In this chapter I will concentrate on the treatment of allergic or "atopic" asthma, also called
early-onset or extrinsic asthma. The incidence of atopic asthma (and of eczema which is
associated with it) has steadily increased in industrialized countries in the past decades. In spite
of the introduction of several new drugs for the treatment of asthma, severe asthma is still by far
the most common chronic debilitating disease in childhood and its mortality rate has not
declined. Indeed, some researchers are investigating the possibility that the long-term use of
some anti-asthma drugs such as bronchodilators may be detrimental and may even have
increased the mortality rate from this disease, which, in the USA, has increased by 45% in the
past 10 years.
The theoretical framework of Chinese medicine and its approach to treatment focus on
symptoms rather than diseases. For example, textbooks of Chinese internal medicine discuss the
treatment of "epigastric pain", "chest pain", "constipation", etc. Western internal medicine, on
the contrary, discusses only the treatment of recognized "diseases" such as "stomach ulcer",
"coronary heart disease", "diverticulitis", etc.
We generally treat specific Western diseases by referring to a corresponding Chinese symptom.
For example, in order to treat a person with a stomach ulcer, we can clearly use the
differentiation and treatment of "epigastric pain" in Chinese medicine. In some cases, the
correspondence is less obvious. For example, in order to differentiate and treat hypertension, we
generally need to refer to the differentiation and treatment of "Headache" and "Dizziness" in
Chinese medicine.
Asthma is a well-defined disease with very specific and characteristic aetiology and pathology.
In order to diagnose and treat it properly with Chinese medicine, we must identify the symptom
to which it most closely corresponds in the Chinese framework. All textbooks of Chinese
medicine, whether Chinese or Western, say that asthma corresponds to the symptom of
"Xiao-Chuan" as defined in Chinese medicine. The reason for this is probably also semantic as
the Chinese word for "asthma" is xiao-chuan and, in terminology, there is no way of
distinguishing between allergic asthma and chronic breathlessness from other causes. I propose
that:
- Xiao (Wheezing) and Chuan (Breathlessness) are two separate symptoms
- Allergic asthma does not correspond to either of them (although it is somewhat
closer to Xiao than Chuan) and the differentiation and treatment of Xiao or Chuan
cannot be applied to asthma.
In order to ascertain the correspondence and differences between Xiao-Chuan and asthma we
have to discuss the three following aspects:
- The pathology and aetiology of allergic asthma in Western medicine
- The connections and differences between Xiao-Chuan and allergic asthma