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ADIOS ASTHMA--THE BOOK

A New CURE For Childhood Asthma

FORWARD

The purpose of this book is to tell mothers that there is a cure for childhood asthma.

Plain and simple. It will not help every asthmatic child, but most of them.

We learned about it 40 years ago, and we have been treating asthmatic children ever since then with a principle learned from one patient. He was a seven-year-old with severe asthma: ERs a couple of visits a month, all the medicines that he could swallow, days absent from school, and constant wheezing. A sick little boy.
The lesson we learned was revolutionary. This book will teach this lesson. The lesson is simple and easy to learn. It could be taught in 15 minutes. Read this book and see if this lesson applies to your child or someone you know.

CHAPTER 1
The Beginning


Here is the lesson we learned.

A 7-year-old boy was referred to our clinic for help with his asthma. His mother (let’s call her Virginia) brought him in for hypnosis. She heard hypnosis could help, so we tried hypnosis with him. But it didn’t work. It helped for the time that he was in the office, but the improvement left within minutes after leaving. So, we gave up on treating him.

          Virginia, however, decided to have counseling for herself. She was a college student in her twenties, unmarried, raising her son on her own. She had a lot to talk about. At the third meeting she was wiped out and said that she was up all night with her son. He had to go to the Emergency Room because his asthma was so bad. And then she mentioned, “You know, I do so much for my son, and yet I don’t even have any feelings of love for him. I don’t know why.”

          Those words were significant! It alerted the therapist to the possibility that she probably did not bond with her son. And if she did not bond with her son, it meant that there had to be some disruption in the child’s birth. Why? Because a mother who does not bond with her child was either separated from her baby at birth or she was suffering some trauma around the time of his birth. (This fact comes from the research of Drs. Klaus and Kennell. More about this later.)

          The therapist asked her about her son’s birth. Sure enough, both of these conditions were present: he was sick and rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit immediately after he was born. He did not return to her for several hours; and he stayed in the hospital when she went home.

And there was a great trauma in Virginia’s life: His father left her in the first month of her pregnancy. This was proof that she did not bond with her baby at birth. When Virginia heard this, she wept because she thought that it was her fault that she did not feel a love for her son.

          The therapist decided to remove the grief from VirginIa using hypnosis. Removing the grief was easy to do because so much time had passed. She was no longer upset about her spouse leaving (she was glad he was gone). And she was no longer bothered by her son being taken from her right after he was born.

          The therapist then had her imagine a new birth, just the way she wanted it. Virginia was able to do this quickly. Both of those interventions totaled less than 20 minutes. She cried when she imagined the new birth.

          Two months later, in a final therapy session, Virginia said to the therapist:
"Remember that session about a new birth for my son? Well, his asthma went away right after that. No wheezing; no attacks; no need for any medication. He had only one relapse and that was when he visited his father up the coast. His father phoned and told me that he was having an asthma attack. I told him to bring him right home. And when he came home and I held him, the attack stopped."

Surprised as can be, the therapists at the clinic looked for other asthmatic children, and we found three other mothers whose children had asthma. In each of these cases, there was clear evidence of a disruption in bonding.

Child #1

This mother had a son a year after she had a child die of Sudden Infant Death. The mother was still grieving the loss of her first child when she conceived this boy who became asthmatic. She was treated in the same fashion: remove the grief and imagine a perfect birth. She reported a week later that her son’s asthma was cured.

Child #2

This little boy’s mother had a pregnancy filled with sadness and grief. She was 14 when she got pregnant, and her parents were so embarrassed that they shipped her off to live with an aunt in the Midwest. Unfortunately, the aunt was also ashamed of her and let her know it. This very young mother was filled with shame and guilt and sadness.

Her son was diagnosed with asthma when he was 4 months old. His mother returned home and was able to bring him with her to a special school where young mothers could have their babies with them in class. The therapist removed the shame and sadness and asked her to imagine a perfect pregnancy and birth. Within a day the baby’s asthma was gone. His doctor was amazed and stopped all his medication.

Child #3

The third mother had a six-year-old asthmatic daughter who was adopted. Obviously, there was no bonding at birth. The mother was asked to imagine that she carried the baby in pregnancy and had an easy birth. Two days later, she reported that her daughter was no longer wheezing and did not need any more medication. She sent a note to the therapist:

"Well, what a surprise I had when I got home after Bonding Therapy. My daughter jumped into my arms and hugged me. She never did that before! Within a day, her wheezing stopped. And I feel a deep love for her now that I never felt before."

