Deep Breathing - a Bonus?

[Sillyme]

After switching to a FF mask I found that I was breathing way deeper than normal (for me) with no effort. Even during the day I now find myself taking spontaneous deep breaths - like you do when you y-a-a-awn. I didn't realize what a shallow breather I was. I haven't installed my software yet but I've been playing with my new oximeter. Before switching masks my reading was 90 to 92 during the day. I tried it on while using the CPAP and it went to 95 -98. Now my daytime reading stays higher too. One of my sons is into martial arts and has encouraged me to do deep breathing exercises in the past, but doing it on purpose makes me dizzy. Now those deep breaths feel delicious and I'm not trying. Maybe I've been too tired to breathe. (Like, 'I'm too tired to go to bed'). I feel like I've had 'Lung Angioplasty' I don't breathe as deeply with the nasal mask. Anybody else noticed this?

[OutaSync]

I use a nasal mask because I have been unable to get a FFM to fit my face. I notice that I can breathe slowly and deeply while I am awake, but as soon as I fall asleep, my breath rate goes up to 20 and my volume is pretty low. I would like to get a FFM to work so I can compare.

[Junebug999]

I agree that deep breathing is important, and i find myself doing that on the FFM as well. I aspirated stuff up in August due to SA, GERD, and to doc was concerned about ......breath capacity we'll call it.....so I started taking a deep breath (which made me cough at first), but I noticed it helped me get better so much fastter than i usually do with bronchitis, etc.....you're right, we need to practice deep breathin exercises....what kind of exercises did martial arts son propose?

[GumbyCT]

I've been thinking alot about this lately and I think we (over the years) started taking breathing for granted. It happened and we didn't have to think about it. But when I began to think about it, I am thinking that most of us with OSA have some kind of breathing or nasal restriction which likely gets worse when we goto sleep.

I am wondering IF learning to breath (all over again), focusing on breathing a few times daily would help. Anyone know any good breathing exercises?

[Sillyme]

I agree that deep breathing is important, and i find myself doing that on the FFM as well. I aspirated stuff up in August due to SA, GERD, and to doc was concerned about ......breath capacity we'll call it.....so I started taking a deep breath (which made me cough at first), but I noticed it helped me get better so much fastter than i usually do with bronchitis, etc.....you're right, we need to practice deep breathin exercises....what kind of exercises did martial arts son propose?

Actually, my reflux disappeared when I started CPAP. It came back when I was without the machine for three weeks. I'll ask my son to give me a few breathing pointers to pass along. I wasn't a very good student. I didn't realize how important it was.

[barb_z]

Deep breathing has been my relaxation technique as I settle down. I am a sometime 'student' of Qigong and Yoga. Deep breathing is an integral part of both. Because of this, I could not get used to a CPAP and had to switch to APAP and EPR that comes with ResMed's Autoset8. Keep at it. Now, when I am up tight, my body automatically starts with the deep breathing.. but it does not always succeed in relaxing me
Barb

[Sillyme]

I am thinking that most of us with OSA have some kind of breathing or nasal restriction which likely gets worse when we goto sleep.

I'm thinking that there are a lot of problems associated with low oxygen that we don't even realize. My very open-minded doctor recommends hyperbaric oxygen as a treatment for MS. If extra O2 can help, I wonder how low levels have been affecting me. I'm really encouraged. I know that by the second day of CPAP (both times) the world got a shade brighter. It reminded me of editing photos when you tweek the exposure up a bit. Hardly noticeable, but everything seems to 'pop'. I don't know if I would have believed it if someone had tried to convince me how much I needed this therapy. I resisted for a long time. (And it's a whole lot cheaper than hyperbaric treatments.)

[kteague]

This thread is a timely reminder as I have been thinking I need to practice deep breathing again to see if it would make any difference in my interstitial lung disease. But the fleeting thought escapes me too quickly. Back in the 80's I had a bad chemical exposure that left me coughing violently with shallow breathing for years. I was told I had chemical burns in my airways. When I inhaled it seemed my breath stopped at the top of my lungs, just a never ending series of shallow gasps. A few years later, in a desperate attempt to help myself (as the docs had not), I began to do those very things I knew would trigger breath-taking coughing attacks. Scary as it was, I would stand outside in the night air and inhale as hard as I could. When I felt I'd taken in all the air I could, I would fight to force just a bit more. Between time, Prednisone, and breathing exercises, I did increase my lung capacity and could feel my breathing going deeper. And that was 3 years after the initial injury. Below is just one of many google results I just found.
http://cas.umkc.edu/casww/brethexr.htm

[elena88]

this is wonderful news that are breathing deeper, good for you!

it is delicious! ever cell of our body is going to be so much happier and healthier..

way to go! keep it up.. thats just great!

[robysue]

Seconding barb_z's comments as another "sometime student" of yoga. Like barb, deep breathing is something that I tend to do almost automatically when I'm stressed out. It doesn't always work, but it does always seem to help in the sense that it will help take the edge off my anxiety and stress even if it doesn't really relax me.

I've only been using my S9 Auto for a bit more than a week. The S9 is set to straight CPAP mode at 9cm with an EPR set at 3.

The first couple of nights not being able to do my deep breathing in bed with the mask on was a significant contributing factor to not being able to get to sleep. I'd get chipmunk cheeks whenever I tried.

However, I think that I'm beginning to learn how to do the deep breathing with the CPAP. Right now I am still doing around 30--50 minutes of not very fancy yoga before going to be. So I'm already pretty "relaxed" and stretched out before I head to bed. After putting the mask on and getting into bed, I've learned that I can do the deep breathing without too much chipmunk cheeks if I focus really intensely on my exhales and make sure that I've really got all the air I can out of my lungs. One nice thing I've noticed about the S9 is that it doesn't start increasing the pressure back up to 9 until I start breathing in. So I really can do a very nice, long exhale and relax. One small drawback from looking at the data: This seems to trigger some false reports of "apneas" right at the beginning of the night when I"m doing the deep breathing---in other words, my S9 is detecting occasional "apneas" during the ten minute period right after I put the mask on when I know I'm awake doing the deep breathing. Seems like "false data" at the start of the night is a small price to pay for being able to use my favorite anit-insomnia technique.