Ok, I've had enough of this shit!

So... I suffer from allergy, luckily for me, only real allergy I have left is birch pollen. When I was kid, I was allergic to you-name-it-be-it-plant-or-dog-or-food.

It has all went easier year by year, except for one thing. My lungs.. I have been diagnosed with asthma, which goes bad when ever I'm in dusty environment etc.. This has also went easier by the years, ONLY time I notice I have it, is at spring time when birch is flowering.

I do have (crappy stuff!) medication to keep my lungs functional, but it really doesn't work too well. That's why I'm awake atm. And in every night during May.

I take the asthma med, allergy med, breathe steam, drink tea, all the stuff that helps to open lungs stuck with crap and irritants. BUT it doesn't help that much. I'm able to keep myself breathing, without passing out, but that's it. I feel totally ill and disgusting, I have 24/7 lack of oxygen, which is very unhealthy thing... I also can't really sleep at nights, only for 1½ hours, then I MUST get up, take meds, move, breathe, cough, breathe steam etc. just to keep breathing.

This is terrible!! I don't want to fight for every breath, it's exhausting, makes my back hurt a lot, and it's quite scary at times. Asthma seisure CAN go so bad, it can actually kill and if I pass out because I can't get enough oxygen, I can't do anything to help it... Which might lead to untimely departure, and I'm not planning for a nice trip on a ferry just yet.

So.... Would you guys know any good advice how to keep asthmatic lungs open and working? Normally this is really not a problem, the "usual" asthmatic seisure is easy to deal with, remove the irritant + take meds = everything ok in about hour. But the problem I have here is that the birch pollen is everywhere, my lungs get bombarded with this crap ALL the friggin time no matter where I am... And that's just too much for my crappily made body to take.

Oh, I almost forgot, I've noticed few things that help, exercise, walking, drumming, what ever constant movement. That leads to deep breathing anyway and takes focus off how bad it feels... Other thing is adrenaline. Couple of days ago, I had my breathing capability at somewhere like 60% of what it should be... I felt really bad. My dog was behaving lika an idiot he is and I was quite angry to him, yelled and so on... After a minute of being pissed about the dog, I suddenly noticed I can breathe better. Then I decided later to test my theory, pain puts the adrenalinerush on for me, so I hit a wall with my left hand hard enough it really hurts, bang! minute or so, I could breathe better.

Ok, asthmarant over.

Hey Hex,

I too was diagnosed with asthma as a child and used to suffer regular fits. I actually still have a scar on my chin from where I had one in a supermarket and fell and split my face open.

This sounds like an odd question, but were you breast fed? I have a theory re breast milk and allergies, as everyone I've met who was breast fed doesn't seem to suffer like me. It's also something that only really effected me as I was growing up, so it occurs to me that there was evidently something I was lacking during that period. Am still allergic to some pollens and animals.

Like you, it seems to have lessened over the years but unlike you, I have never suffered from fits since.

At this point, I should probably mention that I started smoking in adolescence and still do. There is no scientific backing behind this whatsoever, but I genuinely think it helped me, bizarely...I'm not suggesting you take up smoking though. It may well have something to do with adapting my breathing sub-conciously while inhaling the smoke...who knows?

It sounds like you have already identified one of your key triggers anyway. It may be worth looking into the tea and infusions thread (sanctumzone.co.uk/forum/Health--Nutritio...s-and-Infusions.html) in this section, and trying some of those? I use nettle tea for many things, as I find it does help re clearing congestion and making it a little easier to breathe.

Keep going with the calming and breathing techniques too as they sound like a winner. That's not an aspect of attacks that I've ever thought about, but it makes a lot of sense. Perhaps, they are somewhat similar, or at least made very much worse, to symptoms of people experiencing panic attacks? In that some of it is rooted in the mind rather than physical?

Good luck with it!



*he says in a rather raspy 'smokers' voice, as he lights yet another roll up*

Ab Origine wrote:
Breast fed? Yes as far as I know, I don't think my mom lies about such thing. Well, I think so too, the allergies/asthma started when I was about six or seven year old.. Before that, no problems what so ever...

Hehe, funny thing, I didn't mention it in the original post, but I do smoke... Interesting thing is, I began smoking at the same time I noticed I don't need any asthma meds. That was when I was 14. Have been smoking since. This allergy=asthmashit started at 2004, I'm not sure, but there must be some kind of correlation there.. But at springtime, it's bit easier if I don't smoke at all until birch has gone over the flowering.

I haven't been smoking in last couple of days, I've tried but really can't, my lungs are so irritated by the smoke I start coughing my lungs out and I almost puke if I try to smoke...

I'm not sure if this will help at all, but have you tried cutting out dairy products? While you may not be specifically allergic to dairy, it is often thought to exacerbate various allergies, and milk is a mucus producing substance. I have suffered with hay fever my whole life and I stopped consuming dairy this year, and it has made a big difference. I still get very minor symptoms but I haven't even bothered taking any tablets this year.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
Hmm.. That might help. Although I don't drink lot of milk anyway... Just in coffee, i do eat cheese though. Maybe I'll try this.

And Hex: google the Buteyko Shallow Breathing system. A guy called Andrew Murphy gives a lesson on how to do it here without trying to sell you anything:

www.btinternet.com/~andrew.murphy/asthma...ko_shallow_breathing.

