If you are an asthma patient yourself or have someone close to you who has frequent asthma attacks, one need not describe the pain an anguish which the entire family goes through in the event of an attack. Asthma, be it in children or an adult is a chronic ailment, which requires prolonged treatment as well as constant monitoring of the patients’ condition. One has to abide by several precautionary steps suggested by the doctor, to minimize chances of any attack. Though there are several state-of-the-arts medicines and gadgets which are available which are guaranteed to bring instant relief for asthma patients, more and more people are turning to herbal therapies for preventing and treating asthma recurrence. The natural remedies for asthma include herbal medication, herbal supplements, as well as acupuncture, biofeedback, homeopathy and others.

Asthma attacks can appear unannounced. The simple presence of a cat or a dog in the house, or a breezy environment which ushers in pollen or dust could start off an attack of wheezing, cough or heavy breathing. It has been seen that herbal remedies can actually reverse the process of bronchial narrowing sometimes totally, if not partially. Bronchial narrowing is one of the main reasons why the patient goes through breathing distress.

Herbal remedies for the treatment of asthma are usually advised as an adjunct therapy along with the standard medication which has been prescribed by the doctor. Today, several asthma preventive medicines have been found which alleviate symptoms to a great extent. According to expert opinion, further research with the related herbs which are used to alleviate asthma symptoms need to be carried out, before any clear medication regimen can be suggested to the asthma patient. However, there are some anti-asthma herbs which are currently used by patients with proven relief:

• Some Chinese herbs like ding-chan tang have been proven to reduce bronchial inflammation and alleviate bronchial spasm. Natural vitamin C is also effective.
• A shrub called butterbur, available abundantly has been proved to be effective in the treatment of asthma. The active ingredients of this shrub are petasin and isopetasin, both known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic properties. However a word of caution: this medicine is not to be used by pregnant women or people with previous kidney or liver conditions.
• More popular by the name Salai Guggal, this herb is also known as Boswellia. This is part of the Indian Ayurvedic medicines, and known to obstruct the production of leukotrienes in the body. These are compounds, which might block the breathing passage ways, if released to the lungs.

 Asthma is one of those chronic ailments, which differ from one asthma sufferer to the other and each patient would have a different asthma trigger point, be it from the external environment or foods, animals, etc. This makes asthma treatment very specific in nature and one treatment might not apply to the other patient. Be that as it may, there are some very effective herbal medicines for preventing and treating asthma – all you have to do is to talk to your herbal specialist and seek medical advice.