The staff continued to be amazed at these cures. They got the idea that asthma is related, in some fashion, to disruptions at birth—either the child was separated from its mother (like the adopted child and as in the original case) or the mother was suffering some tragedy in her life (like the 14 year old mother). Asthma, then, seemed to be related to bonding disruptions.

Bonding disruptions are discussed in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 2

  Maternal-infant Bonding

The discovery of Maternal-infant Bonding was by Doctors Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, both pediatricians are Case Western Reserve Hospital in Cleveland. They noticed that many babies who were sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after they were born often came back to the hospital abused, neglected, sick, or Failing to Thrive.

They looked at the research on animals and found that baby animals who were removed from their mothers after birth were almost always rejected by their mothers. The mothers would not nurse them, and they had to be fed by hand.

They concluded that the same thing must hold for humans—if the baby is removed from its mother after birth, the mother would not bond (fall in love) with her baby. AND IT IS NOT HER FAULT.

They also noticed that if the mother was going through some trauma in her life, she would not be able to bond with her baby. For example, if a relative just died or there were marital problems or she was sick, then she would not be able to bond with her baby.

They also found that C-Section mothers had a hard time bonding. The same is true for twins; the mother usually bonds with one but not both.

They did some research themselves and found that mothers who bonded (as compared to those who didn’t bond):
Talked to their babies differently, in a sing-song manner
Held their babies longer
Nursed longer
Did not fuss with them as much
Had fewer doctor visits
Were abused less often and failed to thrive less often

hat’s all there is to it! If the mother and child were separated at birth or if the mother was grieving at that time, the likelihood of her bonding with her baby was unlikely.

The research on bonding and asthma has shown that over 80% of asthmatic children have birth histories that look like they didn’t bond. They were either separated from their mothers right after birth, or their mothers were suffering something painful in their lives.

All kinds of research confirms this relationship. Here are some studies:

The National Jewish Allergy and Asthma Hospital in Denver found that children who came to their hospital from around the county were miraculously cured from their symptoms once they entered the hospital. So, the doctors thought it might be because of their environment. So, they asked the parents to send the children’s bedding with them to the hospital, but it made no difference. Once away from their home, they got better. However, when they returned home, the asthma returned. Asthma was related somehow to the family.

One of the signs of disruptions in bonding is a difficulty in soothing the child. Researchers noticed that asthmatic children were more difficult to calm down, and this was noticed at 3 weeks of age.

They also noticed in the doctors’ waiting rooms that non-bonded children were constantly “at” their mothers, needing contact and attention. By contrast, bonded children needed only to look at their mothers (from across the room) to feel OK.

Bonded mothers in doctors’ offices dealt with their pediatricians differently. They would not let their babies be alone with the doctor. They held on to the baby’s foot or hand and kept talking to the baby.

The important fact from all the research done on bonding is that when a mother does not bond (or fall in love) with her baby, it’s not her fault. Something was haywire from the beginning. The baby was separated from her at birth. Or she was suffering some tragedy in her own life. It is not her fault.

CHAPTER 3
Bonding Therapy

When a mother has not bonded with her baby, she lies in the weeds looking for the opportunity to do so.

Bonding Therapy is a three-part treatment.

1.The Non-Bonding Event (NBE) needs to be discovered.

     As mentioned above, the NBE occurs from being separated from the baby’s mother or from the mother being overwhelmed by something in her own life.

Separation at birth happens when:
the baby is sick and sent to the Neonatal ICU
the hospital routinely takes babies away from their mothers the mother is anesthetized and unable to be with her baby
the baby is adopted.

Being overwhelmed in her own life occurs when:
the mother is grieving the death of someone close
the mother’s partner leaves the family
the mother is suffering from a psychological problem
the mother does not want this pregnancy
the mother has serious marital problems
the mother is addicted to something
anything else which distracts the mother from her baby 2.

2. The NBE has to be healed

This is essential. If the NBE is still bothering the mother, she needs to be healed from it. Of course, some NBEs might be healed already. For example, she may be over the death of her father. Or she may be glad that her husband was gone; she’s over it finally. Or she had some therapy about the auto accident that hurt her. Or she is now clean and sober.

However, if the NBE still bothers her, she needs to be healed from it. How, you may ask? Through some form of healing process: hypnosis, EMDR, a spiritual practice, guided imagery, or any other treatment that can heal the thing that bothered her at the time of her pregnancy. In our clinic, this usually happens very quickly. Why? Because time helps to help, and her desire to clear her heart has been strong.

