If you have asthma you get used to feeling a bit inadequate. Blotchy-faced and itchy-eyed, I'm often on the verge of an inappropriate sneeze. At school I was last in cross-country running, wheezing my way over the finishing line. And in adulthood, my breath whistles and my sinuses throb. Which is why I'm not remotely bothered by having to wear a hairnet and sit in a room full of salt. I would do anything to rid myself of this respiratory flaw. My condition is mild and I have luckily never had an attack, but I have to use an inhaler twice a day, with another on hand for emergencies. How I would love to bin them for good and breathe free and easy.

    I have high hopes for the Salt Cave in south-west London. It is the first clinic of its kind in the UK, offering "drug-free relief for respiratory illnesses", such as hayfever, bronchitis and sinusitis, plus allergies, eczema and psoriasis.

    The "cave" is a bit like a salty igloo. There are salt drifts everywhere, underfoot and lining the walls. The hairnet and the shoe covers are to keep the room free of dirt, while the sound of waves and seagulls played inside enhances the weird, seaside effect. But the two tonnes of salt are purely decorative. The supposed medical benefit comes from breathing in sodium chloride aerosol, which is piped into the "cave" by a microclimate generator. This mixes milled salt with a current of air. The theory is that by breathing this in, mucus in the respiratory tract is loosened and coughed up.

    Salt inhalation has been around since the Greeks, when Hippocrates recommended it for respiratory problems. The only recent evidence, however, comes from the former Soviet Union; a 1999 Lithuanian study of 250 children and 500 adults found that salt therapy for an hour a day for two weeks improved respiratory results in nine out of 10 cases. Yet many western doctors are sceptical.

    This is a complementary therapy: helping control conditions rather than cure. Asthma UK says: "There is evidence that it can have a benefit but we don't know enough about it." Yet since opening in January [2009], the salt cave has picked up a host of regulars. Its director Sofia Benke advises patients to sign up for five to 10 one-hour visits （￡35 an hour or ￡260 for 10）. You should see an improvement in your condition after four or five sessions, she says.

    Tish Webster, 28, a yoga teacher from Earlsfield who has hay fever, spent 10 hours in the cave over the summer. "It wasn't until three or four sessions that it started to improve. I get congestion all the time and wake up with my eyes watering and sneezing. I used to take [anti-allergy tablets] every morning and I was able to stop altogether. I found it very impressive." She has even started teaching yoga in the cave: "Your breathing is much more effective."

    Hannah Cannock, 37, from Wandsworth, is mother to Toby, aged five. Her son has had asthma since the age of two and uses inhalers daily. She enrolled him for 20 one-hour sessions and after 15 or 16, noticed she was no longer "running into his room at 11pm to give him his inhaler in his sleep. He wasn't wheezy when running around either." Toby has also, for the first time in his life, had six months without needing antibiotics for a chest infection. Could the improvement be coincidence? "Scepticism is all very well if it's not you," Cannock says, "I will try anything for my son if it will help."

    I wish I could say my own experience was as positive. The seagull noises got on my nerves and I spent most of my time in the cave fidgeting. My eyes felt dry and itchy and my sinuses were twitching and streaming after five minutes. An hour later I could breathe more clearly than ever before, but I paid the price that night, as my sinuses rebelled. I was gasping for breath, needed my inhalers more than ever and had a stuffy nose for a week.

    I steeled myself for another visit, but the effect was the same. My breathing was initially clear, then came the sniffing and snorting. I really could not face another visit. let alone completing the course. There's nothing harmful about the "cave", and for people with a high tolerance for seagull music, it might even be pleasant. But the assault on my sinuses was too much to bear.

    There was, however, one unexpected benefit. I've fallen deeply in love with my inhalers. Ventolin, I'll never take you for granted again.


