Why Can't I Catch My Breath?

Air Quality Is Terrible!

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:34:00 +0000

I used to think it was just me, but air quality is in the toilet. If I still smoked I don't think I could get enough oxygen to survive from the air outdoors today. It's even worse indoors with our sealed up houses with no ventilation.

I just wrote an article about enhancing the quality of the air we breathe. Check it out.

One of the key issues one must address when dealing with breathing disorders like copd is staying active. By controlling the indoor air quality with an air purifier you have taken a first step in the right direction. Now you must push yourself to exercise not only your body but your pulmonary system and your cardiovascular system. Before copd this was important. With copd this is mandatory.

No exercise, lose control of your weight, even harder to exercise etc. This is the apathy spiral with leads to death. Avoid it. Exercise.

Post some comments. Maybe we can help each other.

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It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

You Need To Do Something

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:22:00 +0000

Be proactive.

Breathing Disorders | Upper Respiratory Tract

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:23:00 +0000

If external factors are all about the quality of the air we inhale, then the upper respiratory tracts is all about the quantity of air we inhale. What I mean here is that when we get:

swollen nasal cavities

sinus infections
allergies
infected adenoids

allergic reactions which clog up our nasal cavity with phlegm.
poor air quality causes inflammation in our nasal cavity.

I mean anything which restricts or constricts our breathing passages, we have reduced our ability to bring oxygen to the alveolus for exchange with the carbon dioxide in our blood. We must strive to enhance any good factors and minimize or eliminate any negative factors in our upper respiratory tract.

nostrils
nasal cavity
pharynx
larynx

More discussion in this article.

Whether it is quality or quantity, if you want to fight a breathing disorder like copd, then you had better resign yourself to minimizing the negative and enhancing the positive factors.

Breathing Disorders - External Factors

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:33:00 +0000

What do I mean by external factors? What defines the air before we inhale it. The condition or age of our body has nothing to do with these external factors yet these external factors definitely affect our ability to delivery oxygen to the blood and eventually to our tissues and organs.

There really are five external factors:

Elevation from sea level
Air pollution
Temperature
Humidity
Wind

These are discussed in this article.

There will be several posts and articles on breathing disorders as follows:
-external factors
-inhaling
-breathing exercises
-the trade
-distribution
-the second trade
-distribution
-the third trade
-exhale.

My interest here is totally self serving. I have copd which you know if your have read other posts. I am looking for a recovery strategy.

To date, the medical establishment does not believe that there is a cure for copd. Breathing disorders of which copd is a major player, are the fourth leading cause of death in the USA. No cure.

By the way, the main cause of copd is, how did you guess, smoking cigarettes. Once again big Tobacco dodges the responsibility for the human flotsam it's toxic product leaves behind. Perhaps someone should publish the pictures of all the major shareholders in big Tobacco and their families and children. Let all the victims of big Tobacco know which private schools and fancy subdivisions were paid for with their lives.

I have run across an interesting product while attempting to alleviate the symptoms of copd. It delivers oxygen in short blasts when needed. Personal Portable Oxygen

Just Quit Smoking - Hypnosis

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:08:00 +0000

By now you should realize that after 40 years of smoking, I am angry at myself for being so gullible. It took me 40 years to realize I was being taken for a sap. Now my reward is Copd and severe emphysema. To temper the severity of that reward, I had to lose weight and start an exercise program. I still have 10-15 pounds to lose and I must increase the exercise up to a least two 10 minute sessions daily. Don't worry about me, I'll do it. The point here is to worry about you.
This post will address hypnosis as a quitting smoking strategy.
We are led to believe by traditional medicine and the pharmaceutical companies that the difficult to break smoking habit is the result of a a chemical dependence: nicotine addiction. Withdrawal from this chemical, physical dependence is the source of the very intense cravings for the next cigarette. Once again we are being mislead.
Using hypnosis as the quitting strategy completes reveals the deception. When 94% of the clients quit smoking without withdrawal after a single session of just one hour, one must conclude that the root dependency is mental habits, not physical dependency.

Click here to find out more about hypnosis as a quit smoking strategy.

With the cost of cigarettes today at about $3.00 per pack, the monthly out of pocket expense is about $100. That doesn't count dry cleaning costs and car washes. Quit smoking by using a hypnosis strategy and remove all your interest in smoking. For less than half your monthly cost of cigarettes you will be free of cigarettes. It's a no brainer at ten times the price.

Quit Smoking - 26 months and counting

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:12:00 +0000

That's right I just passed the 26 month mark.
Weight 185.

