can a green powerbreathe help me dump the inhaler??

Felix-da-house-mouse

hi, i've had asthma for about 15yrs now since i was 11 or 12, and i have now just thought about the idea of my body developing a need for ventolin, like a junkie needs smack, but not as severe lol. i've thought about buying the green powerbreathe to try and help me kick the inhaler into the proverbial touch. has any one tried this or knows any one who has? i've also seen a russian guy on the net who has excercises that he has "invented" which he says he has got rid of his daughters asthma.

any info on this?

cheers

Izembard

Search "Buteyko" on the net and you will find breathing exercises that allegedly prevent over exhalation which the theory goes causes Asthma.
The exercises are simple to do but are extremly uncomfortable and they need to be done religiously every day with increased duration. I'd be interested to know if it works though as I gave up pretty quickly. I'd also like to know if the powerbreath works as it may be a similar principle.

meenaghman

I use Ventolin/salbutamol only inhaler. I have a blue power breathe. I find its good for warming the lungs up before going out on a cold day. During winter on cold days I find Asthma the worst.. so I tend to do easy miles trying not to get too out of breath.. although I do try and do the odd lung bursting bit on the trainer indoors. So the answer in my case is that its helped, and seems to help me on when I have to push it.. eg on the hills, but I only started using it after I'd moved back to Ireland from England, and in general I've noticed asthma a lot less over here.. House has wooden floors and I live rurally now so air a bit cleaner. Plus I've lost weight and got back on the bike, and I've a bit less stress in my life as I work from home and don't commute/breathe exhaust fumes from car in front on Motorway. I suppose it can't do any harm. At worst you're just training your lungs to breathe a bit harder.

Meredydd

There was some info came out about research into the use of muscular training devices such as Powerbreathe in the case of asthmatics earlier this year, but I can't find a link to it for you. All the stuff I can find is rather older and are fairly qualified in expressing that they may be of some assistance.
So give it a go, but I wouldn't suggest seeing it as a way of dumping your inhalers. Depending on the severity of your asthma attempting to ditch your inhalers might not be a very good idea at all. On the contrary, in my experience if you want to reduce the amount of ventolin you use the best thing you can do is use your other inhalers, the preventers, usually inhaled steriod such as becloforte, regularly and combine that with regular exercise, for which cycling is ideal. That may sound obvious advice, but a substantial number of asthmatics, in line with other conditions, don't take their routine medication as regularly as they should. I was one for years when I was young, when I should've known better.
The obvious answer is to consult your doctors.
Your body won't though, as I understand it, have developed a need for ventolin. It's more likely you'd develop a tolerance of it if you've been using a lot over a long period.
Combine exercise, powerbreathe and whatever else, and you'll probably find the frequeny with which you need to use your ventolin drops off anyway. Still worth taking it with you wherever you go though.

Best of luck.


EDIT: Oh, and having seen your post in the other thread, the osteoporosis risk would, I believe, be from your preventative medication (likely inhaled steriod - becotide / becloforte) rather than ventolin (salbutamol). If you're concerned talk to your gp/asthma nurse/specialist who is going to be a better source of info on this than your chiropracter. To be honest I'm not too impressed by anyone who's not specifically treating your asthma telling you to try and ditch your inhalers. That can be pretty dangerous advice.

giant_man

Has cycling not helped your asthma felix? don't you think you breathe better than you did? I have had asthma all my life but particularly as a child, nearly died when i was 11, so been there done that. As you say, always relied on Ventolin to sort me out.

Since I have been cycling I hardly have to reach for my inhaler, cycling has been a relevation for me have to say. I don't suppose this is much compensation for your to hear but just giving my tuppence worth as a fellow asthma sufferer! Hope you don't have to rely on that inhaler too much mate.

jerry3571

Try getting rid of the triggers for Asthma. House dust mite, (Hoover with HEPA filters, "Quick Step" type flooring, Bedding wash at 60c, Air Filter for the home too). Cycling at certain times may be worse or better. Mornings and Evenings are tricky due to the cold and Pollen falling to ground level. Pollen, on good days, will rise up in the atmosphere and fall again before dusk so the middle of the day would be better. (the pollen from Hazel bushes is rife at present- Feb). In the Autumn, there are Moulds which can trigger things off, they pump out spores in damp wet weather.
It's all out to get us!!
Hope that helps.
-Jerry

Cajun

I guess a bigger question would be: Would using a power breather do you any harm?
Even if it helped 'just a little', I don't see how the money and time spent would be wasteful.
http://www.bragg.com/books/spb_excerpt.html
I admit that I did purchase one a few years ago when I was out of work, and used it while sitting at the 'puter....I don't know if it did me any good, but I did increase my restricted inhale & exhale time. (I don't have asthma)

Shadowduck

Never heard of these before but it looks interesting - anyone know exactly what the difference is between the various flavours? Would I need a green because I'm asthmatic, or a blue because I exercise?

It's not hard to google up some independent research suggesting it has a real effect, and I'm always interested in anything that might improve my breathing!

Dr_Death

not convinced of that 'study's' independence. You'll have noticed the lack of names to it, any declaration of competing interests and the ruddy great powerbreathe advert to the right of it!

Shadowduck

Dr_Death wrote:

not convinced of that 'study's' independence. You'll have noticed the lack of names to it, any declaration of competing interests and the ruddy great powerbreathe advert to the right of it!

So far as I can see Leeds University doesn't have any connection with Powerbreathe... Not sure how bothered I am by the lack of names (can't be bothered to look through the rest of the website to see if it's just their house style) and I didn't see the advert 'cos I use Adblock Plus.

