The University of Washington’s, Pamela Weisman, ARNP, spoke on “Strategies to Manage Shortness of Breath”

and Port Orchard’s, Carol Lowrie was intent on note taking..

A few tips from the Self-Management Study included:
“Walking Up Stairs or Uphill and SOB
* … plant your whole foot flat on each step.
* Start with a few good breaths in and out; start walking slowly WHILE BREATHING OUT THROUGH PURSED LIPS.
* Don’t hold your breath! Ascend 2-3 steps at a time (fewer if necessary) while breathing OUT.
* Rest while breathing in and out for a few breaths. Continue when comfortable.”

One of a COPDers most valuable asset is to learn properly how to Pursed Lip Breathe (PLB) until it is second nature whenever we begin to desaturate. The life you save may be your own. I’ve proved to myself time after time that PLB works, keeping me out of the hospital. Other medical conditions have taken me to the ER, NOT my shortness of breath… thanks entirely to proper training and use of my oximeter proving to myself that sinking numbers WILL come up to the safety range using PLB! PLB and focus took my low 70’s number up to the low 90’s and I kept it there until the plane landed at SeaTac. Only once during the flight from San Diego did I move and that was to nod and tell the stewardess, “I’m okay.”
Years before I was hospitalized with a blood/oxygen level of 84 so I’d say PLB works even in extreme situations.

How many COPDers in Kitsap County – anywhere – use a oximeter to help train in a technique that will help keep you out of the hospital due to SOB? Panic attacks are familiar to COPDers. Hey, its scary to overdo, run out of air, gasp and get more frightened as panic begins to rule and airways can’t keep up with the increasing need for oxygen …a vicious circle all driving your saturation point into Puget Sound with the bottom fish and a panicked 911 call. All that could be avoided with proper training in the use of the oximeter using PLB technique. It works for me.

I was lucky enough to qualify for the Shortness of Breath Study and can’t praise the people and program highly enough for what it did for me and what it will do for those who follow us.

SOB SELF-MANAGEMENT STUDY
What is it about?
-Researchers at the University of Washington and University of California San Francisco are
-Testing different ways to provide education, skills training, and support to help patients with COPD manage their SOB
(Funded by the National Institute of Health, 2005-2011; http://www.managesob.org)

Eric E. Anderson BS, RRT
Director Respiratory Care, EEG
Harrison Medical Center
360-744-6686
Eric is the genie who put the 2009 World COPD Day Celebration together and did a fine job for the small, enthusiastic crowd.

The enthusiastic World COPD Day event was held in the Rose Room in Harrison – Silverdale….
Thanks for the event!
More later… Sharon O’Hara