Exposure to asbestosis

Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.

I’m not sure where you are getting the “10 years” figure from, but generally your larger concern with asbestos exposure is links to cancer not so much the fibrosis (which is also bad). In that case, you would now adjust your diet and lifestyle as you would if you actually had cancer - eating a more vegetarian based diet, limiting sugars and dairy, obviously avoiding things like smoking and other exposures to asbestos.

Lifestyle wise you exercise (see this study) to whatever degree is possible. Other things like deeper abdominal breathing within the context of meditation can be helpful both in improving lung function and in improving health generally.

Then, of course, there are herbal formulas that can be very supportive of the lungs and acupuncture itself can be helpful for both lung function and immunity overall. The options here would be individualized to your own individual case - so for that you would need to see a practitioner in your area. See “treating the cause vs. the symptoms” for more on the general approaches of Chinese Medicine.