Eating Happy and Healthy With Less Distress

If you have shortness of breath or damage to your lungs, it’s very beneficial to know what foods can help nutritionally, and simply how to manage eating more comfortably. 

A large meal can make you uncomfortable for several reasons. 

A full stomach can push up against your diaphragm making it harder to breathe.  It also requires more oxygen to digest.  Foods that produce gas can fill your stomach and can be uncomfortable as it pushes up on your diaphragm and makes breathing far more difficult.  Small meals and healthy snacks throughout the day work well.

Eating in a relaxed atmosphere and resting afterward is beneficial.  If you tire easily, planning and cooking ahead can help.  Too much preparation and work to get the meal and eating right afterward can be too taxing.

If you want to improve the health of your lungs, you'll find a variety of foods that can help you.  Most important foods are fruits and vegetables and the deeper the color the better.  They provide nutrients and fiber that help reduce cholesterol and move food through your digestive system.   High fiber foods include fresh fruit and vegetables, cooked beans, whole grains, dried peas and beans.  These foods also help control blood sugar levels.

Many nutritionists tell us to avoid white foods like sugar, rice and bread. 

New posts will discuss what foods can improve your health and even help repair damage to your lungs.   Balanced, good nutrition can improve your breathing.  There are new studies that I will share that offer good advice.

As Julia Childs would say, “Bon Appetit”!

Summertime Heat Can Cause Serious Problems

Summertime heat-related illnesses can be mild to life threatening. A less severe form can quickly progress to a more serious and dangerous heat-related condition.  Below is a list starting with the least to most serious.  Be aware that, with lung disease you should be even more careful. 

The best treatment is prevention by staying cool, well hydrated and well rested.   Take it especially easy in the summer heat!!

 Heat Rash is skin irritation caused by sweating during hot, humid weather. It can be clusters of red pimples or small blisters, often on the neck, chest,  groin, under the breasts, and in elbow creases.   Keep affected areas dry, and cool, to give the rash time to heal.

  Heat Cramps usually affect people who sweat profusely.  Sweating depletes the body's sodium and fluid levels.  Cramps usually occur in the abdomen, arms, and legs, and can also be a symptom of heat exhaustion. Rest, cool down, drink water, juice or a beverage containing electrolytes,

Heat Syncope is an episode of dizziness or fainting that occurs with prolonged standing or from sudden rising from a sitting or lying position when overheated. Dehydration can contribute.  Fainting can also precede heat exhaustion.  Rest, hydration and cooling down are very important.

Heat Exhaustion is the body's response to an excessive loss of water and sodium, usually through excessive sweating. Symptoms can include headache, nausea, dizziness, weakness, irritability, thirst, heavy sweating, elevated body temperature, and decreased urine output. You should be medically evaluated at a clinic or emergency department as soon as possible.  Heat exhaustion is an emergency that can quickly escalate to life-threatening heat stroke.

Heat Stroke is the most serious problem because the body can no longer regulate its temperature.  Body temperature rises rapidly and can’t cool down. Symptoms include confusion, loss of consciousness, seizures, very high body temperature, and hot, dry skin or profuse sweating.  Many people think that sweating always stops when someone has heat stroke. This is not always true.  Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability.  Seek emergency treatment.

Stress Control for Better Breathing, Avoiding Fear and Panic

Breathlessness becomes much worse when feeling stressed.  Avoiding stress is not always possible, but controlling your reaction to it, can keep you from the downward spiral.  


Stress causes anxiety which leads to a cycle of faster breathing, tired breathing muscles, increased shortness of breath, more anxiety and so on.  This can result in fear and panic about breathlessness. 


Here are some techniques to help you relax when anxiety begins.  


1.  Use breathing techniques like pursed lip, diaphragmatic or yoga breathing. (described in earlier posts).


2.  Get comfortable and close your eyes.  Imagine yourself somewhere quiet and pleasant.
Feel a soft breeze on your face, hear birds singing, smell your favorite fragrance, taste a pleasant food or drink on your tongue, and don't leave this place until you are relaxed.


