A question about limitations (and exercise)

Hi again,

I'm on my fourth day of pred., and starting to feel better. I was just wondering when it's a good idea to start walking a bit for exercise? Right now I'm hiding out inside as I seem to be quite allergic to the great outdoors, but was thinking of walking a bit inside. When you are flaring do you wait a week or so of feeling good to start exercising again? Feeling a bit variable I don't want to jinx my fate of getting worse again, but I don't want to be sitting like a lump on a log either if you know what I mean!

Also, when you flare, do you have to avoid things like leaving your house to get better? I find that I'm O.K. if I'm in an allergy clean space, but when I leave my own space I can get worse again. It's hard to explain this to other people though who don't have to think of such things.

Thanks,

Bee

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when im coming to the end of meds and starting to feel better and can breath in and out without coughing-thats when i start living again (so to speak!). i have found to my cost that exercising even gently can make me very ill if ive had a bad attack or am feeling off. i once vomited at the side of a road trying to walk my dog after id had a spell in hospital when i was trying to prove that to myself that i could still carry on as normal and i ended up back at the begining again. i can only walk for a short amount of time anyway as iv got other health probs but do know that its not good for an asthmatic to push themselves if an attack is exercise enduced as mine is x

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when im coming to the end of meds and starting to feel better and can breath in and out without coughing-thats when i start living again (so to speak!)""

I like this...you said it so well! And it made me feel better, because I totally need to be doing this, it's only that most people I know don't even have to think about going outside on a Summer day. But sometimes it gets bad, and I guess I just need to do what I need to do.

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its a pain isnt it when you just wanna live normally. people take things for granted but as long as you learn how to tell when its time to rest you should be ok x

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actually I find if I feel like it even while ill, I do gentle something, it just gets and keeps the lungs moving,yes you may cough but thats a good thing, the body is shifting what ever muck is in the lungs.

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Beethere, I would say take it day by day. I thought I was improving really well this last couple of days so today pretty much did what needed doing and umm my lungs thought it was a good idea to give me a pretty nasty attack (thank heaven for the neb or back to hospital it would have been for me). I dont think there is any real rule regarding time scale as to when you can resume normal living. Sometimes after a bad excerbation I can get back on my feet after a couple of days, most times its a week this time round though has been very different, this excerbation started the end of May and shows no sign of going away no matter how much i rest. Just take it easy and do a little more each day that you feel able to before you know it you will be back to your normal self. Thats my tuppence worth lol. Sally xxx

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Yes I think resting is sometimes the key...and I don't seem to be very good about it! I did pretty well this week though I think. Sunday was bad because I made the mistake of going outside, and then it took about 24 hours until I stopped getting chest pain again. Maybe I should have gone to the hospital, I don't know. I did call my GP who agreed to give me a pred. taper, so I'm still on 40m. Then yesterday I was able to carefully do some laundry, and then today was much better, until the middle of the afternoon.

So I used my neb (which I'm kind of careful about because I've gotten myself in trouble before by using it too much at home without going in). But I think once was O.K., and it helped a lot. So I think I'm on the mend a bit. It's amazing to me how when I'm like this how the day can change in a minute though.

I also like the idea of gently moving some, as I find that this is a nice thing when I'm really going stir crazy..and yoga is sometimes nice too.

Bee

P.S. When I get a bad attack I find it can take up to a month to feel well again. Does this happen to other people too? I think part of my problem is two of my doctors don't agree on how bad my asthma is, and when the one tries to take me off of higher doses of inhaled steroids, I get worse again and it takes longer to get better.

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I am bit like you- not very good at taking it easy. I feel bad that there are lots of jobs around the flat that need doing and I can't do them. It is so fustrating isn't it.

I have just got out of hospital (2nd admission in 3 weeks) and am still on steroids and nebs. It is 4pm and I feel that I haven't actually managed to achieve anything today.

In terms of increasing activity levels, I start with simply doing leg raises etc while in bed/on the sofa and then progress to moving a bit more around the flat. If you have problems with the great outdoors, when you feel a bit better is there an indoor shopping centre near you, that you could wander around?

Hope you continue to improve. Take care and feel free to PM if you wish to chat/moan etc.

Bryony

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Hi Bryony,

Thanks for the note! I'm very glad to hear that you are finally home. I did send you a message...

I like the idea of finding a place inside to walk around. I always feel kind of old ladyish doing that, but I think if I can stay in shape without having to pay anything that would be terrific.

Bee

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nasal breathing

asthmatics tend to push temselves to complete tasks and activities with no regard for their condition or their recent asthmatic episode.

Slow down and do things very slowly. It means that there is no flare up or further difficulty.

If you are gently exercising and can maintain nasal breathing then you should not spark off symptoms. If you need to breathe through your mouth then you are doing things too fast and should slow down.

If you can only breathe through your mouth for whatever reason (feel suffocated otherwise or generally feel you cannot breathe enough through your nose or just feel you cant, either way you feel you cant so you cant) then maintain a very close eye on your breathing. If you can hear your breathing start to get noisy (or noisier) then you have pushed things too far. Maintain quiet breathing and do activities at a far slower pace than normally you would demand of yourself to keep from setting off your asthma (not a long term thing just to get over the current flare).

I used to push myself too far and would have to sit down for 5 minutes to recover my breath as i demanded my body to act as if i didnt have asthma /chest infection etc and as a result caused further asthma and difficulty. A short walk would necessitate several stops to catch my breath...

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Hi guys,

I just wanted to pop in and drop a quick note. I took my last day of pred. yesterday, and haven't had chest pain all day today. So I'm really happy about that! Some coughing, but today was so much better (than even yesterday). Keep hoping for me that things keep looking up.

Bee