General diet is low but not zero carbs.
Breakfasts
-2 scrambled eggs with 3 pieces of bacon, hot chocolate, 4 ounces of diet splash (ambrotose mixed in) and a multivitamin pill.
-2 scrambled eggs with 3 pieces of bacon, hot chocolate, 4 ounces of diet splash (ambrotose mixed in), a multivitamin, 1 piece of whole wheat toast buttered.

Lunches
-lettuce salad with 1 can of tuna, mayonaise, ranch dressing, 2 dozen raisins and 2 ounces of very strong cheddar cheese.
-8 ounces of shrimp with hot sauce
-50 chips and 4 ounces of mexican dipping cheese

Dinners
-lo carb wrap with fried hamburger and onions
-two 4 ounce hamburgers with gravy and fried onions
-2 pork chops breaded with shake'n bake with applesauce
-2 broiled italian sausages with angel hair and chunky tomato sauce
-6 ounces of salmon with mayonaise
-8 ounces of grilled sirloin steak with fried onions and sweet green bell peppers
-10 breaded chicken fingers with ranch dressing
-10 ounces of roast chicken with applesauce
-8 ounces of pot roast with 1 potato, carrots, onions and gravy
-8 ounces of roast pork with applesauce
-8 ounces of roast leg of lamb with mint sauce, ear of boiled corn
7 minutes a day on the exercise bike with a resistance of 4.
Some trouble breathing with the high humidity today but overall I feel better but as usual the improvement is not fast enough.
Trying to be consistent now.
Taking Foradil twice per day and Spriva once per day.
Taking 1 teaspoon of mannatech ambrotose classic daily.
Taking 2 ounces of essiac tea before bed at night.

I promise you that you do not want to work this hard. Quit now before you develop copd or emphysema.

Quit Smoking - Case Study

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:44:00 +0000

Just a short post today. Passed the 22 month mark since my last cigarette. Weight on October 1 2006 was 212 buck n*ked. Could not do yard work. Could barely make it up a set of stairs without resting to catch my breath. After 3 minutes on the exercise bike at minimum resistance, I was totally out of breath and it took 10 minutes or more to regain normal breathing and heart rate.

June 24, 2007.
Weight 187
10 minutes on the exercise bike at level 4 resistance.
2 minutes recovery time.

I apologize for those supporting me. I slipped a little bit and enjoyed too many carbs and too little exercise during June. July will be spent in Canada, fishing and getting in better shape. It will be a real challenge to my diplomacy as I visit friends and relatives and attempt to maintain some resemblance of a low carb diet.

Next post planned for early July.

PS. A good friend of mine Don Schmidt, did not have a smoking challenge, but was significantly overweight. He is around my age, about 60 and about my height at 5 foot 10 inches. His weight last fall was 235. He set out a 1.3 mile walking course last fall walked it once per day. When he started he had to stop about every 100 feet and rest, sit down and rest. People would stop their cars and ask him if he needed medical assistance. He did not care. He finished the walking course every day. He went on several diets and a cleanse and detox regimen. We chatted this month and he reports his weight at 180. He can complete the walking course easily now and often does several circuits per day. He has totally turned his life around. He did not smoke. That is the factor he did not need to defeat. Through will power he has got his weight under control and gets regular exercise. Without the extra burden of recovering from smoking he is seeing results of his exceptional effort sooner and more dramatically. Just another reason to not smoke or quit smoking. Life is hard enough as it is, do not complicate it further by added a very negative component to your quality of life. Enough preaching, see you next month.

Case Study - Recovering from Smoking - Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:51:00 +0000

I promised you a case study to demonstrate what results are possible after 40 years of smoking 1 to 2 packs of cigarettes per day. To put all this in some perspective, I have gathered some general data from my GP as follows:

