If the pillow is held in the light and tapped gently, one can observe that a cloud of fine dust will appear. Kapok is bad stuff. There are many patients who have been quite relieved of their asthma when kapok was found and removed. From this discussion of household dusts, it is clear that a personal visit by the doctor to the house of the patient will often lead to important discoveries. . . . If so, the next step is aminophylline 0.25 grams to be injected intravenously, but to be injected very slowly, taking at least three minutes by the watch, for the injection to be given.
Ephedrine is much like adrenalin, but is less potent. . . .
The patient takes up to four, or sometimes up to six, pills a day, as he finds necessary. The sprays are good for asthma of mild to moderate severity, and there are hundreds of patients who carry the machine with them at all times. The same nebulizer can be activated by the pressure of oxygen from a tank, or of air from an ordinary bicycle pump. Whenever asthma is really bad, the patient ought to be in the hospital. . . . In the hospital, a good nurse and the kindly attention of the doctor will do much to restore confidence.