Guest guest Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Is there a limit to the amount of postural drainage that a bronchiectasis sufferer should do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Hi I'm ....caregiver/spouse to who has alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (genetic non smokers emphysema) and bronchiectasis. His respirologist told him to do postural drainage until he's not coughing up any more mucous aka junk! usually does it for about 15 minutes after using his flutter valve and doing jumping jacks and drinking lots of warm water. All this is after he's used a bronchodilator.....30 mins prior to the exercise etc. L Gray wrote: Is there a limit to the amount of postural drainage that a bronchiectasis sufferer should do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 12, 2003 Report Share Posted November 12, 2003 Thanks, . What are jumping jacks? How many times per day does do the drainage? Is the bronchodilator useful? What type? I find that I do the drainage much longer than 15 minutes, it takes a while before it starts to drain properly. I take a 20minute walk after my morning drainage, which seems very useful. Best wishes, Jim. Re: Postural drainage Hi I'm ....caregiver/spouse to who has alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (genetic non smokers emphysema) and bronchiectasis. His respirologist told him to do postural drainage until he's not coughing up any more mucous aka junk! usually does it for about 15 minutes after using his flutter valve and doing jumping jacks and drinking lots of warm water. All this is after he's used a bronchodilator.....30 mins prior to the exercise etc. L Gray wrote: Is there a limit to the amount of postural drainage that a bronchiectasis sufferer should do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 13, 2003 Report Share Posted November 13, 2003 Thanks, . What are jumping jacks? You remember those exercises you did at school.jumping on the spot with your legs apart and then together and your arms going up and down at your side?He does 30 of those (not at present as he's recovering from hernia surgery!!!) How many times per day does do the drainage? twice....after breakfast and after supper.....not directly after eating but an hour or so after. Is the bronchodilator useful? Yes, it opens the airways so the mucous can be coughed up and out. What type? Advair-we're in canada so I don't know what other name it goes under. I take a 20minute walk after my morning drainage, which seems very useful We also walk together most days fo 20-30 minutes. Hope this is useful information for you. soft ocean breezes Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2003 Report Share Posted December 17, 2003 Margaret, Exercise is very important. I even find that mopping under the bed or cleaning the bathtub and leaning over gives movement and helps. I have a treadmill and Total Gym at home. I have been in pulmonary rehabilitation maintenance off and on for about two years, but since I am on inhaled Tobramycin two weeks each month and it seems they raise the price about every two months, I cannot continue rehab. Lifting light hand weights would help. Anything that you can do with your upper body will help strengthen the chest muscles. Walking is inexpensive and always a good choice. My doctor always tells me to keep active. I forgot to tell you that I usually do the postural drainage procedure for at least 30 minutes or as long as I am able to cough up something. Take care, Norma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Margaret - I used a 4 feet x 18 inch piece of plywood which I cover with layers of cotton batting and a piece of soft upholstery material which I attached with tacks. I stack pillows near foot of my bed which measure 26 inches in height when stacked and then rest one end of the plywood board on the pillows. I then sit on the stacked end and slowly lay back so that my head is down. The pillows of course flatten to a lower height of about 20 inches once I sit on them. I have in my spare room one of those beds that has a trundle bed with it & a wrought iron back on it which makes it look like a couch. As I lay back I hold one of the wrought iron pieces. And I also lock my feet in the sculpture at end of bed. (the specialist friend I have in Illinois told me NOT to lay over the bed as with that position we breathe the bacteria from the floor which is where the heaviest concentration of dirt and bacteria is found in a house. He told me to stay off the floor.) The positions I use for postural drainage are: on my back on right side on left side] on stomach If I feel congested or rather like mucus is there and I am not getting it up then I use the vibrator the insurance bought for me or if I am sick I always use it & increase number of times a day that I do postural drainage. At that time I also use my nebulizer. When I was in the rehab program they handed out a sheet one time that had many positions on it. It had two positions for lying on the back for drainage - by putting support at different levels different areas of lungs were drained. Side drainage had different positions also. For instance: lying in a normal side position and then using that side position and without moving legs moving the upper torso about half way between a side position and flat back position. I did not find that all of the extra positions did anything for me, however if I was down with bronchitis it might. Also, I am not sure that it was you that was asking about the difference between bronchitis and Bronchiectasis but my understanding is: Bronchitis is an inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes which connect the windpipe with the lungs. When the bronchi are inflamed and/or infected less air is able to flow to & from the lungs & heavy mucus is coughed up. Many suffer brief attacks of acute bronchitis with cough & mucus production with severe colds & acute bronchitis is not usually associated with fever. Chronic bronchitis is defined by presence of a mucus-producing cough most days of the month, three months of a year for two successive years without other underlying disease to explain the cough. Bronchiectasis is abnormal stretching & enlarging of respiratory passages caused by mucus blockage. When body is unable to get rid of mucus it becomes stuck & accumulates in airways. Blockage causes inflammation which leads to weakening & widening of passages & they become scarred & deformed which allows more mucus & bacteria to accumulate which results in a cycle of infection & blocked airways. I have found that if I drink liquids like we all should the mucus flows much easier. I believe that is one of the most important things I can do for me is to remember to drink water. I feel so much better - but I get busy doing things and then forget about drinking. I don't know if any of this helps to understand it better - hope it does but there is a world of information to be found by going to www.google.com user friendly search engine and then searching bronchitis or Bronchiectasis or Jewish hospital or Mayo clinic or American lung association. Also check out www.COPDinternational.com which is a really good site and has a chat area as well - take a spin around there browsing to your hearts content - so much info and user friendly. Hope you feel better, remember you are not alone in this. I was sick from January 10 until Palm Sunday 2 years ago. Did not get dressed or out of bed or off couch all that time except to go to the Dr. & in March started going w/hubby on Friday for dinner. Finally when I saw 2nd Pulmonary Specialist she said no, this is not normal to be sick all this time and be on prednisone this many times we need to do some testing here. Then we found out what was wrong. I got better but my system was so worn down that it took until January or February of the following year before I thought I just might start to feel like me again. I was always a person who never stopped from sunup till sundown and then later. Today, although I have bad days, I am me again. I am very aggressive towards this condition which I have been told my the rehab therapist and my doctor accounts for my having done so well so far. When I was in rehab I exercised on their equipment 3 hrs twice a week for 9 months. Learn all you can about this condition and sides as well as your specific condition. I have always felt it is very important that I know and listen to my body - it talks to me all the time when I listen. It is has never been enough for me to know that I feel bad or strange, take a Tylenol & wait to feel better - I have always had to know the why. Nona - it is time to shut up, thank you. Take care Margaret and it will get better. Nona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Nona, you are amazing.....that is a great post and I shall save it and share it with newcomers when they join our bronch. family. Thank you so very much for all that information put together in a very easy to understand way. Keep it coming and keep on working out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Thanks so much for all the great info. Nona. I think that it is so interesting too to learn how other people do their postural drainage. I would love to hear from everyone on this website as to what method each person uses. Personally, I use a canvass camp-bed which I collapse down on one end. I then place a large cushion (from the back of my couch), on one end which raises the height another four inches and then a much thinner cushion on the lower end on which I rest my head. I have used several different positions but the most productive one is lying on my back with my head down, then I turn slightly to my right. I remain in this position for about fifteen minutes, before I feel some mucus coming up to be coughed out. I then continue clearing my throat and coughing out for about twenty more minutes or so. Then I am finished. I repeat this again in the evening after nebulising with Mucomyst and Albuterol, which I do twice daily at seven a.m. and six p.m. This is what I do when I am going through a good period. If I get a fever and some congestion with an increase of thick mucus, then I spend more time on the p.d. and sometimes switch over to the opposite side as well. If I start to get feeling really dragged out, then I will go in and see the doctor and discuss using an antibiotic. We both are in agreement not to use antibiotics unless absolutely necessary so many times I just stay home and do the p.d. several times a day as long as it is productive. And sometimes I can overcome the flare -up of infection within a week with the help of my immune system. I am fortunate that I do not work outside the home. Enough about me. