She can help you be a better breather

Debbie Featherston, respiratory care practitioner
Ball Memorial Hospital

Q. What do you tell patients with a new diagnosis of lung disease?
A. When one receives the diagnosis from their physician that they have a chronic lung disease, they often feel frightened and sometimes feel like their life is suddenly and drastically changed forever. This is not the outcome that Pulmonary Rehab and the Better Breathers Support Group want to convey.

National Pulmonary Rehab week is celebrated March 18-24. We, at Ball Memorial Hospital, want to make people aware that the quality of life for patients suffering from Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis, Pulmonary Fibrosis, or other lung diseases can improve with gaining the knowledge and control of their shortness of breath.

Q. What does it feel like to live with chronic lung disease?
A. Having worked with patients for many years, that often experience shortness of breath at different levels, I have gained some understanding of what it’s like. Imagine going through life often feeling like you are having to breathe through a straw. What if there are stairs up to the doctor’s office? What if you can’t find a parking spot close by? How about being in a small enclosed room that’s warm and crowded? A kind of panic suddenly consumes you. Once that anxiety and panic takes over, then you really cannot breathe because your airways tighten. I can somewhat identify with the feeling of drowning. I am a fairly good swimmer. I can swim, float in the water if I was just playing around, or I could tread in deep water for long periods of time.

However in a panic situation, if I felt the fear that I was going to drown I would be fighting with everything I have to stay above water. My arms would be flailing around, I would be gasping for air, and I would soon be expending up all of my energy and I could very possibly drown, forgetting all about my abilities to stay above water.
Being short of breath is similar. Once that overwhelming feeling of suffocating takes over, it is very easy to forget everything else, except for that moment you feel as if each breath could be your last. Often, loved ones want to help and comfort a person suffering from shortness of breath, but sometimes hover over making the suffocating feeling even worse.

Q. How do I gain control of my breathing?
A. Learning breathing techniques like pursed lip breathing can be one of the most important techniques in gaining back control. With chronic lung disease it’s really about your lungs being trapped of old stale air. With the air trapping, it is often very difficult to get the fresh air or oxygen in. With activity, exertion, or exercise we have all experienced the feeling of being “air hungry” or feeling as if more air is needed. We often times find ourselves breathing in fast and shallow not allowing ourselves to get the oxygen in that our body needs. We are soon going to totally wear ourselves out. By teaching ourselves how to breathe properly, we can help prevent the quickly spiraling cycle of panic and shortness of breath.

Pursed lip breathing is very useful in helping control shortness of breath. It involves breathing in slowly through the nose (as if smelling flowers) and breathing out through pursed lips (as if blowing through a bubble wand easily being careful not to burst the bubbles). Breathe in (inhale) for a count of two and breathe out (exhale) twice as long or for a count of four. This generally is very awkward at first and becomes easier with practice. It is especially useful when additionally thinking of fond memories or visualizing relaxing thoughts. In other words, go to your “happy place” and “play a movie” in your mind. The best time to use this technique is when feeling anxious and or short of breath or when doing activity.

Pulmonary Rehab and the Better Breathers Support Group at Ball Memorial Hospital can help a great deal with assisting people suffering from chronic lung disease, shortness of breath, and keep the vicious cycle of panic from invading one’s life which ultimately leads to debility and in some cases isolation.

Debbie Featherston is a respiratory care practitioner in the Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation department at Ball Memorial Hospital. She can be reached at (765) 747-3773 or info@chsmail.org.

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