Question about asthma and mucus

[ash6]

Hi all hope your staying safe

So I'm still struggling with stopping smoking and have had a phlegmy cough for ages now, and I'll cough up thick mucus. Does mucus form in airways?? As I have never been sure about this, I also need to loose weight as I'm around 35 pounds overweight but it's not easy to exercise as I worry about my breathing a lot. My peak flow is ok and I was examined at the hospital a couple weeks ago and he said my chest was clear, no temp etc.

I'm just struggling mentally with it all at the moment

Any advice would be awesome

[Poobah]

Hi Ash. Mucus is produced by the respiratory system in the normal functioning of the mucus membrane lining of the nose, throat and lung. Phlegm is produced by the lower airway when inflammation is present. It's an indication that all is not well.

The sooner you can treat it, the better. Ongoing and untreated inflammation and phlegm will get harder to treat the longer you leave it and you may develop a secondary infection.

Have a chat with your GP about treatment to clear the phlegm.

No doubt you will be asked about smoking (we all are). And maybe about your weight (my asthma nurse is very hot on weight). It's a personal choice whether you want to try and get help to give up smoking. You know it's bad for your lung health and exercise becomes difficult. It's like a vicious circle. Same with weight.

It's possible to make a plan to change small things, say two things a month. One change could be to drop so many cigarettes a day and the other could be to swap one treat to a piece of fruit every day. After one month introduce another two changes and so on. If you write it down or make a wall chart, then you can see it as a reality rather than an idea floating around in your head.

As you think of ideas, plan them out in writing and when you're going to do them. You don't have to do it all at once. A wall is built one brick at a time.

Introduce breathing exercises (see YouTube) & maybe simple weights exercises (again YouTube) - start with five minutes and increase it when you feel comfortable to do more. Building up lung and muscle strength is doable and will make you feel better very quickly. You don't have to run or kill yourself at the gym. Walking is a great exercise but only when you're ready, again short is better than nothing.

If you use smoking as a way to tackle anxiety then speak to the doctor about other treatments so that you have a fighting chance to slowly reduce your smoking.

If I could bottle the magic that is willpower I'd be a millionaire. I think it comes and goes and it's difficult to summon it up when we're feeling poorly or overwhelmed. It comes as we achieve something we set out to do, even a small daily goal.

All the best whatever you decide to do - the biggest step is the first one.