i wish to help others with copd had it about 9 years started mild got little worse so breathing tests reveal but I have found a way of beating the tite airways ok let me start even with the purple inhaler some days my chest can be ok but others days airways are tite so I found away to clear my airways and breath easy the simple solution was to breath in till I cant breath in no more hold for 1 second and force the air out very quickly till cant get any more out only using my mouth to force all the air out you can hear all the inside making crakling noises ten return to normal breathing then repeat etc etc I found this method vibrates and losens all the flem or stiky phlem done over about 10 minets or longer till all your phlem is lose you start spiting the phlem out its this I found blocks the airways and hey presto it works it works even better than my inhaler its the build up of stiky mucus that's bloking your airways I done it tonite as my airways were feeling tite and am breathing easy please try it and let me no how you get on wot have you got to lose little note if phlem or stiky mucus is not removed with copd its breeding ground for bacteria hence y I think your lungs get worse over time b cause its not geting out of your lungs I can do most things in life gym work as tree surgeon jog up 10 floors with out having to fite for breath my legs get tired be for my lungs and I think its be cause I have done breathing exercises that I have fought copd in to defeat one more thing I have not had a chest infection since or over 3 years
breath easy : i wish to help others... - Lung Conditions C...
breath easy
Thank you for that I will certainly try it and let you know. Have a good night and take care of yourself 😊 Bernadette xx
Breathing exercises can be helpful in the earlier stages of copd especially. x
I have had it 9 years in that time it should of got lot worse so av read nothing to lose if you got phlem it bloks your airways my inhaler coulden budge it this does for me
If you are at the early stages, while everyone progresses at different rates, it is common to remain stable for many years. I was diagnosed mild 12 years ago and my lung function is still virtually the same as it was then. That's despite me not leading a particularly healthy lifestyle. I still smoke too, though am working on packing it in.
Someone else can do all the right things yet still progress more than me, and I have come to the conclusion a lot of it is down to luck ie I must have some good lung genes as well as bad. x
Ps not looking for lectures on smoking please!
Would an acapella help? I don't have COPD but I have bronchiectasis. I have remove the phlegm daily and use a method to remove it called huffing. I also have an acapella. You are right saying the phlegm is full of bacteria and as such should be coughed up. Im xure others on here will read your post and reply. Good for you though, for finding a method that helps to clear the mucus. As you are so short of breath doing it, it must be very heavy going trying to get it up.
no am ok getting phlem up when I do have tite chest this method frees it up and I can breat normal again
wots an acophella
An acapella is a small hand held gadget given to me by the hospital. A physiotherapist shows you how to use it to expell the mucus from your lungs. When you blow in to it, the air is pushed in to your lungs and vibrates, shaking and loosening the mucus. You will then cough up the loosened phlegm easily. The physio. will show you how to do the huffing too which is a similar method as using an acapella.
well my chest was tite yesterday done the exhale quick epell air out last nite at 7 my chest is still clear tday
Do you have phlegm every day? I just don't seem to have much or indeed any, most of the time so can't see the point in using the acapella.
not realy but when my chest feels tite for days I do this method and it realy clears air ways if you breath out through your mouth quik and hear or feal noises from your chest its a blockage in airways like a crackling noise also its known fact that copd produces to much phelm which bloks airways all an inhaler does is open airways but it cant extract phlem you have to forcefully get it out its like cleaning a bloked chimmey etc of soot
This also helps get any carbon dioxide out of your lungs as well.
As far as I know I don't have copd, but I do have asthma and bronchiectasis. If I do what you do as described it rarely produces any sounds or feeling within the chest. It makes me cough a little but nothing comes up.
Quite often just the act of getting up and moving around for the first couple of hours of the day brings up a little. Bending forward to touch the floor sometimes being up a little.
I have bronchiectasis and only rarely produce sputum . Apparently 10% of us are what is classed as having dry bronchiectasis.
After waiting a whole year i have just started rehabilitation, Breathe Easy. But with arthritic hip and spine have problems doing some of the exercises .
It does help meeting others and discussing problems, as does this web site.. i have learned a lot since i joined BLF.
Thank you. That's useful and encouraging. I've always avoided meeting others with bronchiectasis. Maybe I should rethink that. I'm seeing my GP tomorrow and will request, for the third time, a referral back to physio.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s so good for people to share what works for them. I shall certainly try it next time I get a tight chest.