Date...........Wt.. BP......... TRG..TC..FEV..FCV..O2
8/24/89..180..110/72
5/14/90.......... 118/70
11/8/90..176...108/72
3/19/91..179...120/74
6/4/91....186...132/88
4/16/93..184...130/72
4/13/94..179...126/78.....220
4/28/94...........136/70
12/3/96..183...138/92.....274...242
12/1/97..185...132/96
1/6/98....185...120/82
8/10/98..189...120/80
9/22/98...........138/80
12/7/98..187...116/80
8/16/99...........120/80
9/14/99..190...102/70
12/8/99..188.....90/62
12/29/99..........110/70
4/6/0......189...112/64
4/11/0..............120/60....425...194
11/6/0....189...112/76
8/28/1...197...108/76
11/12/1..196...122/90
5/28/2...196...120/78
6/25/2...195...124/90.....358...230
11/6/2...189...118/82
1/3/3.....186...114/74
6/17/3...192...134/84
11/24/3.191...120/80
5/21/4...195...106/74....291...253
10/18/4.186...104/67
3/28/5...185...116/68
4/7/5...............124/68
*******************Doctor told me to quit smoking or else.
8/17/5 *************Quit smoking completely
1/31/6...203...104/80
********************Referred to Pulmonary Specialist
2/13/6..206.......................................21%...32%..90%
2/28/6..210...........................................................94%
4/7/6.......................................202
5/1/6.....212......................................29%...52%..91%
10/11/6...........80/70
10/16/6.210..........................................................90%
12/5/6...203..........................................................93%
1/2/7......200..110/64......178...185
2/16/7...198.......................................29%...67%..92%
6/8/7.....193.......................................29%...77%..90%

BP - Blood Pressure
TRG - Triglycerides
TC - Total Cholersterol
FEC - % lung evacuation in first second
FVC - predicted % of total lung evacuation
O2 - % Oxygen absorbed in blood

Notes: up until 1997 physical exercise included amateur adult hockey 5 times/wk.
-from 1996 to 2000 - physcial activity at work was extensive.
-from 2000 to 2003, physical activity at work declined to almost nil.
-2003 to 2006, 0 physcial activity.
-fall of 2006 started on exercise bike - 3 minutes per day at lowest level.
-current - 10 or 15 minutes per day on exercise bike at medium level.

Notes:
-weight peaked at 218 in September of 2006.
-started Adkins type diet in September 2006. After 2 months, switched to a very
relaxed Adkins low carb type diet.

Since the Spring of 2006, the Pulmonary specialist has indicated that I have severe
COPD with borderline hypoxemia. It was recommended that I use Oxygen, but
to date I have refused as I am working to solve this health issue not develop
lifetime crutches.
Furthermore, all literature and the advice of the specialist indicate that there is
no return from COPD. In other words, you can not get back the lost capacity
of your lungs. OK, we have a baseline here and I propose to reverse the effects
of COPD using a combination of exercise and diet.
I believe at 5 foot 9.5 inches that my weight should be ideally 170 pounds.
I currently weigh 189.
My daily regimen for exercise is 10 minutes before breakfast on the exercise
bike at the 4 star level. I skip perhaps once or twice per week.
I believe that I should aim to increase the bike activity to 10 minutes before
breakfast, 5 minutes before lunch and 5 minutes before dinner. The level of
resistence will increase as I am able.
Every 3 months I will visit the Pulmonary group and obtain the FEV, the
FCV and Saturated Oxygen readings. This will be used to evaluate the
condition of my lungs and brochial system.
Every Wednesday I will report my weight and my exercise regimen for the
past week. Any special activities or issues will be noted.

This is not a scientific case study, there is no double blind or group sampling, I know
this, but if my personal case study can give hope to those with COPD, then it will
be of some worth.

It is my personal opinion that apathy is the real devil in this situation. You smoke
for a lifetime, you quit and are proud of yourself. You are surprized that you do
not regain your breath or health as everyone has promised. Because your breath
has not returned, you can not exercise consistently and physical activity is
difficult. This lack of physical activity allows your weight to balloon up. Other
factors in the weight issue are -nicotene appetite suppression, frustration and
personal apathy. As the weight increases, breathing is even more difficult and
exercise becomes impossible. It becomes a catch 22. The apathy increases and
your will to live disappears. It is my opinion that this is the cycle for most COPD
patients. Attacked the weight issue and forcing oneself to exercise no matter how
minimal is critical if you are to break the apathy cycle.

See you next Wednesday, June 20 2007.

Journal - Smoker to ExSmoker

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:40:00 +0000

OK, now the rant about the 3rd biggest lie has been said, let's get down to business. To understand where I am and where I am going, you need to understand where I have been.

As a young person I could eat a horse. I could not put on weight. I weighed a little over 100 pounds and I was 5 foot tall on my 16th birthday. I played sports but mainly ice hockey and I was at least OK at it. On my 17th birthday I was almost 6 foot tall and I weighed about 140. That year of amazing growth sidetracked a promising hockey career. The reason I tell you this is so that you will understand that as a young person I was gristle and bones, maybe a little muscle. I could not put on weight. Around 18 I smoked a little to fit in socially, hey, back in the 60's it was the in thing.

