Pulmonary Rehab

[jeanielee]

I realise it can depend on the area you live,but can anyone tell me how long they had to wait once they had been refered by their doc x

[Pentreath Volunteer]

Eighteen months - but well worth the wait, am off to the 3rd session of 9 today. Hang in there! Our local hospital does four courses a year with eighteen people in each group.

[jeanielee in reply to Pentreath]

i didnt realise it would be so long thought it would be a matter of weeks,good luck with your PR x

[Pentreath Volunteer in reply to jeanielee]

I am in Cornwall - it may not be so long where you live. It has worked out well for me as I generally am better in the summer than the autumn/winter months.

[Hidden]

My husband was referred by the specialist respiratory team who actually run the course in our area - the doctor told us he was too well to attend! He only had to wait about six months but the great thing is in our area is that you can self refer after one year to do another course!

If they are taking their time - chase it up! At least that way they know you are keen. xx

[Hidden]

I waited about 2 weeks so guess I was lucky. x

[Parvati]

I waited nine months for rehab at communty hospital in south east Cornwall. I believe it has improved since they started doing a 'rolling programme'. If you can exercise on your own then do - don't sit back while you are waiting as you will decondition more and rapidly.

[helingmic in reply to Parvati]

Parvati, Do they have the exercises in the baby delivery room (nine months?)

[Offcut]

6 months and I have not had an appointment letter even?

[Multiprobs]

I have not attended PR but was referred to the local gym by the surgery nurse. I live in South Derbyshire and it was 2 weeks from referral to the first session in the gym. The sessions are at a reduced cost and it is a 12 week course.

[mamie4]

Hi there have done pulmonary rehab and found it very easy and lots of like minded people who had copd got my referal in two weeks good luck

[jeanielee in reply to mamie4]

thanks only been a few weeks since my referral so i suppose its early days

[katieoxo60]

Hello Jeanielee, I waited along time but when I chased it up found they had not referred me anyway. But with a grumble they then did and I got a place within the month, but I was told normal wait is six months. So if it seems to be dragging on ask what's happening so they realise you do really want to try. It is normally a twelve week course, but I did mine over six weeks doubling up on sessions. I am now a gym member so can go at anytime for a small fee.

[jeanielee in reply to katieoxo60]

Hi Katieoxo i do yoga at my local gym but not sure what equipment to use in the gym ,what do you use ?

[katieoxo60 in reply to jeanielee]

When at gym, I use the bikes, treadmill at a quite slow speed,what they call arm bikes to improve breathing and arm muscles, low weight lifting which is for my arthritic hands, and step ups which you can do on the bottom step of the stairs at home if you have stairs. Jeanielee this sounds like I am really fit not so all my joints ache from the effort sometimes it takes a few days to recover, so proceed with care is my advice and take it slowly.

[O2Trees]

About four weeks.

Re what equipment to use, I think some areas use gyms for PR but many are held in e.g. church halls. They bring dumbbells with them and we had a thing to peddle on, like that bit of a bike, but just the peddle part.

I have dumbbells at home to do biceps curls etc, but lots of people just use tins of food 400 gm size which works fine. There was one exercise we had at PR which was carrying two shopping bags with weights in them so you could use tins for that. We used a foam ball to throw repeatedly at the wall for upper arm stamina - i use a tennis ball and it works fine.

However long you have to wait, good idea as above to start now with a mixture of weight bearing and aerobic exercise.

[hmdk]

Went for assessment after 4 weeks then started 4 weeks later, I found it really worth doing and it was the second time I went, did it 2 years ago. Round here you can go every 2 years

[snow54flake]

hi i had to wait 3 months after been refered for my rehab well worth the wait barnes and northeast somerset. marian xx

[helingmic]

The first time it was eighteen months. I went another time and only waited a few weeks. Then I enrolled at the gym! This is in North East Kent, on the Thames Estuary. In season, you can go to the oyster bar and have a few of those, for a price!

[jeanielee in reply to helingmic]

Mmmmm full of zinc them oysters!

[helingmic in reply to jeanielee]

jeanielee; I really hadn't thought of this aspect!

[jeanielee]

Thankyou all, once again you came up trumps with your advice and suggestions,I love dancing (well i mean throwing some shapes pretty weird ones at that) so i think ill put some of my fave music on and go for it i suppose any thing that gets your heart rate up is good. god knackered just thinking about it tee hee

[Titchy52]

Hi I'm new to this site

[Titchy52]

Hope its not to long im waiting go to.