3. A new birth has to be created

The mother is next guided to imagine the birth of her baby just the way that she wanted. We do this in hypnosis, guided imagery, and EMDR. Here are the steps which we take:

She finds out that she is pregnant without the NBE around.
She finds out what it’s like at the end of the first trimester, without the NBE around.
The same is true from the second and third trimester.
She has a quick and easy birth.
She has the baby stay with her.
She has the baby nurse.
She has the baby stay with her until they leave the hospital.

When these steps are taken (discovering the NBE, healing the NBE, having a new birth), the child’s asthma will change. Some change quickly. Some take a little while to change.

What are the changes? We have seen children sleep through the night without wheezing, play sports without wheezing, get a cold and not wheeze, have NO MORE asthma attacks, miss no school because of asthma, no more ER visits, and a reduction or elimination of medication (with doctor’s oversight).

When a mother cannot imagine one of these new pregnancy and birth steps, it usually means that there is another NBE that has not been addressed.

How often do children respond this way? We found that over 80% of the children in our studies responded like this. The ones who did not get better were adolescents. Why? Probably because they are in the developmental process of moving away from their mothers.
How do you know if you have a Non-Bonding Event? The next chapter is a guide to discover if you do.

CHAPTER 4
MATERNAL-INFANT BONDING SURVEY

Name_ Child Age

The following questions look at the circumstances surrounding pregnancy and birth.

POSSIBLE PREGNANCY PROBLEMS Y N ?

Had worrisome bleeding during pregnancy

Had toxemia

Vomited a lot

Had to be medicated

Gained too much weight

Took a lot of illegal drugs

Drank excessively

Was sick through much of pregnancy

Labor lasted longer than 15 hours

Had a difficult delivery

Had a Caesarean Section

Was put to sleep for delivery

Got hurt during pregnancy

POSSIBLE OTHER PREGNANCY PROBLEMS
Y N ?

Had a previous miscarriage

Was overly depressed during pregnancy

Was very scared during pregnancy

Lost someone close during pregnancy

Had marital problems during pregnancy

Had serious financial problems during pregnancy

Had a serious loss after the child was born

Was overly depressed after the child was born

Had emotional problems after the child was born

Was very sick during delivery

Was very sick after the baby was born

Child was a twin or triplet

Moved during pregnancy or first year

Had any other traumatic thing happen

HOW WAS YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE BABY’S FATHER DURING PREGNANCY?

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BABY AFTER IT WAS BORN?

HOW LONG AFTER YOUR BABY WAS BORN DID YOU HOLD IT?

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WHEN YOU FIRST HELD THE BABY?

BABY’S CONDITION Y N ?

Injured during birth

Was born jaundiced

Had trouble breathing

Born with cord around neck

Was sick after birth

Spent time in an incubator

Spent time in an Intensive Care Nursery

Was born premature

Had an infection

Needed oxygen

Vomited often

Gagged often

Was kept in hospital after mother went home

Was born breach

LIST OTHER PROBLEMS THAT OCCURRED DURING PREGANCY, DELIVERY,
OR THE FIRST COUPLE OF MONTHS OF THE BABY’S LIFE.

________________

_



___________________________________

BABY’S PROBLEMS IN THE BEGINNING

Colic

Coughed a lot

Wheezed

Was sickly

Difficult to calm or comfort

Cried often

Was demanding

Could not be alone

Did not like to be held

Irritable

Was easily upset

Had lots of mucous

Was frightened easily

Seemed in pain a lot

Difficult to console

Feeding difficulties

Was not affectionate

ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR BABY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE?

ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FAMILY DURING
PREGNANCY, BIRTH, OR THE FIRST YEARS OF YOUR CHILD’S LIFE?

CHAPTER 5
Treatment Manual for Therapists

If you are a therapist working with a mother of an asthmatic child, the treatment is simple.
(1) Find out what interfered with the mother’s ability to bond with her child.
(2) Heal the pain that she may still feel.
(3) Create a new birth. This is profound work, and the results are quick to arrive.

1. Find out what interfered with her ability to bond

This usually does not take genius detective work. The main disruptors are separation after birth or maternal grief.

Separation at birth.

There can be several things that separate a baby from it mother. The baby can be sick and whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It can be part of the hospital’s usual procedure. Many hospitals routinely removed babies from their mothers right after they were born. However, after Klaus and Kennell published their book in 1976, hospitals changed their policies and made sure that the babies stayed with their mothers as long as possible.