I went away to university and by then hockey was no longer my life's passion, girls and cars and so on...I continued to smoke lightly through university and slowly built the habit up to a pack a day. I put on a little weight but was hard pressed to pass 165 at almost 6 foot tall. This continued for 15 years. I overate, overdrank, underexercised and stayed at about 170 and 6 foot. I was getting out of shape but then we bought a farm to race standbred horses and suddenly all my spare time was spent on chores around the farm. That continued until I was 38. I smoked about 2 packs a day, drank too much but I was in good shape at about 175 and 6 foot.We sold the horses and the farm and moved to Georgia in 1985.

We bought a house in Roswell a suburb of Atlanta and the level of my physical activity just about disappeared. 5 years later I worked a job at strange hours and joined an industrial league for ice hockey. I played regularly and got back into shape. I still smoked about 2 packs but my weight stablized at about 175 and I was about 5 foot 11 by them. Gravity sucks. This continued off and on for about 8 years until another shift in employment brought me to residential contruction.

Working by myself initially, I installed roofing felt for builders to dry in new houses as the roofers were very busy and difficult to schedule. This was a very profitable business and I was overwhelmed with potential business. I worked so hard physically that I got in very good shape. I still smoked 2 packs a day but I was as fit as I ever. My wife joked about my job as I started to hire help; she said I should call it Nassau Fitness - I had a Nassau tan and not much body fat at all, running around roof tops carrying rolls of felt, always at some level of danger due to the roof pitch, and working long hours without real breaks. Hey it was tough but rewarding. She thought I should charge people to work for me, not pay them. This continued until about 2000.

I was too successful. As I expanding into framing and trim work, I spent all my time running from job to job and spent little if any time working with my hands and my back. I smoked at lot, ate fast food and my health started to deteriorate. First my breath went. I couldn't run around the roof tops anymore, I had to take it slow. Second my weight started up, 180, 185. My doctor started to bitch at me about smoking and drinking too much. One day I just stopped drinking alcohol as I usually did, no more drink until a major buzz. I might have the odd beer here and there but nothing like the power drinking of the old days. I still smoked, now only 1 and half packs per day. By 2002, the local construction business was challenging because of the influx of spanish speaking labor. I did not speak Spanish and I was tired of the rat race of dealing with subcontractors and employees. I packed it in and looked to my computer for a new career.

That's great and it has been very rewarding financially but it certainly did not solve my physical health issues: weight gain and smoking. OK, that brings you up to speed as of the Spring of 2005. More later.

Rants by Mike - Quit Smoking and COPD

noreply@blogger.com (Mikes Place) — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:04:00 +0000

I quit smoking. Give me a break.
That's what I thought was going to happen, I was going to catch a break. No more nagging, no more hiding, no more leaving a building and catching a smoke in the rain or cold. No more cough in the morning...
For years people told me that I could get my lung capacity back in a few weeks or a worst months. All I had to do was quit smoking.
That BS has got to rank up there with the other two great lies:

checks in the mail
something about male and female relations

Now we have a third, just quit, your lungs will be back to normal in a couple of weeks.

The lung specialist took great pains to explain to me the science of COPD. Basically it comes down to this: when I was smoking my lung capacity deteriorated much more rapidly than a non-smoker. Now that I have quit, my lung capacity now deteriorates at the same rate as a non-smoker but, and here's the big but, the capacity I lost during my smoking years can never be regenerated.

Why don't they put that on the side of a cigarette package. "Every cigarette you smoke decreases your lung capacity for LIFE!" "Go ahead, smoke. But you had better enjoy it, because you are trading a drag on a cigarette for your ability to catch your breath for LIFE."

I see come interesting ads on TV and elsewhere which attempt to educate people about the hazards of smoking. It is never said plainly enough. Smoking is a decision from which there is no appeal, no mulligan, no do-over. Once you smoke, you limit your quality of life for life. The only remaining question is how much do you limit your quality of life.

Quit. Quit for you, not for anyone else. Do it yourself, find help. Do something. I am making a journal with posts to this blog in which I will document my battle with the after effects of smoking and quitting smoking. These include:

difficulty breathing
difficulty catching my breath after minimal exercise
weight gain
difficulty sleeping through the night
malaise
deteriorating physical fitness
lack of energy, drive or purpose - apathy.

Post some ideas, let's find a solution for all smokers and ex smokers. First quit, then recover your capacity to breathe. With capacity to breathe comes exercise, then fitness and weight loss, and then choices for your quality of life.