xPAP and Airway and Lung Capacity Exercising

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I received my order, from http://www.vitalitymedical.com, of a Voldyne 5000 Exercise Spirometer and a Full Range Peak Flow Meter. Knowing that I have COPD, nasty OSA and a host of OSA associated ailments and doctors and clinicians that provide me with far too little information, I decided to increase the ante in my treatment from another angle.

NOTE: No doctor suggested the spirometer treatment. It was a decision I made after logical assessment of my conditions and much reading on this board and many quality medical information sites.

Following a scant six (6) sessions over 12-hours of using the Voldyne Exercise Spirometer, of five (5) spaced repetitions in each session, I can feel a marked difference in my breathing. Sure, that is initial shock reaction to straining the airway and lungs, but it actually feels great. The effectiveness of my inhalation feels slightly more rewarding.

What I am trying to do is yield the best possible condition of my airway and lungs in order to have a more effective OSA treatment and prolong my life.

I am curious to know if anyone else on the board was told by their doctor or a clinician that airway and lung exercises may yield some OSA treatment benefit, or not.

With my low O2 saturations when sleeping, I'm certain that airway and lung exercising could help. Certainly, absent any underlying physical conditions that could be worsened by such throat, lung and chest strain, there is no harm in trying something so simple and cost effective.

I could be off on a dead-end tangent, but I feel that this could be another small step in the right direction for me, and possibly others.

NOTE: Information contained herein relates to my observations and opinions and is not intended or recommended as a substitute for professional medical advice.

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PLEASE select an answer in the Poll above before leaving this thread. Your answer will be greatly appreciated.
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I obsess about my lungs all the time. In the past year and a half my breathing has been labored on stairs and hills. My doctors have not recommended anything to help develop my lungs but I would like to work on this. Thanks for sharing your plan and please let us know your progress.

Auricula wrote:I obsess about my lungs all the time. In the past year and a half my breathing has been labored on stairs and hills. My doctors have not recommended anything to help develop my lungs but I would like to work on this. Thanks for sharing your plan and please let us know your progress.

Me three! Okay, gotta go read that link...
B.

I don't have any related issues like copd and don't worry much about my lungs since they seem ok. However, I do aerobic exercise most days and I use a heart rate monitor. It allows me to stay in the aerobic zone. I don't want to exercise too vigorously because of knee and hip cartilage. However, in order to get the cardio benefits I need to make it vigorous enough. The heart rate monitor lets me do this. I bought this in 1998 and the only expense since then has been to replace the battery in the watch part of it.

It is possible to take your pulse every few minutes, but not nearly as good as the HR monitor. This allows me to listen to books on tape while I exercise, which makes it fun. I'd hate to stop to take my bp every few minutes.

I also use a Blood Pressure cuff.

There's nothin like data!

Okay, this is just a measurement device. Where do I find info on how to do the exercises you've mentioned?

Cheers,
B.

Okay, this is just a measurement device. Where do I find info on how to do the exercises you've mentioned?

Actually, it's an extremely simple exercising device to use. Three-step instructions come with it. The important part is to not overstress yourself by using it for too many repetitions per use/set, or too many exercise sets per day. Your particular health dictates the need and your ability to use the device.

Certainly, I do suggest that you advise your doctor that you are adding, or have added, this to your regimen. His or her input could be invaluable.

As for my doctors, and I don't currently have a choice in which doctors I see, and I am better at managing treatments for my conditions than they are... proven time and again by solid facts.

RosemaryB wrote:I don't have any related issues like copd and don't worry much about my lungs since they seem ok. However, I do aerobic exercise most days and I use a heart rate monitor. It allows me to stay in the aerobic zone. I don't want to exercise too vigorously because of knee and hip cartilage. However, in order to get the cardio benefits I need to make it vigorous enough. The heart rate monitor lets me do this. I bought this in 1998 and the only expense since then has been to replace the battery in the watch part of it.

It is possible to take your pulse every few minutes, but not nearly as good as the HR monitor. This allows me to listen to books on tape while I exercise, which makes it fun. I'd hate to stop to take my bp every few minutes.

I also use a Blood Pressure cuff.

There's nothin like data!

