There is not much worse in the world than the sensation of not getting enough air. I almost drowned once at a lake in southern Michigan and was going down for the third time when a friend pulled me to shallow water and helped me to shore. Even though that was years ago, I can very vividly remember my sheer panic, gasping, and the burning in my lungs as I tried to hold my breath. I never appreciated air so much!
Fast forward to my work in health care, specifically as a pain and symptom control specialist in hospice care. Many of my patients could not comfortably breathe, whether they were struggling with lung cancer, end-stage emphysema, or congestive heart failure with fluid accumulation in the lungs. I learned many medical ways to help improve oxygenation, but I never felt it was enough to fully alleviate the suffering.
Given these experiences, I have a special appreciation for people struggling with inflammatory lung diseases, which includes asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung fibrosis. There are several other diseases in this category, but these are the best known. Inflammation in the lungs is very common, and it affects a lot of people. More than 30 million American adults and children have chronic inflammatory lung conditions—that’s almost one out of every 10 people! And with age, our risk for inflammatory diseases increases.
Inflammation Puts On the Squeeze
When you sprain your ankle tripping on the cat, it will become inflamed. What happens next? It swells up. If your ankle is very swollen, you will have trouble getting your shoe on and walking. If you have inflammation in your lungs, regardless of cause, the tissue swells and pushes against the little alveoli, which are the small air sacs where the lungs and your blood exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. Imagine if you start stacking a bunch of boxes around a doorway, the door doesn’t open as far. If you start stacking a bunch of swollen tissue around your alveoli, you are not going to get optimal air exchange. You also cannot exhale as powerfully and mucous is not easily expelled. Mucous also interferes with air exchange, and if it is not expelled from the lungs, it becomes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which can cause serious infection.
Inflammation in the lungs can be temporary, as in bronchitis and pneumonia, but it can also be chronic. In either instance, reducing lung inflammation and improving the ability of the lungs to expel mucous is tremendously beneficial.
Unique Inflammatory Pathways
Unfortunately, there is a special challenge to treating lung inflammation. It is a totally different flavor of inflammation. I often say that most inflammation in the body is chocolate and vanilla. When you get a sunburn, dislocate your shoulder, or hit your thumb with a hammer, it is nearly all chocolate and vanilla inflammation that responds to typical treatment. But lung inflammation is pistachio, and does not respond to typical treatments at all! No over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen or naproxen sodium touch it. No prescription NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), such as Celebrex touch it. They only work on chocolate and vanilla.
There is a class of prescription drugs that reduce pistachio inflammation, also known as 5-LOX or 5-lipoxegenase inflammation. Those drugs are steroids, which wipe out all inflammation, and have terrible side effects, even life-threatening if used for long periods of time.
Boswellia
Boswellia serratta is an herb used medicinally for thousands of years that is very powerful against 5-LOX (pistachio) inflammation. There are published human trials showing that boswellia is effective for lung inflammation, both chronic and acute.
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, six-week clinical study, boswellia was tested in 40 men and women with asthma, ranging in age from 18 to 75 years old. At the end of the study, 70 percent of the people in the boswellia group showed marked improvement, which was far more significant than placebo.
The secret to boswellia’s power lies in a family of compounds called boswellic acids. There are many helpful boswellic acids, but the most helpful is acetyl-keto-1-beta boswellic acid, or AKBA for short. AKBA is a superstar. However, unstandardized boswellia can have as little as 1 percent AKBA, which is minimally effective. The best boswellias have at least 10 percent naturally occurring AKBA. It may surprise you to discover that there is also a bad character in the boswellia family called beta boswellic acid (BBA). This compound makes up approximately 20 percent of the family and actually increases inflammation. Researchers have developed processes to purify boswellia to remove this compound to less than 5 percent, which greatly boosts the activity of this botanical medicine. This is an instance where botanical standardization and purification is essential to effectiveness.
Thyme and Myrtle
Thyme (Thymus satureioides) provides natural compounds in its essential oil—thymol and carvacrol— that help you deal with the symptoms that make bronchial diseases so uncomfortable. They reduce spastic coughing and throat irritation, help open up certain airways in the lungs, and boost the activity of the fluttering cilia in the lungs to keep mucus moving so that it can be eliminated. This allows for much easier breathing.
Myrtle (Myrtus communis) is another botanical medicine in use in Europe for more than 75 years, especially in the Mediterranean countries. It is an evergreen shrub that has leaves rich in oils that have antiseptic and antibacterial properties. The essential oil is excellent for treating bronchial and lung infections. And like thyme, myrtle also stimulates the cilia’s activity to clear mucous from the lungs.
Ivy
Ivy leaf (Hedra helix) may be a problem in the garden where it can get out of control quickly, but it contains excellent medicinal compounds that do three things that improve breathing. First, it is an expectorant, which means it improves the ability to expel mucous from the lungs via coughing. Next, it is a mucolytic, meaning it breaks up mucous so it can be more easily eliminated. Last, but certainly nor least, it is a bronchodilator, meaning it opens up the doors a little more to improve oxygen exchange.
Ivy leaf extract has been clinically studied in both adults and children. It has been used as a natural medicine in Europe for several decades, both for chest congestion due to colds, flu and bronchitis but also for more chronic problems like asthma.
In many of the European formulas, Ivy is combined with other complementary herbals. One of the most popular combinations is with thyme (Thymus vulgaris). This is because there are phenols called thymol and carvacol that sooth coughs and help break up mucous.
Conclusion
I am not suggesting that people with lung inflammation toss their medicine and inhalers out the window. That would be very dangerous indeed! However, discussing the use of these herbal medicines with a health care practitioner to find out if they are right for your specific regimen is the first step toward better breathing. VR
References:
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Gupta I, Gupta V, Parihar A, Gupta S, Lüdtke R, Safayhi H, Ammon HP. Effects of Boswellia serrata gum resin in patients with bronchial asthma: results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 6-week clinical study. Eur J Med Res. 1998 Nov 17;3(11):511-
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Soomro S, Mesaik MA, Shaheen F, et al. Inhibitory Effects of Myrtucommuacetalone 1 (MCA-1) from Myrtus communis on Inflammatory Response in Mouse Macrophages. Molecules. 2019;25(1):13. Published 2019 Dec 18. doi:10.3390/molecules25010013.
Cheryl Myers is an integrative health nurse, author, and an expert on natural medicine. She is a nationally recognized speaker who has been interviewed by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Prevention magazine. Her many articles have been published in such diverse journals as Aesthetic Surgery Journal and Nutrition in Complementary Care, and her research on botanicals has been presented at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the North American Menopause Society. Myers is the head of scientific affairs and education for EuroPharma, Inc.