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Hi , At one point my husband had brought one of the van seats in because we need extra space in the van for a trip. I used the van seat by propping up one end of it on blocks of wood, laid on my stomach and hung my head over other end. It worked real well but when I mentioned this to my friend in Illinois who is a pulmonary specialist he really got upset and told me not to do that again nor to hang head over bed because of all the bacteria on the floor. He said "take a chair - turn upside down on bed like this and lay across with head down". Well, I did not have a chair that worked well so developed the method I described but I stay on the bed. LOL Nona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 18, 2003 Report Share Posted December 18, 2003 Here in Sydney I have been told by one bronchiectasis adviser to do the postural drainage only two or three times per day; but by another adviser that it would be good to do it more frequently for shorter periods, eg there's nothing wrong with doing it evry hour for a few minutes each time. Can someone please comment on the best frequency and length? Can we overdo the postural drainage? Jim. Re: postural drainage Thanks so much for all the great info. Nona. I think that it is so interesting too to learn how other people do their postural drainage. I would love to hear from everyone on this website as to what method each person uses. Personally, I use a canvass camp-bed which I collapse down on one end. I then place a large cushion (from the back of my couch), on one end which raises the height another four inches and then a much thinner cushion on the lower end on which I rest my head. I have used several different positions but the most productive one is lying on my back with my head down, then I turn slightly to my right. I remain in this position for about fifteen minutes, before I feel some mucus coming up to be coughed out. I then continue clearing my throat and coughing out for about twenty more minutes or so. Then I am finished. I repeat this again in the evening a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 21, 2003 Report Share Posted December 21, 2003 Thankyou Nona, I would really appreciate it it you could e-mail this to me. My e-mail is bsr66@.... Thanks again, >From: STAR34BABY@... >Reply-To: bronchiectasis >To: bronchiectasis >Subject: Re: postural drainage >Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 00:13:49 EST > >In regard to the postural drainage positions - I have a sheet from rehab >that >I would be happy to scan and forward to anyone who would like a copy. Just >email me & send your email address. Or I will send to the list if everyone >wants. Let me know. Nona > & gt;star34baby@... _________________________________________________________________ It’s our best dial-up Internet access offer: 6 months @$9.95/month. Get it now! http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 Non... I think that it would be a great help to many of us if you could e-mail it to the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 Nona, I agree with . Please e-mail it to the group. Barb Re: postural drainage Non... I think that it would be a great help to many of us if you could e-mail it to the list. Yahoo! Groups Links · To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bronchiectasis/ · Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 I keep trying but for some reason it is not coming thru to the list. I will try again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 thank you. i resaved as tina suggested but it has not come in yet. i don't think that is going to work either. i am going to bed...................nona Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 Postural Drainage doesn't seem to do anything for me. I might not be doing it right or for long enough. I'm kind of impatient. Is there anyone who pd does not work for? Maggie On Thursday, December 18, 2003, at 07:36 PM, BCSCOFFMAN@... wrote: > Thanks so much for all the great info. Nona. I think that it is so > interesting too to learn how other people do their postural drainage. > I would love to hear from everyone on this website as to what method > each person uses. Personally, I use a canvass camp-bed which I > collapse down on one end. I then place a large cushion (from the back > of my couch), on one end which raises the height another four inches > and then a much thinner cushion on the lower end on which I rest my > head. I have used several different positions but the most productive > one is lying on my back with my head down, then I turn slightly to my > right. I remain in this position for about fifteen minutes, before I > feel some mucus coming up to be coughed out. I then continue clearing > my throat and coughing out for about twenty more minutes or so. Then I > am finished. I repeat this again in the ! evening after nebulising > with Mucomyst and Albuterol, which I do twice daily at seven a.m. > and six p.m. This is what I do when I am going through a good period. > If I get a fever and some congestion with an increase of thick mucus, > then I spend more time on the p.d. and sometimes switch over to the > opposite side as well. If I start to get feeling really dragged out, > then I will go in and see the doctor and discuss using an antibiotic. > We both are in agreement not to use antibiotics unless absolutely > necessary so many times I just stay home and do the p.d. several times > a day as long as it is productive. And sometimes I can overcome the > flare -up of infection within a week with the help of my immune > system. I am fortunate that I do not work outside the home. Enough > about me. . > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 > It goes thru ok to individuals. I don't know what else to do. I think there > may be a block on the list which will not allow the attachments to go thru. > NOna There is a block on the list- Yahoo started it several months ago because of viruses. Karin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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