Asthma is a chronic but reversible breathing disorder that occurs when the air passages in the lungs became inflamed through an immune response to an allergen or some type of irritant. The inflammation of the lung tissue causes swelling, which narrows the airways and makes them sensitive and over-reactive to any type of irritation. Inflamed airways produce excess mucous that clogs breathing passages, while the muscles around the airways tighten and make breathing difficult.

The most common type of asthma, which occurs in young children, is caused by bronchial smooth-muscle irritability that is usually triggered by chemical or environmental stress, be it viral, ozone, dust, sulphur dioxide, milk, food colouring, metabisulphite, salicylate and food additives. This type of asthma responds well to beta-agonist drugs such as Ventolin. However, be aware that long-term use of Ventolin causes more inflammation of the lung tissue and further weakens the child’s immunity.

Adult-onset asthma can come on suddenly, or slowly over a prolonged period of coughing. The most severe form of adult asthma is the chronic eosinophilic bronchitis. This is associated with systemic toxicity, which cause excess mucous production, chronic tissue inflammation, chronic emotional stress or acute severe emotional trauma and also scaring of the lung.

In recent years I have seen increasing numbers of adult-onset asthma cases: one in ten adults in this country is diagnosed with asthma. Most of these patients have neither personal nor family history of asthma, although some experienced lung infections in the past. One 46-year-old patient, who had been coughing for 16 years following her marriage breakdown and a lung infection, experienced a sudden, acute asthmatic attack one night after a fight with her daughter. She coughed violently for more than an hour; this led to an asthmatic attack so severe it almost killed her. Her chronic cough would have caused overly reactive smooth muscle in her bronchial tree; grief and anger, lack of oxygenation, muscle constriction, mucous secretion and swelling of the lining of the air passages all contributed to her attack.


Although the reason for the increased incidence of this atopic condition has not been adequately explained, it’s reasonable to presume that aspects of modern lifestyle and environment are prime contributors. Exposure to environmental airborne pollutants, atmospheric pollution, chemicals such as pesticides and preservatives, over-consumption of alcohol, smoking, and poor diet all have significant impact on the cause of asthma and the debilitation of the immune system.

TCM views adult-onset asthma as a disorder of wind cold, kidney deficiency, and phlegm accumulation. However, many western asthmatic patients do not fit into this energetic picture: their energetic pattern is often complicated by the long-term use of drugs such as Ventolin, Asmol, and corticosteroids. Prolonged use of these medications significantly weakens the lung and depletes Zong Qi, the central energetic of the body. Weak Zong Qi leads to the depletion of the lung’s true function. Corticosteroids also disperse lung qi and lung yin by over-activating kidney yang. Over-stimulation of the kidney yang leads to depletion of lung yin and kidney yin, which is a much worse condition than asthma.

Patients who have been on drug treatment for a long time are usually slower to respond to TCM or nutritional treatment. The longer they remain on the drugs, the weaker their lung function.
There are a number of very effective Chinese herbal compounds that I use to treat asthma. Apart from advising patients to live in a more chemical-free environment and eat organic food where possible, I encourage them to undergo systemic detoxification via a personalised program that rids the body of toxins, improves immune function, reduces inflammation and improves tissue strength.