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Publication:- Daily Mail Date: 26th April 2005

The inhaler filled with salt that beat my asthma.

SAM CLAYTON has suffered so badly from asthma over the years that she has been taken to hospital 10 times and running or doing vigorous exercise has been impossible.
But next month, the 36-year-old mother of two plans to run in a charity race to raise money for cancer research.
She says her life has been transformed by using a non-drug inhaler containing salt granules. Since starting with a salt pipe - filled with rock salt – she has dispensed with using her two main asthma inhalers.
“I’ve had chronic asthma for 20 years and have always had to use my inhalers several times a day without fail,” she says. “But now I’m free of them. I gained real benefit from the pipe within a couple of weeks.”
“It feels as if I don’t have asthma any more. I would never have contemplated jogging three miles before. Even running short distances was difficult.”
Asthma affects more than five million people in Britain. People with the disease suffer “attacks” or acute episodes, when the air passages in their lungs narrow and breathing becomes difficult.
Attacks are caused by the airways over-reacting to certain factors. They become inflamed and clogged with mucus. Normal inhalers work by suppressing the inflammatory response that narrows the airways.
But the salt inhaler works by passing tiny salt particles into the respiratory system, where the sodium content flushes away impurities and mucus from the surface of cells.
Rock salt has been used for centuries around the world to ease respiratory discomfort.
A trail involving asthmatic and allergic patients, and those with the lung condition chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, showed the salt pipe improved symptoms in more than half of them. During a three-week period, 25 of the 50 patients were given a placebo pipe and the others a pipe with salt.
At the end of the trial, 56 percent of those using the salt pipe had an improvement in lung function compared to 34 percent on the placebo pipe. Just under 74 per cent had an improvement in their breathing.
Dr Chris Steele, a Manchester GP and GMTV doctor has tried the salt pipe on patients and has good results.
“If people can safely cut back on inhalers, which contain quite powerful drugs with frequent side-effects, that must be good.”
“The important thing is to always have an inhaler in reserve just in case you need to use one in emergency.”
Dr Margit Szekely a consultant paediatrician from Budapest, has used the salt pipe extensively on children, “I have been using it for about three years and have had good results.” She says.
Some had chronic asthma or allergies and have been able to reduce their drug medication or, in some cases, stop it altogether.
However the charity asthma UK claims test results from using the salt pipes have proved inconclusive.
“If people want to use this pipe they should tell their GP or hospital consultant and make sure not to throw away their current medication.” A spokesman said.
Despite the reservations about the salt pipe device, Sam, a supermarket worker from Nottingham, says it has changed her life.
“I was convinced I would never get off my inhalers. Then my friend recommended the pipe and it has worked really well. Now I hardly wheeze at all.”

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