Just wondered if anyone else has experience of using an Air Physio for treatment of COPD.
I am a pretty active 72 year old and have Level 1 COPD which was diagnosed a year ago and have been prescribed Trimbow which I do not find particularly helpful.
About 3 months ago ago I thought I would purchase on Amazon an Air Physio £65 (The green tube thing that you blow into with the little ball-bearing inside that you try to raise off its seating) albeit I was very sceptical at first however it has been a game changer for me and worked after the very first use.
My problem was trying to clear all the excess phlegm/mucus stuff from my lungs and this mechanical method as opposed to drugs has worked for me although I accept it may not work for everyone but for the price surely worth a try. It forces you to get the mucus stuff out of your lungs.My advice is to go for a genuine Air Physio and not the cheaper Ebay / Amazon replicas as it is beautifully engineered and a pleasure to use.
The Air Physio is not prescribed as far as I am aware on the NHS so you need to purchase one.
I also use a Power Breathe which I blow into which hopefully will strengthen my lungs and for good measure I spend 5 minutes a day inhaling Himalayan Pink Rock Salt from the little ceramic bottle.
I still take two puffs of Trimbow morning and night but I truly believe my use of the other three things above is giving me a better quality of life than just the drugs alone.
By the way I have no commercial links with Air Physio / Power Breathe / Himalayan Pink Rock Salt and just thought I would post that other COPD suffers may be interested and could benefit and would of course be interested in responses good or bad from any users of the foregoing.
John
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Radancer
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So good this works for you Radancer, whatever helps can only be a good thing, I sometimes wonder if the doctors get the right diagnosis. I was treated for asthma for years when in fact i have bronchiectsis and the treatment is so difterent. Curious are you 23 or 72? x
I'm glad that works for you. Some people on this site have found the Air Physio a bit too strong for them to manage. AeroBikas and Aircapellas are easier to work, I'm told, and are prescribed on the NHS if your respiratory team thinks them suitable. I love my AeroBika, which was as good for me, when I had a bad infection, as the AirPhysio is for you.
I totally agree with Alberta56. I have an AeroBika prescribed by my respiratory team. It is much easier to use if you have an infection. More gentle but effective.
Hi John, I have bronchiectasis and used a device similar to yours from Amazon. Worked brilliantly for me but I then began find it too tiring. My NHS resp team have issued me with an Acapella Choice which works in a similar way but is much gentler to use. So if you ever find your device too much ask your respiratory team about an Acapella 🙂
I am new to this community and on initial investigation I could not find anything relating to mechanical devices hence the reason I posted and I am grateful for all your responses and comment as follows.
Izb1 - Was not sure by you 23 or 72 comment meant and yes I had asthma since my early teens but fortunately was mild and only ever had one or two flare ups due to viral infection but very scary when unable to breathe and I can sympathise with chronic asthma sufferers.
About 8 years agi I was in contact with wood dust which might be a contributory factor then about 3 years ago I got flu type symptoms (not covid) with an incessant cough which I could not clear and was treated with antibiotics and steroids albeit I was already taking a relatively small pred dose for PMR witch was in recession. I have a theory that a combination of the foregoing things did the damage to my lungs.
I have never had any face to face with a doctor or any respiratory consultatant and everything has been done over the phone apart from one spirometry test with the result saying that I had Level 1/2 COPD which I undersand can cover a multitude of things. Then I got a call from a GP nurse who said they were going to change my Fostair to Trimbow. I am still in a quandry whether to stay with the Fostair or change to Trimbow ???????
Alberta56 & GD53 - Reading up on the Air Physio / Acappela / Aerobika they are all working on the same principle the former as a gravity system using a ball bearing and the other two opting for a non gravity 1 - way valve with counterwight plug and magnet the strength of which can be mechanically adjusted. I would have to dispute the Air Physio is too strong as all you do is alter the size of the ball bearing to a smaller diameter. I have just read a couple of very technical papers written by more learned people than myself where the compared 10 of these mechanical devices and the general conscensus was they are all pretty much doing the same job and any differences indiscernable to the ordinary person.
Nula2 - I am glad that you agree the device was helpful to you as I thought it might just be me and a sort of placedo effect which is encouraging what you have all said. As above why dont you try a smaller ball bearing which can easily be purchased on Amazon. I am afraid that I dont really have a respiratory team and any advice is limited to what I have outlined above so I am really learning on my own and from any help I can get on this Forum.
Just as a matter of interest I mentioned Himalayan Pink Rock Salt which I inhale usually when I am driving and has helped me as well and wodered if you had any experiece of same as I am trying as many options as I can to see what works for me.
Thanks and I wholeheartedly agree with you but you will find that anyone new to a Forum does not usually research legacy posts as peoples terminolgy varies. For example when I typed in "Himalayan Pink Rock Salt"which was mentioned in my initial post I got no hits but when I typed in "Salt Pipe" I got a couple of hits. I suppose it depends on the algorithm of the search engine. I am on a couple of non health related forums where I have quite extensive knowledge of the subject in hand and the same repeated questions come up all the time where there have been numerous answers given previously but I always try and assist if I can especially as I appreciate that I was once a novice on the patricular subject at one point
Good call well spotted about the space but it more or less came up with similar hits when typed in with the space however in saying that I still hold to my opinion about terminology in general on forum search engines.
You can get a similar thing on the NHS, Accapala I think it was called. OR you should try breathing in through the nose and out through pursed lips which has a similar effect.
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