'METHOD GIVES SUFFERERS NEW LEASE ON LIFE'

Four-year-old Brigid Bohackyj has been given a new lease on life through a drug-free method of treating asthma.

After her daughter was hospitalised five times in two years Patricia Bohackyj decided to seek an alternative treatment for her daughter's debilitating asthma condition.

"The last attack was in June and she was hospitalised for three days", Mrs Bohackyj said.

"I said to myself, 'I've got to do something'."

The fact that Mrs Bohackyj's grandfather died of asthma sent chills up her spine - it is not a hereditary condition but it claims the lives of more than 700 people every year.

The person this Towradgi mother of three turned to for help was Nina Marzi, the daughter of the late Dr. Alexander James who gained fame for developing a unique drug-free method of treating asthma. Mrs Marzi continued the work of her father from her Wollongong home after his death in 1976.

The treatment involves a vibratory machine designed by Dr James, which activates the nervous centres controlling breathing, and a number of breathing exercises.

Brigid's asthma seems to have disappeared, her appetite has increase, she is sleeping better, her ability to concentrate has improved and, according to her mother, she is "easier to manage because she is not ill with asthma".

"She can see the difference herself, she comes to me now and says: 'Mummy I want to do my exercise', " Mrs Bohackyj said.

There are concerns about the prolonged use of asthma drugs: parents say Ventolin makes their children hyperactive and some believe it can cause osteoporosis later in life.

Mrs Marzi advises asthma patients not to take themselves off prescribed drugs.

"Your chest has to open up first", she said. "It is very dangerous to stop the drugs if you don't know how".

Seven-year-old Dylan Pickford is currently in Wollongong with his grandmother, Cecilia, receiving treatment from Mrs Marzi. "He was constantly sick with bronchitis that turns into asthma," Cecilia said.

"We were on a merry-go-round of never being bronchitis free and it always turned to asthma. It was just too terrifying to keep giving him drugs". From day one of the new treatment, Dylan started to feel better and his breathing improved. After five days there seems to be no signs of asthma.

Dr James, who died in 1976, fought for years to have his method "rubber stamped" by the medical profession. His daughter, Mrs Marzi, is carrying on the battle for recognition of a drug-free cure in an environment where prescription drugs are big business.

"It is inconceivable in the medical profession that drug therapy and Dr James' method could be combined because the two principles are contradictory," Mrs Marzi said.

"They wanted father to combine them but he said no, he said: 'Why should I make my patients suffer? I want to cure them, not make them suffer'."

Dr James, a fiery Russian Cossack, developed a method of treating asthma patients in Russia while working with injured soldiers in World War 1. He compiled a complete method in 1920 after testing a range of exercises and massage treatments.

He arrived in Australia in 1940 and three years later, at the age of 61, he went back to medical school as his Russian qualifications were not recognised in Australia. In 1946 he started practicing in Australia on the premise that asthma was not a disease but a defective functioning of the lungs.

"My breathing exercises are designed to exercise the system of breathing muscles, restore the mobility of the chest and abdomen walls necessary for normal respiration", he said.

The Asthma Foundation said information on asthma treatments provided by it was base on scientific evidence which had proven the treatments were beneficial. The Foundation encourages Mrs Marzi to have her father's method objectively tested so that other people may benefit from it.

Clinical Nurse Consultant Kerry Shaw, from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Wollongong Hospital, said she had tried to obtain information on the Dr James Method from the National Health and Research Council and had been unsuccessful.

She did however, point to a study into another breathing technique, the Buteyko method, which found it resulted in less reliever medication and as a result less preventative medication. The study found this method made no change to lung function.

It found, however, over-breathing could make asthma worse and that teaching people to control their breathing could improve their management of asthma.

Ms Shaw said though the method may be useful to some people she warned them not to go off their medication especially if they suffered moderate to severe asthma.

"I advise people to continue monitoring their asthma and talking to a medical officer because ignoring signs of deteriorating asthma and failure to respond quickly and appropriately results in 60 per cent of asthma deaths per annum.

We have approximately 700 asthma deaths per year in Australia."

Mrs Marzi claims the Dr James Method has cured thousands of people who suffered from asthma and that her father was known around the world as a healer.

The treatment takes about 25 minutes and is repeated daily for 12 to 15 days. Mrs Marzi has written two books on Dr James' drug-free method. She urges people who want to lean more about this method to call 4229-3063