THE FOLLOWING ARE SYMPTOMS AND CONDITIONS COMMONLY TREATED BY THE WASHINGTON ACUPUNCTURE CENTER. ASTHMA Asthma is a disease process involving widespread narrowing of the bronchi associated with wheezing and often spnea at rest The bronchial narrowing is a response to either inhaled, ingested, or parent rally administered antigens Asthma ay also be induced by bacterial or viral infections and is apparently a manifestation of an allergic response to some allergen produced by the infecting organism. Although asthma may be a life-threatening disease, many physicians consider emotional factors significant in precipitating acute exacerbations We might say that they cause an imbalance of Yin-Yang energy in the respiratory system making the patient more sensitive to allergens. Evaluation of asthma patients prior to acupuncture treatment should exclude an infective or parenteral basis for the disease. A chest X-ray will help to exclude causes of wheezing, such as airway obstruction by neoplasm. Consideration should also be given to more rare causes of wheezing, as for example, erotonin producing tumors. Most patients seeking acupuncture treatment for asthma, however, have had the disease for several years and adequate diagnostic studies to rule out etiology requiring surgical or other medical treatment. The first acupuncture treatment will often relieve an acute exacerbation, but a course of 6 - 10 treatments should be given for lasting relief. It is not necessary that the patient have asthma symptoms at the time he takes acupuncture treatments or it. If a person has been taking cortisone or one of its derivatives for a long time, the drug may have suppressed his adrenal glands to the point that he will develop a life-threatening adrenal crisis if he stops taking the drug abruptly. These drugs should only be discontinued gradually over a period of months under the supervision of a physician, even if the asthma has been completely relieved by acupuncture. next