air trap

hello all

has anyone been diag with air trapping? and if so how are you being treated so far? thank you

[Ergendl]

Sorry, no, not me, mikerx18. How does it affect you?

[mrsmummy]

This is something which happens with obstructive lung diseases. The air we breathe in is not easily expelled and some of it gets trapped in the lungs. This then takes up the space needed to fully breathe in and means we feel short of breath. There is an explanation here:

verywell.com/copd-lung-chan...

[O2Trees]

Hi mikerx18 - most people with copd will have air trapping at some point and those at the severe or very severe stage will have it all the time. MrsM has given you a good explanation of how it happens. I was told by my doctor that LAMA drugs - e.g. Spiriva and Seebri - are good for helping with this. People often have distended abdomens - I can look 7 months pregnant some days, despite being pretty skinny.

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thank you all. i am currently using symbicort as well as spiriva for the past 3 weeks. and have def improved but not 100%. can i expect to always be on some inhaler"forever"? if this were to go untreated is this a "fatal" illness or just a struggle for inhalation?

[TwinklingStar]

Dear MikerX

I have a restrictive lung condition and I have air trapping. I was told that because my lungs are becoming stiff that I cannot breathe in fully and I also cannot breathe out fully. This means that air is trapped in the lungs and you end up with even less space to take a full breath in. The result of course is even more SOB (shortness of breath).

I think this is why it is very important to regularly carry out daily repeated sessions of Intercostal Diaphragmatic Breathing. This is not something I was taught to do by any medical professional. I used to regularly do this in association with being a Chorister and also training as a Speech Therapist.

When the Consultant explained things about my condition I just figured that Intercostal Diaphragmatic Breathing must help reduce some of the problems so I do this many times a day. As far as how it affects me it is hard to say. I have Interstitial Lung Disease which causes various problems including bronchiectasis, air-trapping, stiffening of the lungs, etc. I would presume that the air trapping would cause me to become more short of breath and the more deep breathing I do the more it should help.

My idea is that if I can clear as much of the old air out of my lungs the more room there will be in my lungs for me to breathe in clean air. I don't like the idea of having stale, old air lying in my lungs. Whether it actually helps I really do not know but you can be certain that it will not do you any harm. I am on oxygen most of the time.

Here is a good short video explaining how to do this type of breathing:

youtube.com/watch?v=kgTL5G1...(Not working as expected?)

Stay strong.

Love & hugs from

Twinkling Star

[Hidden]

thank you for all the info. GET WELL