Does anyone else have asthma ?

Ausseknifeknut

Ausseknifeknut

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I've had it all my life . I'm on symbicort ATM , two shots a day as a preventative . I haven't had an attack in years . My concern would be stuck in the wilderness with no meds on me? And I know this seems like a stupid question , but would there be a substitute if I was having probs? My symbicort inhaler lives in my pocket usually , and it also works like ventolin. I'm not so asthmatic I can't do anything I wanna do , in fact I cycle 10 kilometres a day , and also walk the equivalent of 10 Klms a day at my job ,but since I do have It I wanna be able to take care of it.
 
In a pinch, strong black coffee will help relieve an attack. Something about the chemical makeup of the caffeine. Also, cough drops like the Hall's that have Eucaliptus oil in them help. The Eucaliptus oil helps dilate the bronchial passages. In hale deeply breathing through the mouth. As a side note, Teddy Roosevelt was asthmatic, and worked out as a young man to help overcome it. But it did plague him some in later life.
 
I was diagnosed later in life, initially is was excises induced especially in colder weather, it has progressively gotten worse. I am currently on advair 250/50 it seem to be working well enough but I am sure there is still room for improvement. Doesn't help I have a bunch of kids who love stray cat and recuse dogs, To the question at hand I store meds in air tight water tight containers in my day hike bag, EDC, and in my 3 day set up I have a slightly hire dose of the Adavir stashed. I can only get so many via my insurance so I bum some spare where I can. Hope when the SHTF some how I will out grow it :p
 
My whole life.....6 months in a tent when I was born. And allergies!
My dad was much worse than me and I learned to control it from him mentally as much as I could before taking out the pocket crutch.

Ran 7 years of track and field, middle distance.....inhaler in pocket.

Always done anything I wanted but make sure to have backup medicine, I have met so many athsmatic's that won't even try just about anything.....they have made it an art to have the perfect whiny excuse's.......

I bet a lot of the obese children diagnosed with athsma(not from birth) are just not used to being out of breath from any type of exercise.....enter the script doctors with an easy out so they don't have to exercise and be excused from P.E in school.

Get out there, live and try plus do chest expansion exercises......you can actually build bigger lungs which help.
 
Have it and it is allergy induced. Cats tear me up. I am on singular daily and it seems to help. I have a proventil inhaler but only use it once or twice a year. Cats or my occassional bad decision cigar.
 
An immediate but short-term treatment is tobacco. The tobacco will dilate the blood vessels in the lungs allowing more oxygen transfer. But shortly after that it will constrict the blood vessels, so this is not a lasting fix.
Mullein leaves are used for treatment of asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory ailments. You can smoke the leaves for quick treatment. Usually it is used as a tea, slower acting but longer lasting.
 
One thing is knowing your triggers, cold, heat or exercise, or whatever. Next is just learning how it feels at it comes on, and being able to either change conditions, or at least relax a bit, and practice breathing patterns, or find a breathing technique that helps (back pressure, coughing, etc). I know that sounds impossible, but most people never focus on their breathing. Learning how to breath during an attack won't cure you, but it does help with dealing with it, if you don't have meds. I know people who can have their symptoms relieved by heat/steam, so breathing in through a warmed wet bandana might help (most asthmatics find it easy to breath in, not out) I also know people who get relief from cold dry air, not sure how to help with that one though. De-decongestants that work off camphor or menthol are another idea worth exploring. Without knowing your medical history, I can't say for sure, but I do know that for a while in north america asthma was severely over diagnosed, and lots of kids either had an allergy, or it was psycho-semantic. There are lots of things that fall under the common term of asthma, so its hard to say what is going to work for you. Not saying that you don't actually have asthma, or some other breathing condition, but its one of those things that you will probably have to do a lot of work on yourself and not rely heavily on your GP, since they don't really have the time to work through everything with you. You say you have not had an attack, maybe you no longer need the meds? although if there is any chance that an attack might be life threatening, see your doctor before changing anything (I lost a friend to asthma, it can happen)

There are some other hocus pocus stuff around that may or may not do anything for you. But they are always worth a try. Some folks find that cutting certain foods (wheat being a popular one, not to be confused with gluten, although that can be one as well) can help by lowering your bodies general stress and inflammation level. No good studies on that, so you are in N=1 territory, which pretty much means, just because it worked for someone else, doesn't mean it will work for you, but even if it doesn't work for someone else, it may work for you.

Here's another caveat: In Canada, where all my training took place, asthma meds are controlled, and under prescription. At one point in time I had the training to assist a prescribed person with their own inhalers, but could not "give" anyone those meds. Even at the next training level up, (EMT-A for the americans in the room) the asthma meds would have been under medical direction only in my area. That said, asthma meds seem to be handed out like candy in Australia, I've had random people ask for an inhaler and someone in the group I was with handed one over without a thought, as totally normal and part of their basic first aid training. different culture, different rules. Take that into consideration before taking my advice on anything.
 
