Dypsnea: Alternative Treatments

| Modified on Jun 18, 2014

Few issues are as concerning as breathing problems or shortness of breath; however, such issues are quite common. While different individuals experience shortness of breath, medically termed dyspnea, the condition is typically described as a feeling of intense tightness in the chest. Likewise, the issue may be similar to that of suffocation. The severity and frequency of dyspnea is typically dependent upon the cause of the disorder. Many healthy individuals experience shortness of breath due to common factors such as vigorous exercise, extreme temperatures, excessive body weight, and high altitude. If an individual experiences shortness of breath outside of these factors, the cause is likely a medical concern.

Typical causes of dyspnea can be linked to heart and lung conditions, as the heart and lungs are responsible for the transport of oxygen to the tissues as well as the removal of carbon dioxide from the body. Common problems with these systems include asthma, carbon monoxide poisoning, cardiac tamponade, heart attack, low blood pressure, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, pneumothorax, and upper airway obstruction. Some instances of shortness of breath are chronic. Typical causes of this type of dyspnea include asthma, COPD, heart dysfunction, interstitial lung disease, and obesity.

Natural Asthma Remedies and Treatment for Dyspnea

Typical asthma remedies and treatment for dyspnea are determined based on the cause. Natural treatment methods are generally considered effective for treating a wide range of breathing issues. A daily dose of ? a teaspoon sea salt and ? teaspoon baking soda dissolved in water can drastically reduce if not cure episodes of breathlessness. Additionally, a mixture of apple cider vinegar and baking soda or lime and baking soda balances the body’s sodium levels and also helps treat breathing issues.

Additional Pages of Interest:
Asthma
COPD




Baking Soda, Sea Salt

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Posted by Mike (Prairieville, LA) on 02/14/2007
★★★★☆

Hi, I've had breathlessness (dyspnea) for well over 4 years now. My doctor and my pulmonologist have been unable to discover the cause. I've had x-rays, cat scans, a variety of asthma medications, and even xanax when they thought it stress related. Nothing has helped. No heart related issues were discovered either (pulmonary hypertension, etc). It's been a real puzzler. I read somewhere (not this site) that 1/4" a teaspoon of sea salt and a 1/4" teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in a glass of water would help people with asthma-related breathlessness episodes. I tried it, and it reduced my symptoms almost immediately. It hasn't made it go away, but it helps me sleep at night. I take the mixture when the dypsnea becomes more than just annoying. I haven't tried a daily regiment though. (Incidentally, I also have GERD and seemingly no longer need to take Aciphex to control it. The baking soda apparently is all I needed to cure that) My question is: Is the sodium bicarbonate in the baking soda count against total RDA of regular sodium intake? if so, this would compound the total amount of sodium I am taking with the sea salt. I'm nervous about doing a daily regiment of the high sodium mixture as I am borderline pre-hypertension and don't want to stress my heart unduly. What do you suggest? (Incidentally, I will try out the ACV cure you have promoted recently. I will post how it works for me) Thanks...

Replied by Ted
(Bangkok, Thailand)
391 posts

Dear Mike: I will not go to the details of the cause of blood pressure, but most of the increase in blood pressure is usually two things, too much fried foods and excessive acidity of the body.

The body attempts to reduce the acidity by retaining more sodium to stabilize the alkalinity. To prevent excess sodium retention is simple, add 10% potassium bicarbonate to 90% percent sodium bicarbonate. This won't cause the body to increase the blood pressure.

Basically the sodium bicarbonate will cause the body to stabilize its blood pressure while the potassium bicarbonate will cause a decrease in blood pressure as potassium displaces sodium. The reason why you can't take too much potassium is the body extracellular fluids consists of 90% sodium and 10% potassium, approximately. So by taking a similar ratios similar to extracellular body fluids won't cause an unnecessary change.

To take sea salt is simple, just add 10% potassium citrate or potassium bicarbonate to the mix. This will at least be similar to your bodily fluids anyway. To change that is not the optimum in which it exists and it is best to keep it in that ratio.

The reason why apple cider vinegar and baking soda can be use safely is the potassium content in the vinegar allowing at least be roughly close to your bodily fluids. It is the same if you use lime and about 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Apple cider vinegar has some potassium content and when added with sodium bicarbonate, allows the best of two worlds, sodium and potassium. Most of the body's extracellular fluids is made of sodium about 90% and about 10% of that is potassium. If you want to be precise about such measurement you need to buy potassium bicarbonate. However, in practice this ACV and baking soda is a home remedy and works fairly well in general for most people.

Most of the problems of high sodium retention that I found out is that the body's ability to produce nitric oxide is suppressed due to certain deficiencies or the impaired mechanism of biochemical processes. To help the body return such nitric oxide to normal will always cause the blood pressure to normalize. To increase nitric oxide you can supplement them with various supplements that promote them, including sodium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate, L-arginine (2000 mg), L-citrulline (2000) mg. usually taken in the morning hours. Obviously you need to avoid heavy foods and instead take more onions and garlic during the supper or evening hours.

Quite often one of the cause of asthma is the capillary constriction, by alkalization, capillary expands allowing improved breathing.

Replied by Violet
(Barrie, Ont, Canada)
07/15/2012

Hi, I am not sure exactly what mixtures you are saying to take together here, could you please explain it to me so I can get the ingredients to take these, Thank You kindly.



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