Allergies, asthma, inflammation, and infection are just some of the conditions that can cause you to have respiratory problems. The right diagnosis and treatment, along with better understanding of your condition, can help you manage your breathing problems.
Talk to your doctor right away anytime you notice problems with breathing — especially if you also have symptoms like chest pain, a long-lasting cough, or fatigue. Some cases might require immediate treatment. If your shortness of breath is severe or comes with other symptoms such as confusion, chest pain, jaw pain, or pain down your arm, urgently seek medical help.
Some people have trouble breathing when they get a cold. For others, it’s caused by infections like sinusitis. Sinusitis can make it hard to breathe through your nose for a week or two, until the inflammation eases and your congested sinuses begin to drain.
Many breathing problems are long-term (chronic). These include chronic sinusitis, allergies, and asthma. They can cause symptoms such as nasal congestion, a runny nose, itchy or watery eyes, chest congestion, coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, and shallow breathing.
Your nasal passage is a pathway for viruses and allergens to enter your lungs. So your nose and sinuses are often linked with many lung disorders. Sinus or nasal passage inflammation may trigger asthma attacks. And one of the most common triggers for asthma is allergies.
According to Ayurveda, respiratory challenges can be classified into categories: Kasa (Cough), Shwasa (Breathing difficulties), Peenasa (Sinusitis), Pratishyaya (Rhinitis)
Kasa
Diseases have their origins in the digestive system, which is the site of accumulation and aggrevation of the doshas. Kasa starts due to the vitiation of apana vayu (one of the five types of vathas governing the elimination of wastes) in the large intestine. When this happens, the vatha is obstructed. The vatha eventually overflows into circulation and relocates to the respiratory system. Additional doshas may mix with vatha. Vitiation of udana vayu (the vatha that governs sneezing, expiration, hiccough, spitting), propels air upward and out of the body. However, in the process, it may start residing in the chest, back or head resulting in pain and cough.
There are five types of Kasa; vatha, pitha, kapha, ksataja and ksaya.
1) Vitiation of vatha dosha cause “vataja kasa”. The nature of cough is dry, with limited mucous. The cough may be accompanied by chest pain and loss of voice. The frequency of the cough is intermittent and may occur in fits.
2) Coughs due to pitta vitiation are called “pittaja kasa”. The cough is more continuous in this case. The infection is more deep rooted (as in pneumonia) and is indicated by larger amounts of mucous (yellow in colour, possibly mixed with blood) & fever
3) Coughs due to kapha vitiation are called “kaphaja kasa.” Large amounts of white, thick and sticky mucous accumulates, and conditions of nausea/vomiting and runny nose tend to develop. Coughing is continuous in this case.
4) Coughs called “ksataja kasa” show symptoms of both vatha and pitta types. Infection or bleeding may cause the colour of the mucous to be red, yellow or black. Fever or joint pains may follow as symptoms. Blood may also appear in the urine.
5) Coughs due to ksaya occur with conditions like tuberculosis. The condition results in a drying up and loss of tissue (ksaya). While vata dosha plays the most important role in this condition, this condition occurs due to the vitiation of all three doshas.
Acute Bronchitis
In Ayurveda, bronchitis is also known as the kasa roga. This condition denotes the inflammation of bronchial tubes, which carry air to lungs. It usually follows a viral respiratory tract infection. The phlegm adeheres to the inflammed mucous membrane thus making it difficult to expel it out. The sticky semi-fluid phlegm may be purulent. The phlegm sticking to the bronchi causes breathing difficulty thus starving the lungs of air. It is mainly cause due to smoking, air pollution, emphysema. Advancing age also tends to have an influence on the development of bronchitis. The main symptoms are dry/productive cough, shortlessness of breath, slight fever, fatigue, chest pain
Shwasa
Breathing disorders (dyspnoea) are referred to as “shwasa”. These are characterized by the type of breath created. There are five types of Shwasas: ksudra, tamaka, chinna, urdhva and mahan.
1) Ksudra shwasa (heavy breathing) occurs due to anything that stresses the respiratory system. For eg: activities such as exercise, heavy meals etc.
2) Tamaka shwasa is characterized by forceful respiration. This condition is commonly referred to as Bronchial Asthma. Bronchial asthma is an allergic condition resulting from reaction of the body to one or more allergies and is one of the most fatal respiratory disease. According to Ayurveda, this is caused due to the vitiation of the Vatha and Kapha doshas, and the seat of pathogenesis lies in the Gastrointestinal tract. It can be triggered due to multiple environmental and genetic factors. It is characterized by chronic airway inflammation and increased airway hyper responsiveness. Some of the main symptoms include breathlessness, sense of tightness in the chest, wheezing due to accumulation of mucus in pathways i.e. Bronchi. Attacks typically occur early in the morning, with the patient waking up with an apprehension and alarm, associated with difficulty to breathe while lying down.
3) Chinna svasa is characterized by disturbed or interrupted breathing. When Chinna svasa occurs, eyes gaze downward and one eye may appear red. Chinna svasa often preceeds the onset of coma.
4) Urdhva svasa is prolonged expiration and an inability to inhale. Like tamaka svasa, patients eyes gaze upward and the eye balls may even roll back.
5) Mahan svasa means “The Great Dyspnoea” as this is the most serious of all breath disorders
Peenasa
Sinusitis – It refers to a condition where in the air spaces/ sinuses lined with mucus membranes get occluded by purulent phlegm. Sinusitis is often caused by infection spreading from the nose, and are mostly viral/bacterial in nature. Allergy can also cause sinusitis. The main symptoms are headache, tenderness over affected sinuses, heaviness of head, nasal stuffiness, bad breath, facial pain, sore throat, swelling around eyes (more in the morning) etc.
At Dr Jacobs Ayurveda and Panchakarma Hospital, we have our own Oushadhi Pharmacy (A Govt. of Kerala Undertaking) selling Authentic medicines for different ailments.