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Nina MarziOBSERVATIONS
For many years my father and I have observed with dismay and alarm the worldwide stagnation and lack of any positive progress in the contemporary medical management of asthma. It is a matter for concern that in spite of the time, money, and sincere effort of those engaged in asthma research, no new findings other than a variety, or variation of anti-asthmatic drugs have evolved. It is well known that drug therapy . the only accepted method of treatment in general medical use, is palliative, symptomatic, and never curative. It is perhaps not so well known that asthma is steadily increasing in incidence, severity and mortality. The Asthma Foundation of New South Wales states:
Specialists have called for urgent research to see whether some anti-asthma treatment may be killing rather than curing. (Refer to article 'Doctors told: take a breath over puffer doses') In other words, in spite of all the new 'wonder' drugs - cortisone, Intal etc. medical science has failed to reverse this alarming trend, or to solve the 'mystery' of asthma, which - according to a consensus of medical opinion - is incurable. Co-author of a national report on the financial cost of asthma, and head of Epidemiology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's Institute of Respiratory Medicine, said asthma was becoming more common and severe, leading to an increasing community burden. The report (released in November 1992) states that asthma costs a staggering $720 million a year to the Australian community but no attempt was made to place a financial value on the intangible yet significant quality of life costs. More than 1.25 million Australians are condemned to the misery, pain and uncertainty of a life of physical, emotional, and very often economic distress due to their asthmatic condition. They are unable to escape from the never-ending cycle of : asthma.drugs.asthma ad.infinitum, because the only treatment offered by the medical profession to asthma sufferers is temporary relief of the symptoms by palliative, bronchodilatory drug therapy. There is no country in the world in which asthma is not a social and medical problem, and as such, should be treated as an emergency, due to the fact that the only management of asthma is by drugs.
ASTHMA'S COST Total number of GP visits.....................84,900,000 Total cost of GP visits....................... $1,801m Total number of Specialist visits...................14,900,000 Total cost of Specialist visits..................... $793m Total days of reduced work activity due to asthma per annum......3,196,000 Total school days lost due to asthma in a school year...... 965,200 Total cost of ambulance responses for asthma.......... $4.9m Total cost of invalid pensions for asthma............... $83.6m Total cost of sickness benefits for asthma............... $17.6m More than 2 million Australians are afflicted with asthma. Australia has one of the highest death rates from asthma. There were 685 deaths in 1998. The current estimated annual cost to a family with one child with asthma who has been admitted to hospital in the previous 12 months is $884, and an average of 153 hours are spent obtaining treatment.
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS Acceptance of the cause of asthma as a mechanical, pathological condition which can be corrected by physical means is the first requirement. Inevitably, this departure from the orthodox concept of asthma as an incurable 'mystery' disease, leads the doctor to an entirely new approach to the general management of asthma, and means that many of the accepted ideas relating to the orthodox treatment of asthma must be discarded. To ensure the successful results which can be achieved by the adoption of the James Method - thorough training of the doctor/therapist in the scientific principles and practical application of the method is necessary. This will enable him/her to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the method as a whole; and it is essential to apply, adapt or select the therapy with discrimination according to the individual requirements of each asthmatic patient, subject to age, general health, duration of asthma conditions, severity of bronchitis, drug dependency, and the consequences of previous anti-asthmatic drug therapy etc. With regard to the Vibrator, too much use is just as foolish as too little. Only the trained therapist is able to assess the right timing. It is the ability to employ the method, simple in itself, which is the key to successful results. This cannot be fully achieved by only witnessing a practical demonstration, or by following a documentation, however competent and fully prepared. When my father was alive, it had been suggested that a Centre be established to combine the training of Medical Personnel in Dr Alexander James' Method of asthma treatment with the treatment of asthmatics. This would be the most satisfactory and efficient means of providing the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge and practical experience for the responsible application of the method as a whole. At the preliminary investigation in 1971, it was agreed that a clinic would be set up in Wollongong Hospital where the method would be assessed, where Dr James would be able to treat his patients, and where he would be able to teach his method to whoever wanted to learn it. He signed the agreement, but then the Medical panel insisted on including additional impositions which were: the panel would be over Dr James; he would be able to see only the patients the panel would give him; he must use the peak flow meter (which was against his principles); the panel could inject drugs into his patients at any time. Now, how could he accept these conditions when the whole concept of his method was based on the fact (and I quote his own words):
It is now the responsibility of those to whom it may concern, to consider the potentialities of the adoption of the James Method as standard in the management of asthma, and its further implications in the treatment, prevention and eradication of asthma. For instance, defective breathing as the initial first cause of asthma conditions could easily be prevented or corrected in school children by the institution of a regime of CORRECT, SIMPLE, DAILY BREATHING EXERCISES. Hand in hand with the practical implementation of Dr James' Method would go the education of the doctor/trained therapist and the asthmatic patient, in general basic rules relating to DIET, CIRCULATION, CLOTHING AND BEHAVIOUR during treatment and after.
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