What else can I do for my breathing

[Coco H]

I had my first major asthma attack this week. Asthma had always been very well controlled on preventer inhaler - no warning of attack. I started and completed a course of prednisalone. Within a day of that ending - I went out in cold air and I have been maxing out on the ventolin and atrovent through the spacer just to keep me going and to enable me to breathe throigh the cough. My chest is very tight.
Is there anything I should be doing other than sticking to the inhaler regime.

[stackmonkey]

I tend to only do the obvious;
keep warm,
keep chest and neck warm,

try the head under a towel, breathing in steam over a bucket, thing (as normally used for colds).
Put a single drop of eucalyptus oil in the water - it helps some people.

[Bill]

Breath through your nose (in at least) as it helps to warm and moisten the air, a face mask/scarf over your nose might help too.

[Six Fiend]

As the others have said plus move slowly. I simply cannot move at my normal pace (even that is not normal for other people!).

[BlackVanGirl]

Coco, what does your GP say? Might be time to swap your meds around a bit. Hope you feel better soon, my ex housemate had Really Scary Asthma, it's pants.

[Coco H]

GP I saw this time was not the normal one. He's given me a peak flow meter and told me to keep an eye on it and next time it gets bad come back with a log of readings

[Team 17]

Coco,

I previously gave this advice and unfortunately you seemed to ignore it. It was in relation to your son suffering from Asthma and equally applies to you. Please do not take too much reliever, it will do more harm than good in the long run. Preventer medication along with controlling your breathing will do wonders. Of course, you can ignore my advice again and carry on taking more and more medication.

The other tip, which someone else mentioned on here is to breath through your nose (in and out), there should never ever be a reason to breath in or out through your mouth.

Breathing out through your mouth causes 'overbreathing', you lose a lot of carbon dioxide by breathing out through your mouth, this triggers your breathing airways to tighten and restrict to conserve carbon dioxide and so you get a tight chest.

Breathing in through your mouth introduces all sorts of particles in the air to your lungs which are not filtered out as they would be if you breathed in through your nasal passage, this could be dust or other allergy triggers, again leading to restricted airways due to yor body defending itself by triggering an attack. The nasal passage also warms the air, again, cold air is a big trigger for a lot of asthmatics.

Breath in gently, only as much as you need to. The deep breath that we are all told to take to de-stress for example is not natural and can again be a trigger.

Quoted from your other thread...

"Hi Coco H, I sympathise with your son's situation, I am a long term asthma sufferer.

First off, see the doctor, it could be that he needs to have the amount of preventer he is receving adjusted. The reliever should really not be used that much, the body will build up a tolerance to it over time and that is not good, especially when it doesn't work when you need it the most.

But the most useful advice that I have ever received and has helped me more than drugs and conventional medicine has been from a book I was given by my wife: 'Asthma Free Naturally' by Patrick McKeown. Go on Amazon and read the reviews, that should get you interested.

If you want more advice about what the book is about, drop me a pm and I'll happily explain the simple techniques it prescribes which will have your son without the need for medication within a reasonably short timeframe and hopefully drug free for the rest of his life."

Edited by Team 17 on Tuesday 23 November 15:21

[Coco H]

I can see why you might think I ignored your advice. My son is much better now thank you. He has been in once for breathing support recently and is generally coping with it much better. Peads are hoping it is prem related airway issues and he may grow out if it. He is really wheezy still but after making a diary it seems atrovent is much more effective than ventolin so I just use that now. Strangely the peads seem to think he needs both relievers with every wheeze and cough at night - not that I do as I know when it's getting worse and when it's just the norm now. I suppose they are concerned he will end back on support with broncholitis again. I don't know why but that is their current advice. (In fact I have been told off for not giving enough reliever!)
I am a different kettle of fish. I hardly ever use a reliever as I didn't need one until this last week post general aneasthetic. My preventer is taken as prescribed. GP doesn't want to adjust anything right now as I have had the course of steriods. And I never breathe through my mouth (unless I can't use my nose with a bad cold). I am normally extremely well and never have asthma issues - if I do they seem to be big ones.

Edited by Coco H on Tuesday 23 November 16:57

[Farmerpalmer]

are you on a regular steroid inhaler? these are often the next step up. unusual to be on only regular ipratropium for asthma. Are you a smoker/ ex smoker?
regular peak flow monitoring can often pick up an impending asthma attack, as it will drop a little while before the attack. this will hopefully give you the signal to increase your medication. HTH

[alsoverysideways]

Team 17....Please do not take too much reliever, it will do more harm than good in the long run.