    鹽療治哮喘

    如果你有哮喘，你就老是覺得上不來氣。我就是滿臉布滿斑點，眼睛發癢，還總想打噴嚏。學校越野賽，我總是最后一名，一路氣喘吁吁地跑到終點。成年后，我的呼吸鳴音加重，鼻竇疼痛。這就是我為什么要不嫌麻煩，頭戴發網，坐在一個滿是鹽的房間里。為了治病，我愿意做任何事。我的病情還不算太糟，沒有窒息過，但是我不得不一天使用兩次呼吸器，為預防萬一手邊還有一個。我多么希望有一天能把它們都收起來，能夠輕松自由的呼吸。

    我對倫敦西南部的鹽洞寄予很高的期望。這是英國第一個治療哮喘的診所，提供"無藥呼吸系統疾病"治療，如花粉病，支氣管炎和鼻竇炎，還有過敏，濕疹和牛皮癬。

    這個"洞"就像是一個像咸的穹頂屋。腳底下、墻縫里到處都是鹽粒。頭戴發網、腳穿鞋套是為了保持房間干凈，而屋內播放的海浪和海鷗的聲音增強了神秘的海邊的效果。但是，2噸鹽純屬裝飾。治療主要來自呼吸氯化鈉氣體，"洞"穴氣候發生器產生的氣體由一根管道輸送到洞內，混合有精細的鹽粒的空氣。其原理是，通過呼吸，在呼吸道粘液松動就會被咳出來。

    鹽吸入療法出現自希臘，希波克拉底提出用來治療疾病。但是，最近唯一例子來自前蘇聯，1999年，立陶宛的研究發現，每天1小時治療了兩個星期，250名兒童和500名成人呼吸改善了，10例有9例個呼吸改善。然而，很多西方醫生都持懷疑態度。

    這是一種輔助療法：幫助控制病情發展，而不是治愈。哮喘英國說："有證據表明，鹽療有一定的好處，但我們對此了解甚少。"然而，自今年1月（2009年）開放以來，鹽屋還吸引了不少回頭客。經理索菲亞本基建議病人報名參加5-10個療程，每次1小時（收費35英鎊/小時或10小時260英鎊）.她說，4或5次治療之后，您應該能感覺到呼吸改善。

    來自厄斯菲爾德28歲的瑜伽教練迪斯。韋伯斯特得了花粉病，夏天在山洞治療了10小時。 "到第3、4次時，呼吸開始改善，我總是憋氣，醒來時眼睛流淚、打噴嚏。我每天早上服用（抗過敏片）,現在完全可以停了。我覺得療效很好。"她甚至開始在洞穴教瑜伽："你的呼吸更順了".

    五歲的托比的媽媽，37歲的漢娜。坎諾克，來自旺茲沃思。她兒子2歲時得了哮喘，每天使用呼吸器。她報了一個20個小時療程班，15、16次后，她發現不用在晚上11點跑到他的房間，在他睡覺時給他戴呼吸器了。跑動時也沒有呼吸鳴音了，這在他一生中還是第一次，他已經有6個月不需要服用抗生素來預防肺部感染了。是真有效還是偶然巧合？坎諾克說 "懷疑主義好的，如果不是你，","只要對兒子有幫助，我會嘗試任何辦法。"

    我希望我也可以說我自己的治療經歷很好。海鷗所發出的噪音讓我的神經緊張，在洞穴里大部分時間我都煩躁不安。5分鐘后，我就感到眼睛發干發癢，鼻竇痙攣，流鼻涕。一小時后，我呼吸比以往任何時候都順暢，但晚上我也付出了代價，我的鼻竇炎犯了。我呼吸困難，比以往任何時候都需要呼吸器，鼻子一個星期都不通氣。

    我又試了一次，但效果是一樣的。剛開始，我的呼吸還順暢，接著就打噴嚏，流鼻涕。我真的無法忍受再次治療。更別說治完整個療程。"鹽洞"沒有害處，也很舒服，人們得強忍海鷗叫聲的噪音。我的鼻竇炎更是令我不堪忍受。

    然而，卻收到了一個意外收獲，我已經愛上了我的呼吸器。喘樂寧，我再也不敢小視你了。