Rosemary,
You obviously enjoy exercise, and many people abhor it. Using the HR monitor is very wise, as opposed to breaking routine to take readings. And a BP cuff, regardless of type, is wise to rely on as an indicator.

Yes'm, data.... food for the mood. It lifts one's spirit to see favorable data about the intricacies of the health.

Auricula wrote:I obsess about my lungs all the time. In the past year and a half my breathing has been labored on stairs and hills. My doctors have not recommended anything to help develop my lungs but I would like to work on this. Thanks for sharing your plan and please let us know your progress.

Auricula,
There are no guarantees in health. Using a volumetirc exerciser may or may not give you much benefit. Too, many factors are involved that predicate how much benefit you could receive. Many variables play into it also -- like how determined you are to better your breathing, how often you exercise the lungs and airway and how many repetitions you do in each set etc. Those are among innumerable other possible factors.

Some other factors could be parts of your health that your doctors and you know about, that I have no knowledge of. If you are known to have artery blockages then you should be extremely careful about exertion, and consult your doctor(s) before adding an exercise spirometer to your regimen. Should they recommened against using one... ask for specific reasons why you should not use it.

I know my general health and most of my specific health better than any doctor. They don't devote the time to seeing my whole being, and subsequently treat in a segmented manner. That's in large part why I suffered undiagnosed OSA for well over three decades -- the doctors treated seemingly disjointed symptoms as individual unassociated ailments. Many on this board have had similar experience.

I am in no manner advocating that anyone buck their doctors like I buck mine. But, I do strongly advise that you be very proactive in your diagnosis, treatment and overall health. Prescriptions can only do so much, and too often they are little better a blindfolded pin-the-ailment-on-the-scrip guess when written.

I wish you well, and hope you can find some improvement in your pulmonary function.

I would have voted, but none of the options was right for me. The nearest one is the last option offered. Tried to vote that way, but some coding problem or other failed me.

That said, I admit to coming to this from a different angle than many. I spend a fair bit of time on a bicycle--for fun, recreation, transportation, and exercise. The last time I tried to check my lung capacity on a respirometer, I topped out at six liters or so.

It would be interesting to see oximetry results for a typical night of sleep, but I don't think I'll be buying the gear to do so any time soon.

Hi Nodzy, Because I lost track of this thread I did not read your thoughtful reply to my previous post until just now when I decided to get back into the issue of how can I improve my breathing.

We have the same philosophy of doctors treating discrete parts or functions of the body and I appreciate the difficulty of coordinating the care of individual specialists who do not see the big picture. I too am trying to be an advocate for my health and spend hours every week studying health matters and trying to decide how to best manage my care.

Although I can swim an hour without becoming breathless I do have this problem when I climb stairs and hills. I am trying to lose weight in the hopes of relieving the pressure of my diaphragm on my lungs (a suggestion by a pulmonologist). I was an asthmatic child and had allergies; my tonsils and adenoids were removed when I was 4 and 7. I had severe chest injuries over 12 years ago when I was trapped after my accelerator got stuck and I crashed my car; I have wondered if this was one of the factors that resulted in OSA and also wonder if it caused calcification of my aortic valve. At least my arteries were clear last year when on a calcium heart scan I had a low score of 4 out of 400.

I would love to try the spirometer and would appreciate your telling us of your recent experience with it and anything else you have tried to improve your lung funtion. Thanks, Auricula

Nodzy,

While I haven't used a spirometer during exercise, I have in the past seen the benefit of forced deep breathing.

In 1983 I was working in a lab and a plastic 5 gallon jug of Formalin (a formaldehyde mixture for preserving specimens) ruptured and saturated me with the liquid. I had chemical burns in my airways, could breathe only shallow gasplike breaths, and coughed 24/7 for several years. When it became apparent that none of the inhalers or medications were helping me breathe deeper, I set out on my own regimen of breathing exercises. I would repeatedly inhale as far as it seemed possible, then force it just a bit more. Over a period of time I regained my lung capacity. I fear that had I not been aggressively proactive I may have been limited forever.

I haven't yet read up on what you are discussing. I'm just saying if it helps and doesn't hurt your other issues, we gotta do what we can to help ourselves. Hope this works out for you.