For an absolute emergency with no inhaler such as Proventil or ventalin, epinephrine is an option. I carry an Epi Pen partially for food allergies but also for emergency asthma attacks that don't respond to rescue inhalers. I would encourage you to talk to your doctor. Epi pens do expire, so ensure you keep a fresh set on hand at all times. Hope this helps. I'll caveat by saying I'm not a medical practitioner, and encourage you to talk to your doctor.
 
If allergy induced:
- Allegra (now over the counter in the US) works great for me.
- Hot wash your linens, beddings
- avoid pets, dander, dust
- use the hypoallergenic pillow cases and mattress covers that keep out allergens and dust mites.
- allergy shots might help
- during bad/persistent episodes, having someone do percussion treatment can help (basically loosens up phlegm when your back and torso is being lightly beat with cupped hands. This article has a video link.
- looks like you're all set with rescue inhalers and maintenance meds, which might be the most important thing to control asthma

When I was younger and had it more often, I noticed black coffee with sugar helped a lot, I suspect aside from the vascular effects from caffeine, this with the sugar and steam/heat from drinking must upp the adrenaline somehow, is my WAG. Nowadays, mine happens usually when I get sick (upper respiratory infection) and I swear it takes months to go away, so you are not alone :)
 
Eucalyptus helps me a lot. You can get cough drops, nasal sprays and oils. It doesn't work for everyone, so I'd suggest waiting until you have another attack and trying them out. If any of them work, then you can put it in your kit.
 
Yeah when I was a kid my mother ( god rest her soul) used to put eucalyptus oil in boiling water under my bed in a container . Good stuff that
 
Raises hand ...
yeah me .. since early childhood , had 2x cardio respiratory arrests .. ( after the last one , I had a brittish accent that stayed with e for over 20 years )

I was on a box of meds , intal cortisone in 2 different forms , ventolin by pufer and nebuliser .. chronic asthmatic for 30 years out of my 42

When I was in the ICU as a kid Ihad been doing deep breathing excersizes before but I realised I could mess with the vitals monitors , and raise and lower my heart rate and skin temp . I got it low enough the nurses freaked a few times , resulting in more ICU time , more time to mess with the monitors ...

we figured out over time that chemicals could trigger asthma , tobacco smoke , petrol , diesel smoke , white spirits , paint thinners etc , body filler ... kinda ended my panel beating / spray painting career ..

Then we figured out diet , wheat , gluten , some dairy .. cream is OK , yoghourts and cheese are OK but milk itself as milk in bottles and cartons , no , fresh milk from the cow ,is OK oddly enough .. perfumes tho ... yeah they bad news ..

essentially I can do as my doctor thinks I should , dose up on 3 different preventers and regular using a reliever , and live a normal asthmatic life , or I can live kinda like a hermit ..and be medication free , just missing out on regular food , social life etc .

I chose the hermit option ...

Interesting tho , when I was daily using the ventolin , it didnt have much effect at all on me . Now , when I use it , it hits hard .. my head has the dizy feel , my heart beats so hard you can see it moving my chest .. its effect has increased drastically .

The breathing control I learned as a kid trying to beat asthma , has paid off , several times , being able to slow my heart some , when its racing stupid fast , and being used to a kind of restricted breathing .. breathing in deep and slow , hold for five secs , breathe out slow, hold out for five , breathe in ..hold ... makes the deliberately having to breath in and out forcing the body to comply when having an attack not quite so scary .. where as a kid Id fold up and panic , and end up with vitals going screwy , hospital , jump starting etc ... I can hold it together long enough to get away from what caused it usually ,make a call to family ,or just sit quiet waiting until things get back to normalize , and I can go on doing what I was doing . I get some god awful pain from trying to just breathe tho .. it is torture , knowing I have to breathe in again and feeling as if the muscles under my shoulders are tearing apart every time . Just nature adding extra fun to not being able to breathe I guess .. as if that werent scary enough .

In an emergency situation with no medication , I have been able to hang on thru the attack , its scary , and its borderline panic for a while , but for me , it is about holding on to control of my body , not letting go to panic . not giving in when the breathing muscles are so painful its torture to keep on forcing to breathe , just holding on , hanging on to the knowing it *will* pass .

I wont lie it is scary scary scary stuff .
 
That's rough Myal, but proves just how much control you can put over your body if you put the effort in. I've talked quite a few kids through attacks when they either couldn't get the puffer in, or had already limited out on doses. It is scary, but you are way out on the rough end, and you did it, so it should be possible for others.

Its funny how the body reacts. Very recently several of my uncles developed chemical sensitivities out of the blue. Lives spent elbow deep in diesel fuel and drill mud, 99%DEET and tobbaco smoke, and suddenly a whiff of perfume from a bottle of lotion and its migraine city for them.
 
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