3.  Yoga, prayer, meditation or listening to relaxing music can help.


4.  Slowly from head to toe, or toe to head, tighten and relax your muscles.  Breathe in as you tighten and out slowly as you relax.  Counting slowly while you do this can help.


You can't avoid all stress, but as Dr. OZ says,  keep your "NUTS, (Nagging, Undone Task Stress)" under control.  There are daily stresses we can eliminate by planning ahead, asking for help or even just making a list and checking off items as you do them.  


 If you have tips about things that have helped you. please share them in comments and we will post them. 
                                               

Understanding COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Over 12 million people in the United States have COPD,  about 1 in 4 older Americans. It has become the 4th leading cause of death. Most people with COPD are over 40 and many have smoking history, or environmental exposure to fumes or airborne particles

There is a big misconception we make.  We expect shortness of breath with activities to be a normal part of aging. Feeling short of breath is not normal at any age. Changing or stopping activities you enjoy, because you can't catch your breath may be a sign of COPD. 

In COPD the airways can become narrowed or damaged. This makes it hard to get air out, and can cause that breathless feeling. Other symptoms may include coughing, excess mucus, noisy breathing or wheezing.

Today many treatments are available to improve your breathing.  If you think you may have COPD, talk to your doctor. A simple breathing test, right in the doctor's office, can help determine if you have it.

To learn more about COPD, visit www.learnaboutcopd.org by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH, and the American Lung Association.

Don’t miss out on things because of shortness of breath.  Talk with your doctor.  There are many great treatment options to help you get back on track.

Blog up and working again.

Please excuse the long delay in posts and activity on this blog.  It is again ready for activity.

Huff Coughing and Forced Expiratory Technique

A Huff Cough is a gentle cough, done with an open glottis all through exhalation.  To keep your glottis open, keep your mouth open as you exhale.  It may help to place a tube, (like inside a toilet paper roll), between your lips and teeth, while you are learning.  This is also called, Forced Expiratory Technique, (FET).

1.   Sit in a comfortable position.  See coughing tips in last post.

2.   Do a few nice slow deep breaths using diaphragmatic breathing.  

3.   Inhale slowly and hold your breath for two to three seconds.

4.   Exhale like you are “fogging” a mirror or your glasses.                    

5.   This will make a “huffing” sound, until most air is out.

6.   Control the speed of exhalation, not too fast.

7.   Avoid an actual, or premature cough.

8.   Use your abdominal muscles to help you exhale fully.

9.   Start with lower volumes and build up to a large breath.

  10.  Do several, (2-3) huff coughs and then rest.  

  11.  After several minutes, repeat if needed.

 This technique should be gentle and controlled and can be very effective.  It helps you avoid paroxysmal, unproductive coughing.

 If you experience any discomfort, stop, and talk with your Doctor at your next visit. 

Cough, techniques to do it gently and effectively

Coughing is the body's way of removing foreign material or mucus from your lungs and airways, or of reacting to airway irritation.  It is important to cough effectively to avoid getting more short of breath or exhausted from your efforts.  We will explain how to cough more gently, with good results.

Productive coughing, brings up phlegm or mucus (sputum).   The mucus may have drained down the back of your throat from the nose or sinuses, or may come up from your lungs.  Try not to hold or suppress a productive cough as it clears mucus from the lungs.   

It is important to stay well hydrated by drinking several glasses of water daily, (unless you are told to restrict fluids by your doctor), so your secretions are thinner and easier to cough out.  It may help to do a controlled coughing session after your inhaled medications.  You want to be sitting in a comfortable position, not lying down.  You can place your hands on your knees, or a table to help stabilize your muscles.  Purposely use your stomach muscles to make your cough efforts stronger.

Huff Cough and Forced Expiratory Technique,(FET)  which are gentle ways to cough, and easy to learn, will be posted soon.