I'm a sometime asthma sufferer though not to the degree I've read in this thread, and the other month at annual review of meds, my doctor mentioned not over using my inhalor,
( I think the word he used was 'receptors') and mentioned something along the lines of them becoming immune to the meds,

Is that what your saying

ta

[Driller]

OP do you have any problems breathing through your nose, especially at night?

[Scraggles]

power breathe helps a lot, so does weed, but do not smoke it with tobacco, maybe use a vaporiser or water bong ?

used to have a lot of asthma in uni days, went to the asthma clinic for a while to get lung capacity checked, then had a few joints before going to the clinic, blew the end out of the peak flow meter, nurse was gobsmacked , must be a fluke ? repeated it twice more

not used weed for ages as not have asthma and it gives me the munchies, so not good for diets

with weed can inhale so much that it hurts, suspect most asthmatics cant do it

[Cogcog]

I tried to think I could do without the preventer but having started again a few months ago it has changed my life. I haven't used the reliever now (with the exception of a very odd puff) for 3 or 4 month but had been on the reliever 8-12 times a day for a few months before that ( I think triggred by air fresheners, partricularly cheap car air freshners).

[parapaul]

Driller said:

OP do you have any problems breathing through your nose, especially at night?

Quick hijack... I do - although I don't have asthma. Do you have anything useful to offer?

[Driller]

parapaul said:

Driller said:

OP do you have any problems breathing through your nose, especially at night?

Quick hijack... I do - although I don't have asthma. Do you have anything useful to offer?

Absolutely. The body is not designed to breathe through the mouth, it is something you have to consciously do, so when you fall asleep your mouth closes and you half wake up, gasping. Not great for a good night's sleep.

Difficulty with nose breathing can be due to several reasons. One is that the lining of the nose is sensitive to allergens (dust etc) and becomes inflammed. This causes it to become engorged with blood and swell up, blocking the nasal passage. This is much more noticeable at night and more bothersome since you're trying to sleep.

You'd need to see an ENT to get this properly diagnosed and if confirmed a small operation to clear ther airway can sort it out.

Another is a problem with the opening of the nose not being "stiff" enough. The result is that when you breathe in through your nose this opening collapses, closing the airway.

Try breathing sharply in through your nose whilst looking in the mirror and see what happens.

In both cases their are varying over the counter remedies. I have had a lot of success with Breatheright nasal strips and Nozovent nose clips. You can find them both on Amazon.

They can make a huge difference to the quality of sleep you can get.

[Leve Lad]

As previously advised breathing through the nose is brilliant for ashthma and also has settled my sleep too.

I had polyps removed from my nose a few months back and while they were in there they scraped a bit of the inside of my nose and that has helped.

Starting breathing through my nose was the best thing I ever did with regards to my asthma and now my sleeping seems to have settled too so thats a double bonus.

[parapaul]

Driller said:

parapaul said:

Driller said:

OP do you have any problems breathing through your nose, especially at night?

Quick hijack... I do - although I don't have asthma. Do you have anything useful to offer?

Absolutely. The body is not designed to breathe through the mouth, it is something you have to consciously do, so when you fall asleep your mouth closes and you half wake up, gasping. Not great for a good night's sleep.

Difficulty with nose breathing can be due to several reasons. One is that the lining of the nose is sensitive to allergens (dust etc) and becomes inflammed. This causes it to become engorged with blood and swell up, blocking the nasal passage. This is much more noticeable at night and more bothersome since you're trying to sleep.

You'd need to see an ENT to get this properly diagnosed and if confirmed a small operation to clear ther airway can sort it out.

<snip>

Sounds familiar - I have recently tried one of the nasal dilator gadgets, which made some difference but not enough. The only way I can manage a snore-free night is to use Vicks Sinex or similar, but I'm loathe to become dependent on it.

Mine seems noticeably worse since the central heating's being used again, but if it is allergen related I might try an antihistamine instead, and see if that helps at all.

Thanks

[Driller]

Yep central heating will definitely make it worse as far as the stuffiness goes. Have you tried the Breatheright strips? They are probably the most effective as they work from the outside and so don't take up any space in the airway.

[dgb00]

Team 17 said:

Breathing out through your mouth causes 'overbreathing', you lose a lot of carbon dioxide by breathing out through your mouth, this triggers your breathing airways to tighten and restrict to conserve carbon dioxide and so you get a tight chest.

Team 17 said:

The reliever should really not be used that much, the body will build up a tolerance to it over time and that is not good, especially when it doesn't work when you need it the most.

No, that's not right. Reliver is salbutamol, a beta 2 agonist. It has little tolerance effect in inhaled/nebulised doses taken intermittently. It is used as an infusion intravenously in status asthmaticus. And you don't conserve CO2. Acid-base balance is extremely complex and does not rely on the upper airways.