(Hope that link is okay). I don't know if this system is any good but I've been told about it several times before and keep meaning to learn it myself. You can be my guinea pig

Do you drink water? If you're dehydrated the body forces the airways to narrow to prevent further moisture loss from respiration. So just drinking water can help/cure. It can take anything from a few weeks to 3 months to fully rehydrate a body which has been chronically dehydrated for a long period. Quality of water is important too. You could have been drinking your 2 litres per day, and still be dehydrated if the water is 'dead'.

Here is some extra info which explains the mechanics behind the water/asthma link:
tynanfamily.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/asthma-and-dehydration/

I have seen many asthma cures and also hayfever cures in the past 8 years, just from people hydrating.

wub's suggestion is good, and cheese tends to be irritting to the white blood cells and promotes breathing problems for people who are prone.

I don't drink nearly as much water as I should, but when I do...migraines disappear and so do many allergy symtoms.

Thanks guys! So many good advice... This breathing technique thing is somewhat close to what I've used to help meditation and sleep.

hey Domathy, that might be it! I have a terribly bad memory with things, specially when I concentrate on something, I tend to forget essentials, mainly eating and drinking water..

And I have access to clean ground water, there's a well right in the backyard. Usually I'm too lazy to get water from there, the tapwater in here is surprisinly good.(Not much additives as far as I know) Hmm... Last summer I used to drink water from our well, all it needs is to pump few hundred liters out to get some fresh water in there...

By the way, the waterthing seems to be working somewhat...

I've been drinking lot of water since yesterday evening. Last night was horrible, equally bad as three/four nights before it..

But as i woke up, it only took 20 minutes to get my lungs open properly enough to go to work... normally this takes like hour and half. And today i only had to use the asthmamed twice. And feel quite good atm.

I will keep on with the rehydration thing and report here, interesting to test this thing out.

Yes, I drank a lot of water too yesterday, Hex, and my pipes are easier and clearer today too!

Good advice, domathy, thank you!

Have you heard of this?

thesaltpipe.co.uk/

They are very good.

Drinking lots of water is always a good thing to do.

Still drinking water a lot, plus I've taken some pinches of salt whenever I feel worse.. And it helps! Surprisingly quickly too... I have also been without a single ciggie in two days now, and cut like half of coffee away.

I feel so much better. Last night I only had to wake up once to open my lungs a bit... In last week or so, I have woken up like four times/night.

Oh the saltpipe, my landlords cousin uses one of those, I hear they're very effective.

Hexhammer wrote:
That's great news, Hex. And well done for quitting the ciggies and halving the coffee too.

Hexhammer wrote:
thats great news, and im glad it seems to be helping! jhado is right about the saltpipe too - those things are great.

Abs was asking about breastfeeding and this may indeed relevant. Breastmilk builds the immune system (80% of which is located in the gut in the form of good bacteria) by providing good bacteria and if a person is formula fed they can have probs with asthma and allergies (both have roots in compromised immunity)due to lack of good flora. Antibiotics can have a similar negative effect as even if you were breastfed then the drugs can still wipe out the good bacteria, so if you were given antibiotics when you were younger then healing the gut may be something you might want to think about. Many people swear by kefir, and you can buy a starter culture online for about £12 and all you do is add milk every day and you have a source of homemade probiotics. Here are a couple of sources (you only need to buy once as the culture should last a lifetime.
www.kefir-heaven.co.uk/
www.kefirshop.co.uk/shop.htm
Have a look on youtube for more info too.

Anyway, well done for getting right on with things and getting some water down you. Many people can drink pints of beer but then cower when presented with a glass of water!
This is a very good investment as it improves the structure of water, making it taste better and also it hydrates you more effectively due to reduced surface tension of the water. Very cheap but very, very effective:
www.panosun.org/products.php?cat=15
(even if you have well water this product will really improve it)
Also try to get some proper salt (its totally different to table salt which is actually a different substance and is really an industrial chemical)
www.realsalt.com/

Thanks again for the advice Domathy. I know about the salt, I have some normal refined seasalt at home now, not the best kind, I should get some better stuff...

The waterthing seems really to help, this morning I noticed one more thing, besides of easier breathing, my eyesight in my left eye seems to be improved a bit.

My sight isn't that good any more, well right eye is just fine, but left eye gets out of focus beyong about ten meters... Not much but noticeable. Well, since this morning, I see better...

I wonder if this water level thing has something to do with eyesight too.

Hexhammer wrote:
Youre welcome

And youre not imagining things - water does affect eyesight. When i wake up, my eyesight is slightly out of focus until i drink water. Its the sort of thing where most people just adapt to the symptoms of being permnently dehydrated, but once you start hydrating, you notice subtle things changing and realise how important water really is.

It seems to be so... I also noted that my energy level has went up like tenfold.. in one day!

I have always been rather lazy to drink water.. Not nearly enough... Well, it's at least very easy thing to change.

Oh I think I'll clean the well a bit and start drinking ground water again.

Hey gyus!

I can't believe how good I feel atm. Last night there was raining for few hours, all the pollen is on the ground now... And I only had to wake up twice to fix my lungs... Damn, this was first night in week and half that i was able to sleep almost properly.

And the rehydration really is a fantastic idea! My eyes work better now, even better than yesterday... And now it's my fourth day without cigarettes, no problem to be without actually.. It still amazes me how quickly the physical addiction goes away.. I read somewhere that nicotine leaves the body in about 48 hours, after which the physical withrawal symproms disappear.. It seems to be so! I can't remember the source, but it seems legit as I feel alright after just few days.

Hexhammer wrote:
Nice one hex, all good to hear