Why do people with asthma seek to use complementary therapies?

A variety of reasons for this have been proposed in the medical literature. The most frequently suggested reasons are:

• Dissatisfaction with Western medicine and treatment options.
• Dissatisfaction with patient–doctor relationship.
• Desperation about current disease-state severity and treatment.
• Philosophical congruence with a complementary therapy.
• Perception of complementary therapies being safe and natural.
• A means of coping with a chronic illness.
• Feeling empowered by use of complementary therapies.

Complementary therapies and asthma in healthcare practice

While there may be insufficient medical evidence for health professionals to recommend a complementary therapy to people with asthma, patients may feel that a complementary therapy is worth considering. Patients may appreciate a discussion of the evidence and consider a trial of therapy with some measurable expectations. Although there may be no change in objectively measured outcomes, such as improvement in peak flow measurements or spirometry, a patient may feel that a complementary therapy has been successful if they are just feeling better. It is worthwhile assessing how the patient judges their asthma control and work with them to assess the effectiveness of a particular therapy or therapies. Some suggested strategies are to:

• talk openly about the patient’s reason for their choice and what benefit they hope to get from it;
• inform the patient that any change in current treatment should be considered a trial to attempt better
  control/reduced drug usage, in the same way you would trial a new medication regimen;
• consider engaging in discussion with the therapist of the patient’s choice, just as you would with an allied health professional;
• discuss with the patient some methods for self-assessment of improvement in asthma control for some weeks before, during and after the trial of complementary therapy. 
  For example, before-and-after comparisons of:
  - night-time waking
  - early morning bronchoconstriction
  - exercise tolerance
  - use of bronchodilator
  - reduction in preventer use
  - days missed from school/work;
• discuss with the patient the need to formally assess their asthma control before, during and after the trial of complementary therapy by using, for example
  - quality-of-life symptom score
  - peak expiratory flow rates (in adults)
  - spirometry.

When using standard medical treatment or complementary therapies, it is important to remember the aims of treatment.