Hi,
I posted yesterday re exercises and got a lot of useful advice, thanks to everybody!
I wonder if anybody knows how to stop the urge to take deep breaths - I have it all the time, at the beginning I can fulfil it but very soon -I cannot which leads to more breathlessness ( hyperventilation?)
Pursed lip breathing may help.
Technique:
Relax your neck and shoulder muscles.
Breathe in for two seconds through your nose, with closed mouth.
Breathe out for four seconds through pursed lips (as though whistling).
If this is too long for you, simply breathe out twice as long as you breathe in.
Hi again, I think that you mentioned before that you went on a Buteyko Breathing course....could you get back to your tutor to see if she/he may have an answer. Aftercare should be part of the package.
I find myself taking deep involuntary breaths....I don't know whether this is classed as 'air hunger' . Try and breathe gently, low and slow, through your nose to warm and filter the air.....I find meditation and relaxation exercises helpful. Have a look at You tube.
I don't know what your CP is, when I first started Buteyko mine was as low as 6 at times.
I know the course is not suitable for everyone as its aim is to raise Co2 levels , could harm some people so always take advice from a professional , not suitable for anyone with heart problems etc
Best wishes
Hi Polzovatel, i didn't see yesterday's post but Ive done Buteyko in the past for asthma and wouldn't touch it now that i also have copd (I don't know if this is your diagnosis). If you concentrate on breathing out, as Toci has described above, then you won't be hyperventilating and should feel less breathless. And if you get to be less breathless, then you can try breathing in and out through the nose, as Buteyko advises, but right now concentrate on breathing out as far as you can and forget about breathing in which will take care of itself.
Hi, Do you think Buteyko exercises can exacerbate breathlessness? My shortness of breath has gone progressively worse since I started Buteyko - I asked the teacher but he wouldn't admit - the only thing he suggests that my cp should get to 20 until I feel the benefits - the CP increased but the symptoms increased!
xx
Well, if your CO2 is raised, then I guess it could.
I did the Buteyko course after a holiday where, unlike others previously, I didn't get fitter with climbing hills etc, but kept repeatedly using my salbutomal inhaler to no effect.
So - first the CP got rapidly longer - 8 seconds to 29. Of course i was thrilled. It stayed that way for about a week (this was 2000 so my memory is a bit skewed) then started descending again. I can only think that my CO2 was rising. My heart was missing beats when i measured my pulse, several each minute, something that hadn't happened before, or since. Then a consultant at my NHS workplace told me that elevated CO2 makes you miss beats.
Shortly after I was referred to a respiratory consultant by my GP and got the copd dx.
I have seen a book from the Hale Clinic which gives a much gentler way of doing the exercises specifically aimed at emphysema - as far as i remember the shallow breathing is done for a much shorter time - but Ive not tried it. And now, with copd approaching stage 4 (fev1 = 32%) I don't think I will. I do try to breathe through my nose when I can though. x 
What is CP if you don't mind me asking?
Hi, Its control pause - that's what they measure in Buteyko exercises - how long you can hold your breath for- e.g. 20 for 20 sec
Is that after you have exhaled completely or inhaled completely?
Thank you
Hi jackdup - CP means controlled pause - in breathing. Buteyko measures a person's health by how long they can hold their breath having breathed out first (normally we hold our breath after breathing in). This is called a controlled pause.
I did mine this morning and was surprised to see that my current control pause is 18 seconds. Last time I tried it, around 5 months ago, I could only manage 9 seconds. My partner who is a healthy 71 year old can do around 40 seconds, and younger healthy people can usually do between 50-60 seconds.
Did you find it helps just tried it 18 seconds I have asthma to
Thanks that info was very interesting.
I have this problem how do you stop the urge sometimes it comes without a struggle
In my case it was partially caused by seretide inhaler ( it's LABA part - salmetrol)
How does that cause it how can it stop
I changed inhaler to flixotide - same steroid component but without salmetrol
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