narrower, making breathing difficult. The bronchioles have an inner lining that becomes inflamed and coated with excess mucus, further aggravating the asthmatic condition.
symptoms of asthma
During an asthma attack, the sufferer experiences difficulty in breathing and shortness of breath. There is often wheezing when breathing out and also coughing. Sometimes mucus is present.
conventional asthma treatments
Treatments for asthma generally involve discovering and avoiding triggers and, of course, the use of pharmaceutical products.
Inhalers are frequently prescribed, particularly ones that are designed to relieve symptoms during an asthma attack. Others, known as preventer inhalers, control swelling and inflammation in the airways. (There are also combination inhalers that perform both functions.)
Other medication tends to come in tablet form and includes steroids and other preventer products. These medicines often need to be closely monitored in terms of duration, dosage and the combinations in which they are taken.
hypnotherapy for asthma
Clinical Hypnosis has proved to be an effective treatment for many sufferers of asthma, often bringing about even higher levels of improvement than conventional medication. However, because asthma can be a life-threatening disease, I strongly advise that hypnotherapy be used together with, rather than instead of, the medication prescribed by your doctor. Hypnosis and hypnotherapy can act in two ways:
- Stress often plays an important role in triggering attacks. Hypnotic trance has the ability to relax the sufferer, which in turn significantly relaxes the small tightened muscles in problematic airways. Self-hypnosis can therefore be taught and effectively used to relieve attacks and even to prevent them.
- Some of the asthmatic response is an acquired pattern, which tends to get worse with each episode. Such a pattern is also highly amenable to hypnotic intervention.
When treating clients with asthma, I initially look at breaking any unhelpful response patterns they may have and finding practical ways to reduce their symptoms. I go on to teach them hypnosis and NLP techniques that, going forward, will empower them to relieve and control asthma symptoms themselves.
Please contact me to set up an appointment, or make a time through my Bookings Page.
