Does it get easier after a few minutes in? I swim ( a lot) and each day the first 10 minutes are horrendous. After that everything seems to calm down and adjust and I manage my 40 lengths just fine. Its the same when walking the first 5-10 minutes I am a wheezing mess but if I persist then it generally gets easier? Anyone find the same? Or is it me being a bit weird?
Just to let you know that nothing got easier in the photo below - after 5, 10, 15 , 45 minutes I was done in!
Thanks
Marie
That's an amazing view and congratulations on getting up there.
I wonder if what you are experiencing when you exercise is ' getting your second wind' ...I remember hearing that phrase before.
I can't even get my first wind anymore!
Breath-taking view!, I would need a miracle to get up there! 
lol! but to answer your question I take a while before it feels easier , it makes a big difference having the oxygen, I think my lungs are like a pair of old bellows but then even relatively fit people sometimes need time to 'get going ' I think. Good on you for keeping fit ,huff x
I'm the same, it would take a miracle for me to be able to enjoy walks like Marie w f does. I read once that a Lady was able to swim using oxygen. Have you ever heard of this, as I can't see how it would be possible ? I'm always at my worst in the mornings and then if you add damp, cold weather into the equation, well it may be the afternoon before I cab really do much.
I wouldn't say i enjoyed the walk up thats for sure - I think it was just sheer bloody-mindedness that got me up there. This weather is having an awful effect on me too. As for swimming with oxygen, I am sure there was someone on here that managed it - I think it might have been on a lilo at her side? I am lucky - I have 29% lung function but not at the oxygen stage yet. No doubt it will come though.
Thanks for your reply and having a lilo with your oxygen cylinder on it could be the answer. I used to enjoy swimming many years ago and it would be a great way to start off a gentle form of exercise as I've never been referred to aPR course as the only one near me starts early on in the morning and I just can't manage to get there. Thanks for your help.
I started swimming about 3 years ago. I could barely manage a length after a 25 year hiatus (caused by a near fatal drowning off the coast of france), I now swim around 4000m a week, 2.5 miles in old money. I do feel fitter, still can't walk that far but it gives me a sense of achievement and I really do think the oxygen gets round my body that much better. You should see if your local pool as any 'quiet times'. That's how I got my confidence back.
Good luck.
Yes I'm going to see if a friend can come with me - oh yes and then of course I've got to get a snassy swimming costume!!! My one from the Victorian times will look out of place !!!!
Hi SquirrelsHolt, I do know of a lady who was given very little time left on this good earth, she was on steroids for years and was about 20 stone over weight....she came off the steroids gradually, started a good diet and swam twice a week or more. She looked and felt like a new woman and her fev1 improved to 'moderate'.She had a lot of support and friends that would carry her oxygen which she no longer needs!😁
Hi Huffer Puffer, thanks for your reply and what a wonderful story you told. There must be something in this exercise business. It seems quite clear that what ever you can do, do it because when we are ill and bed ridden, it s the people who kept up some exercise that have a greater chance of recovering. Thanks for your comments.
Hi Marie
No, it's not just you! I asked someone about this. The first 5 minutes of a zumba class I thought I was going to die lol. The next 55 minutes were marginally better though I came out looking like a tomato. Apparently, it takes a few minutes for the oxygen to pump through the body (or something like that!!) so exercise always gets slightly easier after the first few minutes. Nat x
Hi Marie don't worry you're normal even when I used to jog it takes time to get the oxygen circulating and get your breathing into a rythmn. Like you say settles once you get going. Bit like warming your muscles when doing other exercise. Great picture janx
Thank you everyone - it was a question I wanted to ask the 'experts' at the recent even tin Newcastle but I got stage fright!! Thanks again.
Hi Marie
I'm a keen runner with bronchiectasis. It always takes me a good ten minutes if not more to really get going. I'm often quite breathless and cough a lot but the further I go the better it gets. Always cough again when I finish and often ther bring up more mucus.
Yes that is how it is for me too has been for years. When I go out for a walk try to to do hills or steps at the beginning.
What a lovely photo,gorgeous view,sorry can't advise re:your question!😊
On Pulmonary Rehab we were told to ALWAYS warm up and stretch before starting any exercise. Like you I find the first 10 minutes or even longer really hard work and then it gets (slightly) easier. Lovely view and well worth the effort.
I,am like that the first ten minutes or so I get out of breath and then it gets easier for me all so it depends on the weather I think I to exercise every day by walking gardening etc etc
I definitely feel better breathing after about 10 minutes into walking. I find it easier to walk around my house as opposed to outdoors. I walk a half hour twice a day. I sometimes dont feel like it, but I force myself to. I know it's really important to keep moving.
Gym exercises certainly build up stamina; but don't seem to simulate the real world.
To those who have COPD
THOSE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION NEED NOT READ .................. :-D
Exercise incentive
