If you or your child has asthma, you may think you are doomed to a life of steroids and ventolin inhalers, but there are alternative treatments for asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Salt therapy, officially known as halotherapy, has been shown to be beneficial in asthma cases, bronchitis and even cystic fibrosis.
Salt pipes, an alternative type of inhaler, can be used in the alleviation of asthma and are suitable for both adults and children. Some manufacturers have developed smaller salt pipes especially designed for kids.
How Do I Use a Salt Pipe?
You place the salt pipe in your mouth and breathe in a very tiny amount of crystal salt (not table salt) and then breathe it out through your nose. Users of salt pipes normally use them every day and not just when they feel tight chested. Around 20 minutes use per day may help prevent wheezing and help you breathe more easily.
Conditions that salt therapy is thought to help are:
• Asthma
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Bronchitis
• Allergic conditions
• Respiratory disabilities
Isn’t Salt Harmful?
Table salt, or sodium chloride, can be harmful, particularly if you use too much. It can narrow your arteries and cause blood pressure problems and heart attack. It is a highly refined type of salt that has had all its good, essential minerals removed so what is left behind has none of the benefit. The type of salt used in salt therapy is crystal salt.
Is There any Scientific Evidence for the Use of Salt Therapy?
The United Kingdom's NHS and other conventional health authorities say there is little evidence for the use of alternative therapy for asthma, but some medical citations in respected journals support the use of alternative therapies including salt therapy for asthma.
Here are a few examples:
The Journal of Aerosol Medicine reports that 124 patients with respiratory diseases were studied. Most were given salt therapy for one hour a day and the remaining 15 were the placebo. The researchers found that there were clinical improvements in most of the salt therapy group.
Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine – Researchers found that regular use of a salt pipe improved the condition of patients with cystic fibrosis: "Long-term use improves lung function mildly but has marked benefits with respect to exacerbations, quality of life and absenteeism, without promoting infection or inflammation," the article states.
European Respiratory Journal – Researchers found that adding a salt solution to a dry air inhaler helped people to clear mucus and breathe more easily:
"We conclude that an increase in osmolarity of the airway surface liquid increases mucociliary clearance both in asthmatic and healthy subjects."
RT: For Decision Makers in Respiratory Care, by Jonathan Finder, MD – "I like to have my patients with primary diseases of mucociliary clearance (such as CF and PCD) obtain a handheld device. Hypertonic saline is the only therapy that directly addresses the imbalance in airway-surface liquid and the impaired mucociliary escalator in CF in use today, and it is going to be used increasingly in this patient population."
Allergy, European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, volume 61, issue 5, 2006 – 32 asthma patients were studied. Seventeen were put into a salt room (where salt was fed into the room by a generator) and the remaining 15 were given a placebo. Nine treatment patients were able to reduce their dose of asthma medication and two patients in the placebo group. Six patients in the treatment group (38 percent) were no longer hyperresponsive (i.e., they were cured) and none in the placebo group. The researchers concluded: "The possibility that salt chamber treatment could serve as a complementary therapy to conventional medication cannot be excluded."
For those of you interested in using a salt pipe to help your asthma or your children’s asthma, they are available to purchase from many online outlets.
Sources: Inhalation of hypertonic saline aerosol enhances
mucociliary clearance in asthmatic and healthy subjects, European Respiratory Journal 1996 - http://www.speleocenter.ca/Eng_Asthma.pdf
RT magazine, Airway Clearance in Pediatric Patients, January 2006 - http://www.rtmagazine.com/issues/articles/2006-01_02.asp
The effect of salt chamber treatment on bronchial hyperresponsiveness in asthmatics, Volume 61, Issue 5, 2006 - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1398-9995.2006.01073.x/abstract
Inhaled hypertonic saline as a therapy for cystic fibrosis, Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine: November 2006 - Volume 12 - Issue 6 - p 445-452 - http://journals.lww.com/co-pulmonarymedicine/Abstract/2006/11000/Inhaled_hypertonic_saline_as_a_therapy_for_cystic.14.aspx
Chervinskaya AV - J Aerosol Med - 01-OCT-1995; 8(3): 221-32 - http://www.mdconsult.com/das/citation/body/240922868-495/jorg=journal&source=&sp=9266772&sid=0/N/9266772/1.html?issn=0894-2684
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Asthma/Pages/Treatment.aspx
Joanna is a freelance health writer for The Mother magazine and Suite 101 with a column on infertility, http://infertility.suite101.com/. She is author of the book, 'Breast Milk: A Natural Immunisation,' and co-author of an educational resource on disabled parenting, in addition to running a charity for people damaged by vaccines or medical mistakes.