Hello everyone, I'm new here and came across this site searching for others with Bronchiectasis. I've really enjoyed reading the conversation pieces and I posted somewhere but it must've been the wrong place...ooops.
Anyway, I have bronchiectasis, was misdiagnosed with Asthma for years before. I'm wondering if anyone has done the Buteyko method? I'm currently doing a course and it is really hard work. Relearning to breathe... I don't know if it will work for me but am willing to give it a go. Interested to hear feedback please.
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Hi and welcome, I am asthmatic and then diagnosed as having COPD . I took a Buteyko course in 2001 and it was hard work, I had the lowest control pause in the group and gradually worked it higher but then plateaued out and didn't improve. I had an underlying infection which seemed to drag on for years though which didn't help. I have learnt so much from this site since and I have been more proactive in getting the right medication.
I also paid for my youngest daughter to attend a weekend course a few years ago.
I have an old audio tape of Buteyko breathing and I am determined to start again when this winters chest infection is cleared.
One of the main things I learned from Buteyko was to try and breathe gently from the belly with a relaxed diaphragm, not gasping breaths, which is very difficult when you are struggling.
And breathing gently through the nose not the mouth to warm and filter the air and to prevent hyperventilation
The courses are expensive and you have to trust the practioner, there are videos and books, but although the the technique looks simple if it is done incorrectly it can make things worse.
I find meditation helps my relax and slow and lighten my breathing too.
Best of luck and let us know how you get on...I am determined to try again
Thanks for the welcome. Yes I am finding the control pauses and particularly the extended pause challenging! My instructor is pretty hardcore but I figure he knows knows his business... on start my cp was 12, 5 days later I'm at 18 with a ep of 32.. I've just come of antibiotics too from a flare up so relatively happy so far. The most challenging I'm finding is to keep my mouth closed when I need more air grrr. Patience and practice.
Welcome to the site kiwichick. ive not done butekyo but the discriptions in Lovely Knitters reply I found in yoga many years ago. In the last few years I've trained myself to only inhale through the nose - particulary in the cold weather! It makes a huge difference along with pursed lip breathing when sob.
Hi again, just to say the gentle nose breathing has been so helpful...I was a mouth breather as a child and my mother used to say I looked gormless doing this!
But the place I was brought up in was nicknamed " catararrh City" and the accent was very nasal. Now I keep my mouth clamped shut when I remember, which is still not a good look!
If I talk too much, or too loudly or get upset my breathing deepens so the control pause can help with this
(Sorry about the spelling mistake...I don't know how to alter it without undoing the whole reply yet again)
Spelling no problem knitter. But just fyi, if you do want to edit your replies, click on the little arrow to the right of the Recommend box under your reply and a small menu will appear with "edit" at the top. Click on this and your reply will appear again in a new box so that you can edit it. When you're done, you click at the bottom where it says something about Submit Edit or Edit Reply (can't remember exactly but its an orange box like "Reply") and voila! there it is just like you always wanted it to be!
Hi kiwichick, welcome! You from NZ? I ask not just because of the kiwi, but because i know Australia embraced Buteyko training in a big way for asthma, and as part of their mainstream medical treatment for asthma, and thought it might have crept sideways to NZ Its very alternative over here, hence expensive as knitter says above.
I did a course for asthma in 2000 with an individual trainer (broke the bank LOL) and for a while i did great - CP was increasing up to 29 secs. Then it started to go down and i could never do more than around 12. Couldn't understand it, and nor could the trainer who was fairly newly qualified. My heart beat was missing a beat quite often too.
I had thought i'd developed exercise asthma, but went to a consultant who diagnosed COPD. My Buteyko experience finally made sense, as we copders can retain CO2 and to do a method which aims to build up CO2 can be dangerous for us. Too much CO2 can also make the heart skip beats I later learnt, so that made sense too.
The Hale Clinic (over here in the UK) have written a book on Buteyko and include a lighter version for people with emphysema - shorter periods of shallow breathing - but it didn't work for me.
What is brilliant whatever your diagnosis is the emphasis on preventing hyperventilation.
Knitter, the advice to tape your mouth closed works well to change the mouth breathing habit (though you wouldn't want to go outdoors with it - not a good look )
Its micropore tape which comes off easily by just pushing your lips apart, so not scary.
Go gently when you start again with the training since you have copd. Im sure it works for some with copd.
And let us know kiwichick how this works for your bronchietsis.
Hi O 2Trees, I have a book by Artour Rakhimov about breathing and in it is a warning about doing Control pauses if you have certain health conditions which include heart problems , pregnancy, migraine and other conditions. The big increase in C02 can be harmful, and if you are not used to breathing gently for long periods you may take involuntary deep breaths also.
I still do the CPs without the breathing exercises, just to see how it is.
Its normally about 16 secs, currently with flare-up its 12.
It's good the books warns about CO2, lots of the earlier ones didn't.
The importance of retaining CO2 seemed to be fetished, and the lack of it seen as the cause of virtually any condition under the sun.
But times change and people learn more.
Good luck when you start again
Interested to know where Cataarh City is Don't know why I'm laughing though, probably misery for thousands.
Hi Kiwichick,
Just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the group. I was diagnosed with Asthma and treated for it for about 3 years. I was continually getting chest infections, so GP referred me to chest clinic for lung function tests and they sent me for a CT scan. Yep, Bronchiectasis. It's been confirmed that I don't have COPD, but not confirmed as to whether I also have asthma or not. Have an appointment on Monday, so must remember to ask. I have had two Pseudomonas colonizations in recent years, hoping to keep clear of that this year. All the best. x
Hi kiwichick welcome to the site. I was always a mouth breather until I had oxygen through a nasal canular so no option now I soon changed my ways. Can't help with buteyko only seen it on tv.
take care
polly xx
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the warm welcome. Yes I am a Kiwi currently in the Philippines where I am doing the buteyko method. I did mean to check if it's ok that I'm not in England, is it? It's been pretty difficult to find a support group for Bronchiectasis, so when I came across this site I was really pleased and keen to be part of it.
I'm 45yrs and have found the older I get the harder it is for me to bring up the mucus which drives me batty! It used to come so freely... I use mycotics - bromhexine and still have to work at it, however Buteyko discourages coughing so I'm at a bit of a loss.... my instructor tells me to do a cp to relieve the coughing sensation, when I do, I panic because I can't get air in, he says do another cp... learning, learning... practice and patience... Oh yes the tape is interesting! I didn't actually realise that i did breathe through my mouth as much as I do. Must admit though, the tape is just for bedtime
I too have read mixed reviews of this method but thought I had nothing to lose and if I can make a slight change to my current situation, it would be a bonus for me
Just completed 1 wk of Augmentin to get the flare up cleared.
I'm currently on prednisone 5mg once daily and budecort 2x3 daily, sea salt to chew on when I'm feeling lethargic (which I don't like at all) as instructed by my teacher.
Anyhu enough about me
Thanks for all the well wishes too I will let you know how I get on.
Firstly welcome we are a good bunch on here and there is usually someone with a similar problem that can help?
I had a quick look and I have been doing something similar to that for regulating my breathing for SOB but not tried the nose one yet but going to give it a try as my sinus's are always blocking.
Be Well
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