Hi all, so I am having a bit of a rough time at the moment but with having both asthma and anxiety it’s a never ending cycle. So the doctor as advised me to loose weight as I am about 48 pounds overweight and he said that will help my asthma and feeling short of breath but not sure if it will or not? Also I am trying to stop smoking but it’s really hard the best way I can describe how my throat feels is if you been up all night laughing and joking in a smokey room you get that kind of tight restricted feelings if that makes sense. I want to start exercising but it worries me about my asthma. The doctor has checked and said I’m not wheezy on my chest although I do still have a very mucus cough and am coughing up clearing big clumps of mucus.
Any advice will be great
Thank you
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ash6
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From my own experiences I would say loosing weight definitely help my asthma as does exercise. I cycle when fit as it is better for my arthritic joints than running and find it helps my asthma, having a workout seems to loosen the crud in my lungs so that after the initial coughing they feel clearer and have more room inside
I looked into weight loss and asthma quite a while ago and yes it does improve asthma.
Weight loss was significantly associated with improvement in FEV1 and FVC (p< 0.001) whereas weight gain had the opposite effect. On average, FEV1 increased by 1.5 %pred due to weight loss of 1 unit of BMI. The improvement in FEV1 was independent of the initial level of obesity (p= 0.18).
And likewise with smoking
Combined cigarette smoking and asthma accelerate the decline in lung function to a greater degree than either factor alone.9,10,30 In a previous study, the synergistic effect of combined asthma and smoking resulted in a 17.8% decline in FEV1 over 10 years.9 In contrast, smoking cessation improved symptoms and bronchial hyper-responsiveness and decreased airway inflammation.
I must say to do both at once sounds very difficult but good on you for doing it! When I stopped smoking I did it by replacing cigarettes with orange club biscuits!
Stopping smoking wasn’t as hard as I expected. I’d heard a lot of people saying how difficult it was; how it was the hardest thing they had ever done etc. I think that sort of made me afraid to try. It was ok though. The first couple of days were the hardest, in that I would get cravings, but if you ignore them they pass of very quickly. I think the key is, when you do get a craving, not to think about cigarettes.
I did gain some weight though but I didn’t think about that at the time. I took that off later.
One of the big benefits is all of the spare cash!
Good luck with it. Hopefully your efforts will pay off.
Exercise definitely helped my asthma (which admittedly is mild). Before I was diagnosed I trained for and ran a half marathon.
I got my diagnosis 18 months later and then stopped running for fear of an attack alone miles from home.
My lungs feel tight more often now than they ever have.
I also found quitting smoking very difficult. I was on about 20 a day. What really helped me was this idea that when you are quitting and don't have a cigarette, the craving is just your addiction dying.
Each time you push through the craving your addiction has died a little more and has less and less strength to pull you back. Then, eventually, you get to a point where actually you don't want a cigarette anymore and it's delightful here!
My husband, who had been smoking 20 to 30 a day for over 40 yrs, had a severe 'talking to' by our GP following a suspected mini-stroke( he's also obese!). Hubby now a non smoker, took him around 4&1/2 months using the patches and mouth spray. So proud of him. IT CAN BE DONE! We used the money we saved that would have gone on buying cigarettes to recarpet the house - helps to have a reward in sight! Good luck xx
I think you’re doing really well. Just thinking about weight loss and stopping smoking, at the same time, is enough for most!
I gave up smoking in jan this year. I used:
. Minds stop smoking service. They gave me weekly 1:1 sessions at the start then it reduced to fortnightly. I’m still having a 10 minute chat once a month. I found talking to someone really useful. Ive not had counselling, it’s a standard stop smoking service.
. Champix, tablets that your GP has to prescribe. I took them for 4 months in the end. Amazing, they really helped.
. Alan Carr’s book “Easy way to stop smoking”. I honestly don’t think I’d still be a non-smoker without this book.
For example, I’m standing at a bus stop with a guy who’s smoking. I can smell the smoke. It’s smell gorgeous. I want a cigarette.
Of course I don’t have 1! Because it’s not one I’m having, it’s one an hour for the rest of my waking life. Anyhow, the guy smoking’s jealous that I don’t need a cigarette!!
It’s a way of thinking.
Good luck, maybe don’t try too much at the same time?
My consultant is adamant that increased weight has a negative affect on asthma. It's not just the fat we can see but the hidden fat that encases our organs making it harder for them to function.
And now we know that fat acts as an endocrine organ, pumping out hormones. You can read more about how it affects the body here google.com/url?sa=t&source=...
Smoking is definitely a trigger for asthma and other respiratory and heart diseases, so if you can give it up you will see a positive change in your lung health. Your GP practice can help as there are NHS programs designed to support smokers quit. Just think about the money you'll save too!
Yip, losing weight will help a lot - as will I’m sure you already know - stopping smoking. I’d say cutting out the cigarettes might be better for your asthma than losing weight although both will help. Smoking really can’t be doing your body any good at all.
Have you looked into eating LCHF - low carb, high fat to lose weight? That really works for a lot of people. There is a LCHF site on Healthunlocked and there is a really good DietDoctor.com website worth looking at both sites will explain all.
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the best way I can describe how my throat feels is if you been up all night laughing and joking in a smokey room you get that kind of tight restricted feelings if that makes sense. I want to start exercising but it worries me about my asthma. The doctor has checked and said I’m not wheezy on my chest although I do still have a very mucus cough and am coughing up clearing big clumps of mucus. 
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