Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Doing Less Not Always Best

Breathlessness itself is fatiguing and its easier to sit and rest and let someone else do the job at hand. This is great in the short term and having friends and family assist gives us a lovely feeling of connectedness. But its a sliding scale when we begin to delegate more and more for others to do and we are engaging in less activity than ever before.

We can lose independence sooner than what could have been as arms and legs decondition and instability and weakness prevents access to things that use to bring enjoyment and engagement outside of the home.

The solution? Delegate the hardest things that involve heavy lifting or bending and manage your breathlessness as would an athlete in training to keep the moderate tasks to maintain fitness and mobility. Work out a plan with your practitioner and family to ensure you are maintaining your ability for good quality of life.

Health Education: Pneumonia Awareness Week 13-20 May

Keeping warm as the temperature drops morning and afternoon is key to staying well this week in Brisbane but we also need to keep an eye on our friends and family for symptoms that could be ignored as a simple cold.

Awareness of the symptoms Pneumonia, a serious condition, is one way you can help those you know and love who are considered to be at risk –  those with a chronic medical condition, a smoker, if they are 65 years or under 12 months of age.

Encourage them to get a medical check up with their practitioner if – difficulty breathing; fever; chest pain; cough; and fatigue. And if in doubt get it checked out, anyway.

For more information you can find a brochure on the Lung Foundation website at: www.lungfoundation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Lung-Foundation_Infographic_Pneumonia_Final.pdf

 

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Reduced Activity

A big question  people with breathlessness face is how much activity is too much?

We need to take a look at what they are doing, how breathless they get and what measures are in place to manage that and return to a pre-activity level when the task is finished. The bottom line is the need to keep moving. If you say I’m breathless and stop then you will decondition and the breathlessness will increase. You need to be active to a level you can use techniques to control the breathlessness and not let it get out of hand in order to keep daily activities  maintaining muscle conditioning. Muscles that preserve your balance, help you breath and maintain mobility and independence.

Community Connections – Newsletter Article

This May is Lung Health Awareness month and the May issue of the LungNet News includes an article I wrote to help you get back on your feet after a flareup or exacerbation of your pulmonary condition. Its called, ‘How to Grade your Return following an Exacerbation’. You can find it in the newsletter on the link below.

https://lungfoundation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/XANZOO180328_LungNet-May_Web.pdf

 

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Thoughts (2)

Thoughts are funny things, they can affect our feelings and behaviour in many ways. For instance, if we get anxious about our breathlessness then we may feel a little overwhelmed. A good way to deal with this is in keeping yourself well informed about your condition. Information on things such as breathing techniques and postures can empower and give you back that sense of control thereby helping defeat those negative thought patterns and focus on the things you value most.

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Temperature

Temperature can be a factor in your breathlessness – with the onset of the cooler weather at present your early morning paper pick up is probably going to be more comfortable an hour later as it warms up. On the flip side be aware of the drop on the end of the day and rug up sufficiently. Shower temperatures in the extreme can also have an impact so don’t be tempted to overuse the hot water water now its cooler. The resulting steam will necessitate good ventilation to ensure comfort and not exacerbate your symptoms.

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Exertion

The type of exertion made in activity can be a factor in your breathlessness. Consider the energy needs of what you are doing; can I make this simpler, can I break it down into parts, can I use a piece of equipment to make it easier, can I take out the bending and reaching, can I sit whilst I do the job at hand?

 

The goal is not to stop being active but to change the way you do things in order to maintain your independence for as long as possible.

 

Factors Affecting Breathlessness: Body position

Today we will start a small series of tips to manage shortness of breath for lung awareness month.
Factors affecting breathlessness can be used to limit exacerbations and promote healthy choices.
i. Body position- shortness of breath can catch you unawares at times in the middle of activity. It is important to use the environment around you to sit or lean forward, reducing energy and oxygen needs and opening the chest for expansion, relaxing the shoulders and focusing on relaxing the breath out.