On the other hand, this study looks a little more academically respectable and doesn't seem to think they're any use, so you could be right. This on the other hand appears to be a refutation of it. Is there an ongoing game of one-upmanship among the researchers? It seems to be a case of "Which side do you want to believe?"...

Dr_Death

Shadowduck wrote:

Dr_Death wrote:

not convinced of that 'study's' independence. You'll have noticed the lack of names to it, any declaration of competing interests and the ruddy great powerbreathe advert to the right of it!

So far as I can see Leeds University doesn't have any connection with Powerbreathe... Not sure how bothered I am by the lack of names (can't be bothered to look through the rest of the website to see if it's just their house style) and I didn't see the advert 'cos I use Adblock Plus.

On the other hand, this study looks a little more academically respectable and doesn't seem to think they're any use, so you could be right. This on the other hand appears to be a refutation of it. Is there an ongoing game of one-upmanship among the researchers? It seems to be a case of "Which side do you want to believe?"...

Problem with those two studies is that they are comparing apples and oranges. One is looking at whether the powerbreathe is useful for training atheletes and the other is looking at whether it has any benefit for patients with buggered lungs. Two totally different populations with differing physiology and background health. Can't really pass comment on the first study either as can only get the abstract without paying and not the full study, although I note that they use a very small sample (12) so most results are gonna be pretty random...

Sorry to be so pedantic but looking at, and critically appraising, papers makes a big difference to what I do for my actual patients so you rapidly learn not to trust everything you read. Or at least to read it very carefully..... If you show any doctor worth his salt any research paper he can probably find about a hundred ways to criticise the methodology, conclusions and results. It's jut the way we are designed.

Anyway, back to the point - I've still to see any decent research that proves that these things are of definite benefit. However, they aren't gonna do you any damage so may well be worth a try. Don't think it would prevent your need for inhalers altogether but it's unlikely to do you any harm! As always, discussit with your GP before electing to change any of youe own medications... we usually prescribe them for a reasonably good reason
!

Shadowduck

Interesting to hear the opinion of a medical man! I can assure you I don't believe everything I read, but unfortunately you have to draw a line of credibility somewhere and this is certainly not my area of expertise to make an informed judgement... When I was originally diagnosed with asthma as a kid in the 70s one of the doc's recommendations was that I joined the school brass band to strengthen the muscles associated with breathing - the powerbreathe appears to be the same idea, just working on inhalation rather than exhalation, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think it might help.

Incidentally, since I fall into both categories (training athletes and people with buggered lungs), any benefit to either population looks useful to me!

Cajun

Shadowduck wrote:

....muscles associated with breathing - the powerbreathe appears to be the same idea, just working on inhalation rather than exhalation, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think it might help.....!

Actually the breathing device that I purchased, restricted both inhaling & exhaling equally to whatever setting I positioned it... it wasn't the official Powerbreathe, but same principal.

webbhost

Green for an inactive person or with respiratory difficulties, blue for someone looking to increase their fitness level and red for people looking to take their competition to the next level

- http://blog.teamgearedup.com/2007/11/power-breathe.html

I have the red power breathe. I "believe" the difference between the colours is the amount of resistance range each one allows? Not a definate through. level 10 on the red seems impossible through!

Also if you have a look on the powerbreathe site FAQ, it does state that it can help conditions, including asthma, so it would surely be worth a try?

Shadowduck

Shadowduck wrote:

Would I need a green because I'm asthmatic, or a blue because I exercise?

Well, I bought one and went for the blue - seems I made the right decision as I've been increasing the resistance 1/4 turn at a time as suggested and am up to level 3 of 9 so far.

According to the manual, the resistance load (in cmH2O) of each model is...

Level..........Green..........Blue..........Red
...1................10...............10..............10
...2................20...............30..............40
...3................30...............50..............70
...4................40...............70.............100
...5................50...............90............ 130
...6................60..............110............160
...7................70..............130............190
...8................80..............150............220
...9................90..............170............250

...so I doubt there's much point to the green one for most people on this forum.

Bit early to say if it's making any difference, I'm not even sure I've reached the right resistance yet! My breathing does seem easier but that could be purely placebo effect. I'll report back in a few weeks!

Dr_Death

webbhost wrote:

Also if you have a look on the powerbreathe site FAQ, it does state that it can help conditions, including asthma, so it would surely be worth a try?

Well, they're hardly gonna say it doesn't work are they??!

Shadowduck

Shadowduck wrote:

I'll report back in a few weeks!

A few weeks later, so reporting back as promised.

I'm now up to level 4.5 of 9 and DOYC*, what a difference it's made! Where previously my lungs were usually the main limiting factor, especially when climbing, it now seems to be my legs holding me back most of the time. As my legs get stronger I'm climbing better than ever before and have cleaned a couple of hills I could never previously get up without several breathers!

I haven't had that "gasping for breath" feeling for weeks now, in fact I don't seem to be able to get to that stage even if I try, and I've given up carrying a blue (salbutamol) inhaler round with me as I don't seem to need it any more (still using seretide morning and evening).

Disclaimer: Obviously this is a completely uncontrolled, subjective trial not worthy of any medical attention whatsoever and I have absolutely no proof that the improvement is down to the powerbreathe and not something else or placebo effect blah blah blah. I don't think so but frankly, I don't care if it's a rabbit's foot - it works for me!

*Deity Of Your Choice.

Dr_Death

Fair enough, if it works for you then it works for you. I'm glad to hear it has helped.