I recently heard about the Buteyko method and how it is meant to help reduce asthma attacks and was wondering if anyone has tried it and what their results were. As I want to try it but it is quite expensive and so would like to know if it is worth the money before I buy it.
Thank you.
Sophie, there are many instructional Buteyko videos on Youtube. You don't need t buy anything.
I did pay many years ago but now you can find out online. I was also told about it by hospital physio recently and they gave me an update leaflet. Ask your gp
I bought a book from Amazon, less than £10, and then supplemented it with YouTube videos. I picked and chose a bit but very helpful overall. Keeps me out of hospital during exacerbations so far and calms my breathing, slowly and steadily.
I was under a respiratory physio for many months and we did this ... although it didn’t reduce my systems it did help enormously with the pattern of breathing .. to the extent that it’s now second nature .. I recommend it highly but you need to be committed to doing the program to get the best out of it ..
As others have said you can google it and get the program for free ...
good luck .. it’s worth it
Hi, I did this about 20 years ago and it did not help in the slightest - total waste of money for me. Basically all it seems to be is shallow breathing! As others have said, get a book, look on you tube and make your own decisions. Every asthmatic is different, what works for some won't for others. Angela
The "Buteyko"method sounds like "potato."The Buteyko Method was developed in the 1950’s by a Russian medical scientist named Professor K.P. Buteyko. It occurred to Professor Buteyko that if he could retrain the breathing pattern so that it reverted toward the norm he could reverse these diseases.
It took a while to find a "free" course. When I finally found one on UTube, I realized that is is just a breathing method I have been doing on my own for the last few years. Could that be why my COPD has gotten better? (In fact, I use to do something similar when I was a child, to fool my siblings into thinking I was dead, as I would slow down my breathing and breath through my nose into my diaphram).
Everyone would benefit from learning the technique system to help them breathe. It is how you need to breathe if you are stressed, also.
After learning, practicing the technique helps your body to eventually do it on it's own. So practice makes perfect!
I don't know why, but some sites said not to do it by yourself. They said to do it under a doctor's supervision. I can't fathom why this may be dangerous to do on your own? I also do not know why someone would have to "pay" someone to learn this......
I found the following video: youtube.com/watch?v=tKaUEVn...
I did it with a respiratory physio who was trained to teach it, which I preferred because I could get feedback on whether I was doing it right.
It did clear up some bad habits that had crept in but didn't really help my asthma overall. I found similar with the non-Buteyko breathing pattern work I did with anither physio.
It's probably worth a go as it may help a bit - the physio said some people.do find it really useful and can reduce steroids etc. I'd steer clear of the very evangelical sites though- you get people saying it can cure asthma and all asthma is just bad breathing which I find annoying. Maybe see if there is a resp nurse or physio doing videos on it?
Buteyko developed his method in the 1950s for treating children with asthma and it was apparently very successful though there have been no modern trials of it as far as I know.
It is rather complex and based on Yoga ideas. I found out about it after I had given a lecture on breathing control at my hospital and a senior respiratory physician in the audience said afterwards "Oh we heard all about this from a mad Russian 50 years ago – and we didn't believe him either!"
Anyway, I looked into his work and found that he had been using quite similar techniques to those I had developed, indeed one, (the held expiration) was exactly the same. At first I felt a bit upset that someone had discovered what I thought was a new idea over 50 years before me... but then I felt much more upset that nobody in mainstream medicine seemed to have realised how powerful it was, and had mostly completely misunderstood the nature of breathlessness.
The big mistake with the standard medical approach is the assumption that breathlessness is due to inability to take in oxygen through the lungs, and that this is mainly due to restriction in flow through the airways, or some problem with the respiratory muscles or gas transfer across the alveolar membrane. There is some truth in this for severe COPD patients but the fact is that most people who are breathless on exertion have a perfectly normal oxygen level in the blood and so the underlying cause is clearly none of these. What Buteyko worked out from eastern traditional ideas and experiment is now supported by straightforward physiology and this also makes the necessary techniques for breathing control far simpler.
if you would like a description of the newer techniques, which can be learned in just a few minutes (but needs a bit of practice to make it automatic) please send your email in a private message and shall send a leaflet about it.
Unfortunately many people find it so hard to accept how simple it is that they do not even try it but if you want proof that it works it is nowadays easy to get a portable pulse oximeter for about £25* which will show that your oxygen level remains above 90% (anything over 80% is fine) however strictly you control your breathing.
*This is the type that I use: medisupplies.co.uk/Diagnost... (no financial connection!)
but there are many similar ones.
Please could you email it to me marlenebrace@btinternet.com
Many thanks
When I was first diagnosed with Asthma (and subsequently had my first hyperventilation) the doctor talked to me about breathing patterns. What I found was that it was exactly what I learned to do with singing way back in high school (which, probably is why I didn't have many problems when I was younger). Breathing properly is an issue, and even Asthma UK has a thing for breathing techniques. It won't cure asthma, but it may help depending on how bad and what kind of exacerbation you are having. I find that doing similar techniques is helpful when my breathing kicks in too fast and I need to focus, but it is hard to commit to for practicing. Some of the exercises, I was unsure of, especially fast shallow breathing recommended by some yoga sites. Take it slow, try it out and see what you think. Everyone responds differently to these things.
I have been Using Buteyko for over a year. This along with hemp oil has normalized my asthma.
Buteyko breathing exercises
Buteyko recognised by the British Thoracic Society
Buteyko breathing advice
Better Inhaler Techniques (Tidal Method + One Other)
