Salt mines: A miracle respiratory cure?

Unique relief from asthma deep underground in Ukraine

Driving by the village of Solotvino in western Ukraine, you'd never know that a unique healing haven for lung ailments lies deep beneath its dreary landscape of Soviet-era buildings and trash heaps.

Three hundred meters (985 feet) underground, hundreds of people with respiratory illnesses leave their ailments behind in the cavernous tunnels carved out of a working salt mine, the walls glistening with salt deposits.

"There are children who get one or two treatments and they forget about asthma," says Yaroslav Chonka, the chief doctor at Ukraine's allergological hospital in Ukraine's Transcarpathian region, on the border with Romania, which has been treating patients with this alternative method since 1976...

The method practiced at the hospital is called speleotherapy -- using the microclimates of underground places like mines or caves to treat lung ailments -- and has been in use in eastern Europe since the beginning of the last century, when the first such spa was opened in a salt mine in the Polish village of Velicko, near Krakow.

The practice grew out of observations in the mid 1800s by a Polish health official that salt miners did not suffer from respiratory ailments like tuberculosis.

Today salt sanitoriums are dotted throughout central and eastern Europe. Some use salt mines, others salt caves, while others offer rooms lined with salt crystals...

Much, more...

This is a fascinating article! It is estimated that more than 17 million people in the US have been diagnosed with asthma. I wonder how many have heard of this?


[edit on 16-11-2005 by loam]

This is WONDERFUL. Thanks loam.

This also has implications for bird flu and other chronic diseases like COPD - which have the molecular biology of allergic asthma.

And now, the link?

Loam can you give us a link please?

It interesting and my bet is due to the stable temperature, humidty, and relativly clean air. Not sure if the salty air would do anything positive or negative for asthma or reactive airway type diseases.

Now is the article suggesting a permanant cure for asthma and the like? I would be a bit skeptical if that is the claim. Many asthma triggers are chemical or environmental and while you have short term gains when in the mine environment if they go back to the same conditions the asthma may come back.

Link fixed. Sorry, got distracted....

Originally posted by loam
Link fixed. Sorry, got distracted....

Thanks.

And we knew that.

Looks like FredT's speculations were at least close to the mark. Does make it quite plain our world is seriously dirty and unhealthy, doesn't it?

...I suspect though that the lack of electromagnetic waves as well as the salt content are critical to the 'microclimate' treatment.

Too bad it's not permanent though. Seems like no cure can be relied upon in our world the way it is - just living here is a guarantee of re-infection.


.

It makes me wonder if those conditions could be replicated through some type of respiratory device/mask... A year seems like a significant advance over pharmaceutical treatments.

Originally posted by loam
It makes me wonder if those conditions could be replicated through some type of respiratory device/mask... A year seems like a significant advance over pharmaceutical treatments.

We do: humidified oxygen. But electromagnetic protection? That would be a tough one as every electronic device has some leakage. And the reason all the good wineries in Napa are digging caves to store thier wine is the oh so percise temerature control that a cave allows. Those suckers are pretty steady.

FredT:

Do you think the salt plays any role?

Originally posted by loam
FredT:

Do you think the salt plays any role?

I have no idea . Asthma rates do seem to be lower in costal towns, but air guality which is a big player tends to be better in those areas to begin with. I cannot think of a medical reason for salt air to have any impact. High sodium levels have shown to make Asthma worse but I did not find much on salt air either pro or con.


A nurse mentioned a device in the UK called a "Salt Pipe" that when breathed through is supposed to help, but as always I am a skeptic
www.breatheeasysaltpipe.co.uk...


[edit on 11/16/05 by FredT]

I read Soficrow's reply again...

Originally posted by soficrow
salt content are critical to the 'microclimate'

I assume that would lead to a fairly sterile climate, but the whole bit about tuberculosis is fascinating.

The practice grew out of observations in the mid 1800s by a Polish health official that salt miners did not suffer from respiratory ailments like tuberculosis.

Something was either preventing their infection or eliminating it.

This seems like something that would definately be worthy of additional scientific study.

The salt walls would not be an ideal spot for mold and bacteria to grow on either

Hey, FredT, speaking of bacteria:

Blame it on bacteria: Germ may be asthma culprit

Can a bacterial infection cause chronic asthma?

The National Institutes of Health have awarded $7.5 million to National Jewish Medical and Research Center to find the answer.

The study, which could dramatically alter treatment of the ailment afflicting 20 million Americans, all started with one woman's crippling asthma and the discovery of bacteria in her lungs.

More...

Maybe there is a connection with the salt and bacteria issue after all...

Thats a great find Loam . As more research comes in we are finding that simple bacteria are culprits in many diseases. From the cuase of ulcers a recent study by stanford which indicates Influenza may be the trigger for MS. I look foreward to the results.

I see someone mentioned evnvironmental, and physical asthma, but don't forget stress induced. My best friend damn near died from an asthma attack back in June of 01, ever since, not only does he suffer the normal asthma symptoms, but as a result of the June 01 hospital visit, he has a god awful panic attack disorder which stems from the asthma. So now, and ever since, when he has a panic attack, it turns into a serious asthma attack, were talking epipen time. It sucks watching a friend that loved to go into the country and get lost, or fly across the country all the sudden over night, become someone controlled by asthma, and a panic disorder. It's a shame, and asthma is serious business, people that suffer from it call it dry land drowning, and I've seen it enough to agree. I can't imagine what it'd be like.

I'm interested in this as well, and anything else that deals with the subject. Per capita where my friend and I live has one of the highest fatility rates in the entire U.S. for asthma attacks(as of 2001). And it's getting much worse. I've never had any breathing problems, but about 50% of the time where we live there's a chemical/biological odor in the air, one night, when it stunk out, he was having more troubles than he normally has, and believe it or not, I could feel it too. I'd say, and this is in laymans terms, my lungs were only working 75% that night, and other nights when the smell is really heavy. I don't think the "smell" is from cars, factories, ect, but from fertalizer manufacturing, and chemical manufacturing that takes place about 10 miles down wind from here.

There really ought to be a cure for this sometime soon, the patients need it.

Wow, interesting stuff - this is why I came to ATS.

If the salty, moist air penetrates the lungs, it could not only destroy the bacteria present, but maybe even make the environment unsuitable for new growth?

Is it like jerking the lungs, to prevent spoilage?

I've never been an asthma sufferer, I spent some time on a farm as a baby and I think that innoculated me against allergens. I have no known food allergies, and no environmental ones either. My folks seem to think that the farm animals I played with as a kid were responsible for toughening me up.

Literature I've read on the subject since then seems to agree.

Maybe the solution to allergies and asthma is as simple as returning to a system whereby people raise their own animals for slaughter, instead of outsourcing the job to others?

It's amazing to me, the lengths cities have gone to keep farm animals out. There's mercury and arsenic and lead in the water, but I can't have a rabbit hutch or a pig pen? Serious logical disconnect there...

I'm in the process of preparing my little corner of paradise to receive some livestock, rabbits at first, and then probably some goats. I don't want to raise kids in a sterile urban environment, air conditioned and medicated and anesthetized. It seems an elegant archaic solution to a very sticky modern problem.

Just a thought, would inhaling salt water steam have the same effect, do you suppose? I know some folks use steam to clear the airways - could parents with asthmatic children replicate the salt mine conditions at home? The big difference I see is the temperature. How does one go about procuring cool steam?

I read high levels of sodium will lyse bacteria cells by devoiding them of water.
High levels of glucose as well. Honey doesnt need refrigeration.

I believe there very well be some clinical efficacy to this.