Kathy

kteague wrote:While I haven't used a spirometer during exercise, I have in the past seen the benefit of forced deep breathing.

In 1983 I was working in a lab and a plastic 5 gallon jug of Formalin (a formaldehyde mixture for preserving specimens) ruptured and saturated me with the liquid. I had chemical burns in my airways, could breathe only shallow gasplike breaths, and coughed 24/7 for several years. When it became apparent that none of the inhalers or medications were helping me breathe deeper, I set out on my own regimen of breathing exercises. I would repeatedly inhale as far as it seemed possible, then force it just a bit more. Over a period of time I regained my lung capacity. I fear that had I not been aggressively proactive I may have been limited forever.

I haven't yet read up on what you are discussing. I'm just saying if it helps and doesn't hurt your other issues, we gotta do what we can to help ourselves. Hope this works out for you.

Hi Kathy,

In effect, this self-imposed pulmonary therapy is little different than what you did. Doctors are so rigid, rushed, inattentive... and too often blind simple things that can help. And they're chemical-based critters.

Not even knowing your history, I can safely bet that had you not suddenly gone proactive that you may have worsened steadily and not been there today, or you may have remained extremely breath-challenged for the duration of your life. You did well.

I'll post something here about felt or demonstrated results eventually. I'm using an inexpensive, manual unit with an indicator, not an electronic device which records accurate results. So, what I feel and experience will be as vital to my findings as any measurements I see on the indicator tube during the exercising.

Thank you for the nod of encouragement.

Nodzy

Hi Nodzy. I cannot specifically address your question about doctors recommending a spirometer for OSA benefit, but have another variation that might be useful.

I just got out of 18 days in the hospital last Friday, for what began as a massive amount of fluid in the pleura of my left lung. The pressure of this fluid had nearly collapsed my left lung.

The formal name for my condition was pleural effusion multilocular empyema. This means fluid in the pleura with isolated "sacs" that confine the fluid, trapping it. Empyema means it is sufficiently severe that antibiotics can not clear it up and physical draining/scraping is required.

Two surgical procedures ensued. The first was a bronchoscopy, which is a camera/suction device through the throat into the lungs to remove fluid/mucous from the inside of the lungs themselves. The second was a thoracotomy, which is an incision, about eight inches long, into the chest wall, opening up the pleural cavity.

Through this opening, fluid was removed. When this type of fluid is trapped in the pleura, it tends to turn to what they call "rind", as in orange rind. This adheres to the lung and prevents elasticity. They scraped off this rind. While allowing normal elasticity to return, this procedure also left the outer surface of of the lung in those areas raw. This resulted in one or more small leaks between the lung and the pleura.

The length of my hospital stay was determined by waiting for these leaks to self seal, and to ensure that the lung remained fully inflated. I guess this is more info than necessary, but the point is, this was pretty serious stuff. I'm pretty sure I almost died right after the surgery as they were trying to stabilize me.

Prior to this surgery, I had never even heard of a spirometer. I was given one. My surgeon, whom I trust a great deal, told me that my recovery of my full lung capacity would depend as much, if not more so, on the use of this simple device than the surgery itself.

He recommended five or six repetitions every hour I'm awake. I suppose this need lessens over time, but he hasn't said anything to me about that yet. I could not use this device in the hospital, due to the leaks and the need for them to self seal, but have been using it since returning home. I have seen a significant improvement already and fully expect more.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Mike

Mike, Many thanks for sharing this amazing story. I'm very glad you came through the surgery and are recovering well. It is good to know how much faith your surgeon has in the spirometer. I often ponder what tiny, simple things I could be doing now to offset serious problems in the future and wonder as well what options I overlooked in the past that could have prevented my OSA and heart valve disease. I truly believe that my heart and lung problems have been progressing along a continuum most of my life.

My intuition has been telling me for several years that I should be trying to strengthen my lungs and you and Nodzy have given me some good motivation. Please let us know how your recovery progresses. Auricula

This may be a stupid question, but anatomy/physiology was not my best subject back in school, so...

Does sleeping with a CPAP strengthen a person's lungs at all, or do anything to improve lung capacity?
Since your airway is being forced open and you're breathing normally during the night, can that help with lung function?