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I’m old- and had severe childhood asthma that landed me in the hospital in the 70s. We didn’t have inhalers. Not even nebulizers.
Instead I was given what was essentially speed, by mouth and IV. And when my lungs would fill up, my mom would beat on my back to loosen it so I could cough it up.
They did tell me steam baths would help as well.
I didn’t get inhalers until the 80s.
What "helped" the most thogh
Stimulants and steamy baths- but mostly stimulants. Most of them, including ADHD versions, work great for as a bronchodilator but have obvious downsides. A meth addiction is not a suitable substitute for asthma.
There was a time when I was too poor to afford asthma medication- I learned to self-calm and load up on caffeine. This allowed me to breathe enough to sleep without getting the low O2 anxieties but do little else until it passed. It did result in my only adult hospitalization when I got the flu on top of an asthma attack- caffeine couldn’t touch it, then.
I read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, who suffered from asthma when he was young. Apparently they used to try all kinds of crazy shit on him whenever he had an asthma attack, like making him throw up, smoke cigars, or drink alcohol.
Also, what ultimately stuck based on your previous/current best understanding?
As far as the article goes, it is correct in that he did claim that "vigorous activity" "cured" his asthma. Is that true? I have no idea, I am not a historian, I just read a biography someone wrote about him once.
As far as what worked, the book claimed that vomiting actually did work, because it "startled" his body out of the asthma attack. Is that true? Also no idea.
I do know that there is such a thing as childhood asthma that people DO grow out of, that happened to my brother. He had it until he was a teen, and then it went away, and he hasn't had it since. This may have been the case for Teddy Roosevelt as well.
Suffering through I guess? Although just breathing in as much as you can and holding your breath as long as possible is a trick that my mum uses sometimes if she doesn't have her inhaler on her when she needs it so maybe that?
I wonder if humans at least have the endogenous abillity to attenuate their own asthma to a reasonable extent given asthmatics obviously went on to reproduce all the present-day asthmatics
Before current standards Cortison was much more common, often with theophylline. That would have been the recipe in the 80/90 in a lot of countries, with the first beta2 sympathomimetics coming up(Fenoterol). Before that (60-70ies)theophylline and Ephedrine were often given solo, sometimes with a barbiturate to counter the simulant, also prednisone started to gain traction.
Before that my sources didn't offer much,but Datura stramonium (Thornapple) was often used for ages - mostly smoked.
Nice article here,but it contains some errors: https://www.news-medical.net/health/Asthma-History.aspx
Ma Huang?
Ephedrine
Yes synthesized with the other ingredients of the plant.
Synthesized? With the other [alkaloids]? How?
I just mean naturally, with whatever other substances contained in the plant itself, not in the pharmacological sense. Probably not the best phrasing, my apologies. I've had a couple of shots.
Same, figuratively
They would simply die and not pass on those genes. Dear friend from kindergarten went that way. Also, and maybe more important, we have air pollution that was unthinkable 200-years ago.
To top it off, we humans were generally in better shape, and non-fat. I was having pretty bad lung problems, on the edge of full blown illness, when I started working my ass off outdoors at Lowe's. Within 2-weeks my lungs were straight again. That work also cured a few other ailments. OTOH, had to quit as I was getting my ass beat.
Getting my ass beat
U gonnna have to elaborate on that
I think they just mean they weren't very good at it
Air pollution was far worse everywhere besides the extremely rural areas since the middle ages in terms of the Asthma relevant particles and noxes. Combine that with a far worse indoor climate due to mold, animals, humidity, sooth, materials and that leads to a far higher prevalence for Asthma and respiratory illnesses. Which we basically know both from contemporary literature as well as bodies found.
Unless you worked mostly outside in a very very rural area your lungs were worse off 200 years ago than they are now.
