PHYSICIANS IN ANCIENT
GREECE used the word asthma to describe gasping
or breathlessness. Without the tools and techniques that allow
modern physicians to explore inside the body, Greco-Roman physicians
and healers in other early civilizations practiced close observation
of their patients. Through observation and experience, they became
expert at interpreting their patients' symptoms. Most believed
breathlessnesslike all sickness resulted from internal
imbalances and that a healthy balance could be restored by diet,
plant and animal remedies, prayer, or lifestyle change.