Best wishes jo
Increase your fluid intake also helps. I do the same mostly in the morning to get the phlegm up.
Thanks guytane for sharing your experiences. We are all here to live and learn from each other Thank You Brian
Hello guytane. Works for me too, whereas the active circle of breathing which is recommended by Resp Team doesn't for me. Other things that I believe help me and have increased my lung capacity (which has increased year on year) are yoga, which includes breathing techniques, and swimming - one of the things I do is to swim the first length with my head in the water, without breathing, for as far as I can. I can do the whole length of a 25 metre pool on a good day. I then swim a km at a good rate (crawl and old English backstroke). I do this two to three times a week. I also always use the stairs instead of the lift or escalator wherever possible, even is it is sometimes a bit of a struggle with the breathing. I did manage to climb the stairs to the top of the tallest church spire in Europe, although I did have to stop for a rest halfway.
I think that accepting that you will be short of breath when exercising means that you will exercise more and keep relatively well. People remark on how my condition seemed much worse when I was first diagnosed. Spirometry stats may suggest differently, but the reality is that fighting back has meant that I can still do everything that I have always done, albeit with breathlessness. I can still walk for miles without getting tired - something that the specialist at the hospital found hard to belief.
I too seemed to have stopped getting chest infections. I also haven't had a cold since I started doing sinus rinses.
Stay strong, stay well. Have a good day.
So you do sinus rinse every day twice a day, and not just when you had a cold?
Do you mind If I ask what stage of COPD you are and what your FEV1% of predicted is? Exercise is good for most people including those with COPD, and you seem to be proof of that.
When diagnosed I got very rough stage based on minimum information of stage 1-2. I don't have my fev1 info with me at the moment but my lung capacity % of predicted was 115% in 2018 and 123% in 2019. I personally don't have much faith in spirometry preferring to base my state of health on how I feel, my ability to stay well and resist infections and how breathless I get. I am much healthier and much fitter than I was before I eventually got my diagnosis.
Thank you. I agree how you feel and what you can do is more important than the numbers. You seem to be able to do quite a bit so would be nice to know what your FEV1% of predicted is, and what is capable at different stages based on the work one does to improve your condition.
Thanks for sharing-will give it a go! One thing I’ve found is that, for me, a lot of the mucus is from my sinuses - so one way to keep the sticky stuff away is to use a saltwater solution and use it to clear your nose. It really works and stops the gunk getting to you chest. I’ve had COPD - Bronchiolitis - for most of my life, never smoked but I’m finding keeping the mucus at bay - saltwater is brilliant- Does anyone use it in a nebuliser?
I just use a sinus rinse
Great advice, thank you x
Hi Guy, this sounds like the Buteyco breathing technique which helps with conditions such as asthma and COPD. Worth checking out, Poll x
What about the aerobika..also nebulizing 7 percent saline
Thanks, guytane! I have received the most helpful tips from people on this site. I’ll give your breathing technique a go.
You've discovered the 'Huffing Technique'!
I don't have copd but a gp showed me many years ago when I had a stubborn infection. P
I am 'clogged' with phlegm at the moment and am having problems with great shortage of breath so it was very apposite for me to read your suggestion.
I have been trying it and to my surprise, it seems to work, so thank you for posting.
The problem I have us that this method leaves me totally exhausted. As most of 'us' will know, being short of breath is tiring anyway but after three goes I don't have the energy to do more - but will do so later and see if I can perform better!
The other thing I am wondering about is, is this method OK for our hearts? I felt as though I was putting a strain on mine but perhaps this was because I am pretty worn out with the breathing struggle (and yes, I have been using my preventer and inhaler!).
Thank you very much for making a such a positive suggestion.
ok so don't go to severe on it do it gently over a bit longer period say 15 to 20 minets as long as its coming up its working its only like coughing hard reading on some of your posts you get chest infections if phelm stays in your lungs it can cause chest infections it carries lots bactira we all need phlem in are lungs to keep them supple but with copd it produces ecsess amount which clogs airways and needs to be out of your lungs but if you have heart problems I would take it easy but it mite be that you feel like its putting a strain on your heart but its realy your chest
guytane
sounds a useful tool to help fight COPD will use it. movement anything that relieves the mucus and it's otherwise (unfortunate coughing which for so long is not productive) by non- productive and very annoying to others. Thanks for the tip.
IKeith
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