When breathing gets hard

“Is there anyone out there, ‘cause it’s getting harder and harder to breathe….”
-Maroon 5

I’m writing this fresh off an Emergency Department visit in the wee early hours of the morning, where I am now considered a repeat offender for asthma-related visits because my asthma is not “well-controlled”. Gotta love how traumatized bodies get labeled. rolls eyes I debated for nearly four hours before even committing to go because my family, including my 3.5 year old, were all deep in sleep, and because I, locked into a complex history with my lungs and struggling to breathe, could not make a rational decision.

The nursing staff and doctor were kind. The time commitment was arguably the best I’ve ever experienced (only 3 hours from leaving home to leaving my hospital gown behind?! THE WONDER). I got a breathing treatment and the prescriptions I requested (steroids to combat the chronic inflammation and inhaler refills).

But what I actually needed was understanding of how my experiences with trauma in the past drives this pattern in my present body. What I need is a different kind of medicine.

A different kind of container than the American Healthcare System. A container that allows me to be an anomaly, a frayed nervous system, a grieving trauma survivor.

The literature doesn’t see me as an anomaly, however. It consistently reflects a link between asthma and adverse childhood events (ACEs), including childhood sexual assault. What it’s not doing a great job of is helping me, and others, understand WHY. It’s not currently giving what we in the biz call a “mechanism of action”. What series of processes get triggered by the body receiving trauma that lead to bronchial constriction and other asthmatic symptoms? This is the question I’m trying to answer.

And when I can’t find answers within conventional medicine sources, I look elsewhere.

In this particular case, YouTube (gasp).

Look, it’s not my fault. I came home from the ER, medication in hand, determined, excited even, to feel better. But after just 20 hours of being home, I found myself unable to stop coughing. For several hours. Back-to-back coughing, barely a full breath between.

The lack of oxygen intake. The aching accessory muscles. The inability to sleep. It starts to mess with you. I was literally pulling my hair out with frustration.

Ok, I thought, what did they do back in the day for asthma? They turned on a hot shower. I can do that. I headed to the bathroom and cranked the dial to hot, closed the door, sat down near the cascading water to catch the most steam. While doing that, I opened YouTube and looked for a meditation or something to help calm me. I specifically looked for meditations for asthma.

What I found was acupressure.

Like acupuncture, acupressure utilizes what they call “meridian lines” in the body (you can google the map if you’re super curious) that correlate with systems, organs, and energetics. Stimulating them is meant to clear stuck energy, improving the body’s ability to self-correct. The videos I found gave me several points that might help alleviate an asthmatic attack and, considering I was just applying pressure and not likely to do more harm, I decided to try.

The first person suggested pressing on the small divet at the base of my throat, that little half-moon-shaped space where the sternum ends and the soft, tender part of the throat begins. The throat chakra. I did, and reader, it was miraculous. After the first minute or so, the cough impulse was still present but I could get breaths in between. At the end of three minutes, the duration the video suggested, I had stopped coughing.

I moved to the other points, rotating between them, over and over again. Eventually I was able to turn off the shower and move gingerly toward the bed. I kept expecting every move, every change of position, to set off another wave of coughing. But it didn’t. And, finally!, I fell asleep.

The literature doesn’t exactly offer glowing reviews of acupressure for asthma relief. Not enough randomized control trials (RCTs) they claim. It’s even less complimentary about finding advice on YouTube. But I, like many of you, was desperate. And when the answers that are provided aren’t adequate, we look for help anywhere we can find it.

What this experience helped me to better understand about myself is that my experience with asthma is part physiological (spontaneous or triggered bronchial constriction) and part “other” (nervous system, energetic, etc). The first needs medication and will respond to that; the latter needs something else. And in this particular case, in needed some acupressure.

There is fear of liability in sharing this with you, as some in the naturopathic medicine world have misused natural modalities and dismissed the need for and urgency around medication. That’s not my intention here. Medication in acute situations and as daily maintenance is really important. Where trauma is a contributing factor, other modalities must be considered IN ADDTION TO. After all, the more tools we have in the toolbox, the more empowered we are to move through challenging health scenarios.

If you are a trauma survivor who struggles with asthma and other respiratory concerns:

1. Take your medications as prescribed.
   This can’t be emphasized enough. So many acute issues can be prevented with regular and consistent medication. This is NOT a situation you want to diy; make sure you have open communication with your care team about the right course of action here.

2. Connect with herbal allies.
   Adaptogens and nervines are something I recommend for all trauma survivors, but for those with asthma, an herb from Traditional Chinese medicine also has promising effects. One of the concerns with asthma, especially allergic asthma, is how characters in the immune system, such as eosinophils, can distort and change lung tissue (a process we describe as fibrosis). Schisandra chinensis has constituents that actively work to repair this tissue, and with promising results. We only have studies with rat models because they need to do biopsy of lung tissue to show the progress of healing, and that gets real unethical in human trials (we can also talk about the ethics of animal studies and I’m RIGHT THERE WITH YOU). In addition to animal studies, we have the reliability of indigenous wisdom that says this herb is deeply supportive (disclaimer: please don’t initiate herbal interventions without consultation; herbs, like pharmaceuticals, have a window of therapeutic value and some can do damage).

3. Protect from environmental triggers, pathogens, etc.
   With the increase of wild fires across North America due to the crushing effects of climate change, I want to encourage you to have filters (box fan + HEPA furnace filters that specifically filter for PM2.5 or smaller taped together make for great cheap options) available. Wearing masks is critical if going outside (when AQI is elevated) or being around large groups (this is the protection from pathogens piece) is necessary. Again, ones that can filter for really small particulate matter.

4. Find someone to collaborate with in your healing journey.
   It doesn’t have to be me, but having the right healing container is SO IMPORTANT. I’ve seen this with clients who’ve been in many “healing” spaces, but have never had one that was uniquely fit to their stage of healing, the type of emotional responses they’ve had to their trauma, the condition of the traumatic experiences they’ve endured, and what they need IN THIS MOMENT to move toward sovereignty. Trauma does complex things to our bodies and beings, which means you need an approach that honors that complexity.

To explore what it might look like to work together, schedule your complimentary fit check today.

Sources:
Chen, X., Huang, Y., Feng, J., Jiang, X. F., Xiao, W. F., & Chen, X. X. (2014). Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Schisandra and Paeonia extracts in the treatment of asthma. Experimental and therapeutic medicine, 8(5), 1479–1483. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2014.1948