The mother could be anesthetized and not see her baby for a long time. The baby could be adopted. The baby could be delivered by C-Section, and the mother could be too out of it to have a strong connection with her baby.

Maternal Grief

It is hard to bond with her baby (fall in love with her baby) when the mother is going through something in her own life that disrupts bonding. It’s hard to fall in love while you are grieving.
She could be grieving the loss of a relative or friend.
She could be having marital problems.
She could be addicted to drugs or alcohol.
She could be severely depressed.
She might not have wanted this pregnancy.
She could be sad about being in another state or country without support.
She could have twins, and she attends fully to one and not the other. Hard to fall in love with both.
Any other event which occupies the mother’s mind and heart could interfere with bonding. It’s hard to have two emotions at the same time: sadness and love.

2.Heal the interruption

Sometimes (and frequently) the cause of the non-bond has already been healed. The father’s death no longer grieves her. The baby being taken to the ICU no longer frightens her. She is now at peace with the father’s departure.

When this is the case, no treatment is needed. No healing is necessary. However, she’s still not bonded with her baby. She needs to know what it feels like to have her baby without the trauma in her life (see the next section).

If the interference has not been healed, it needs to be healed. How? There are lots of ways this can happen:

EMDR. Eye Movement and Desensitization and Prepressing is a valuable tool to heal traumas. It is quick and proven effective. Meditation or prayer can help. Hypnosis is very effective in healing grief or trauma. This will be explained in the next chapter.

Healing can take just a few minutes, especially with EMDR or hypnosis. Occasionally we send a mother to her own therapist or another therapist if the mother seems stuck. But only occasionally. For most, healing the NBE(s) happens in one session or part of one session.

3. Create a new birth

It is essential that the mother be guided through a new birth, even if the interference(s) is already cleared. For example, the mother may have already gotten over her father’s death; yet the child’s asthma persists. It is because she did not bond at the time of the birth when she was still grieving her father’s death. This has happened many times in our practice. Another example: the father ran away with another woman, the baby was born, and then he returned home. However, when the baby was born, she was unable to bond with it because she was grieving the trouble with her husband. So, she needs to go back to the pregnancy and birth and know what it’s like to have this baby without the interruption of grief.

At this clinic we guide the mother through several phases of pregnancy and birth:
Finding out she is pregnant
End of the first trimester
Same for second and third
Easy and quick birth
Time spent with baby and mother
Mother nurses Mom and baby stay together as long as mom wants They go home
*The mother is then told that these images are presented in a condensed form and they will expand over time.

If there is trouble having the mother experience one of the steps, it’s usually a sign that there is another NBE that has yet to be uncovered or dealt with.

At this clinic, we use hypnosis and ideomotor signaling. Ideomotor signaling is a simple technique that can be used in a light hypnotic state. It goes like this:

Using Hypnosis and Ideomotor Signals

The therapist can use any induction that he or she wants. You can find inductions in any hypnosis manual. Here is how we do it:

"Hold this pencil between your thumb and index finger. Stare at it. In a little while your eyelids will get heavy and droop and close. And in a little while your fingers will separate and the pencil will drop. (When that happens, say:) You can close your eyes now (if they aren’t closed.) Imagine now you are the top of a staircase and stepping down them: 10. 9. 8. Now your index finger is going to get light and start floating. (Keep counting to zero. When her finger floats, say:) I’m going to ask your Unconscious Mind some questions. And when it says YES, your index finger will float. When it says NO, your baby finger will float."

Then you start healing the interruption(s). You say, “I want you to clear up and heal your previous miscarriage (or whatever the NBE is). And when it is cleared, your index finger will float. (It floats.) And now I want you to heal whatever is left about your husband’s affair (or whatever it is). And when that clears, your index finger will float again."

When you are done with the NBEs, ask: “Is there anything else?” If the answer is YES, your yes finger will float. If there isn’t, your no finger will float.” When there is nothing left to heal, say: “You are now going to have a new birth, just the way you wanted it.”

Take her through the steps as written above (chapter 3, section 3). You say at each step, “And when you Unconscious Mind knows what this is like, your index finger will float.” Take her through them all, and then say: “Your Unconscious Mind has these events in a condensed form, and they will unfold with time. Is there anything else that is left?” If so, find out what it is and deal with it. If not, “I am going to count from 0 to 10, and you will return to a fully conscious state.”

      That should do it!