Full of Air
I am a retired 72 year old female diagnosed with COPD in 2004. My scariest moments are when my abdomen feels full, I cannot inhale because my diaphragm has no room to expand. If not for Primatine Mist, which is superior to the rescue albuterol inhaler, I feel I would just pass out..Is this "full of air" feeling familiar to anyone, if so, how do you deal with it?
Thank you.
quin,
I am not a doctor, but it sounds to me as if your lungs are sort of ballooning. Meaning you are not exhaling enough to make room for more air. When that happens, you have no room left for incoming air. You have to do what is called "Pursed Lip Breathing". What you do is inhale through your nose for a count of 4, or 3, or whatever is comfortable for you. Hold it for a few seconds, then breath out through pursed lips like you were blowing out candles. Your exhale should be twice as long as your inhale. So, if your inhale for a count of 4, then exhale through pursed lips for a count of eight. This will help get rid of Carbon Dioxide left in your lungs. Do it for as long as necessary until you feel as if you can breathe ok. If I am reading and understanding your post correctly, this should work. I am thinking your full abdomen is not because of eating. If I am not understanding your post correctly, then please call your medical provider as soon as possible. Let the forum know how you are doing please. Take care and God Bless!
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I do the pursed lips breathing. This "fullness" seems to occur when I am overwhelmed by something in my environment such as weather or smells and I panic. I do tend to swallow air which also leads to the fullness. I could not use supplemental oxygen overnight because I would wake up feeling like a balloon, either I was swallowing air or I could not expel the air.
We have to eat in snacks thru out the day so we don't get too full and bloated. Sometimes because of breathing treatments and using straws or chewing with our mouths open , we get air trapped and it causes bloating . I take gas pills ,two a day if needed to handle that problem . Mostly it will make you burp up that trapped air and give you so much relief mentally and physically .
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do become bloated after eating and I have the gas and heartburn pills, however this "fullness" is not initiated by my eating. It could be brought on my my tendency to swallow air which I do more frequently when I am anxious.
Hello quin, I understand totally what you are going through, I to suffer with bloating which leads me to feel my ribs are sticking inwards and breathing isn't as good, when you mentioned about if you are worried or something is making you anxious I agree with you totally that can bring it on, what Rambo has said also, eat little bits throughout the day not big meals can help believe me it does help.I am a member on here not a doctor so if you are concerned please go to see your doctor they might be able to give you something to help. But I also suffer with this and it isn't pleasant I know, I think with me anyway it goes with one of the symptoms of copd. I can start the day fine then wallop huge, it feels as though you are going to burst and sit there huffing and puffing, I think I also take in to much air without realising it.Your not on your own quin I am sure a lot more copd suffers with this.X
Exactly, feeling like you're going to burst! Aerophagia is the medical term and anxiety can make it worse. I take Lorazepam 2x/day but it's not that effective for me. I know the anxiety about my breathing often leaves me fearful. I am sure others do share this and I thank you for your reply!
Hi
, as you can see you are not alone in struggling with this! I did want to share an article we have on bloating and COPD that you might find helpful: https://copd.net/living/bloating-why-what-to-do All the best, Sam S. (COPD team).
