Life lessons from an asthmatic - The 30 day challenge (Part 1)
2am, my eyes opened and all I could hear was the sound of my own wheeze. As I tried to inhale, it felt like I was underwater using a straw as a snorkel.. trying to get precious air in. “Ok I need to get up.” I think to myself. I slowly made it up 1 flight of stairs gasping. I opened my parents room door, walked over to mum and dad fast asleep and nudged them. In a faint whisper “Ma, Pa…I can’t breathe.” Like smoke bellowing beneath the door and the fire alarm going off, my parents sprang up. Clothes shuffling, cabinets slamming, they rushed to get me in the car and to the hospital. All that was in my mind was “I can’t wait to feel the vapour drops around my face as I get some air through the miracle mask.” ..many call the nebuliser.
That was me at 6 and for almost 4 decades I have been dealing with my chronic asthma. I know my triggers from cat fur, to the Melbourne Spring season, coughing fits that would lead to an attack, sulphites from alcohol, grapes and sometimes a belly laugh from a politically incorrect joke. Didn’t help that I smoked in my uni days and I even chased my pipe tokes with a puff of an inhaler. Everything an asthmatic could not and should not do..I did.
Stupidity at its finest.
It was only in my 30s did I decide to clean my act up in more ways than one. What I was left with though was decades of dependency. My reliance on my steroid preventer Symbicort and Ventolin inhaler for attacks. With usage of these drugs peaking at 6 puffs of my preventer and 10-12 puffs of my inhaler (in a day) when I had it bad.
All this changed the start of October. As part of training as an Unbeatable Mind Coach Mentor, I was paired up with my swim buddy Karen and she held me accountable to my goal of going drug free for 30 days. In the lead up to this challenge, I have been consistent with daily breath practices while incorporating nasal only breathing (why nasal breathe? See post I did here).
The 30 day challenge
The goal was to not use my inhaler and preventer for 30 days. This would then mark the start of my drug free journey and also, training long term for better lung function. As they say the route to success (however you define it) is never a straight line. My mind and the goal was set but like life, there were peaks and troughs.
Our little loft style pad has high ceilings, tiled floors with not much circulating air. It gets pretty warm, musty and the air stagnant. Hence, the air conditioning is on most of the day. Plus, it’s high humidity in Singapore adding to mould in the nooks and crannies of the walls and furniture. Not the ideal spot for an asthmatic no doubt and I often wake up with mild attacks in the morning. On normal circumstances, I would reach for my preventer/inhaler without flinching but because I had this defined goal, I resisted..committing to leaving it on the counter top.
The first 2 weeks turned out pretty good with my usual mild attacks. I managed to remain calm while utilising nasal breathing to get out of these attacks. There were training sessions (I was doing a pretty hard 2 km row session) where I managed to nasal breathe out of my attack while trying to maintain my pace.
Week 3 however wasn’t so smooth. Sienna (our 3 year old) was having a sniffle and I think she passed something to me. Because of this little infection, it flared up my asthma and I woke up several times in the night wheezing badly. The first night I tried so hard to nasal breathe out of my attack but eventually succumbed and reached for a puff of my inhaler. I was wheezing so bad that I even found it hard to get a puff into my lungs.
PFFF PFFF (when it finally got in)… almost instant relief when the cool gas enveloped my lungs. Although I experienced physical relief, I felt like a failure “I blew it..I failed, I didn’t reach my goal.” I thought to myself. This went on for the next few days with the attacks coming on in the wee hours of the morning and when I really had to, I sought physical relief from the inhaler, while feeling even more dejected.
Week 4 came and I shook off that mild infection and was back on track. With mild attacks and using nasal breathing, I managed to leave the inhaler and the preventer on the counter top.
The result
As I am writing this, I am hitting week 7 (and I know for sure..beyond) and in total, a sum of 9 puffs of my inhaler with 0 use of my preventer.
All in all, I’m pretty chuffed!
In part 2 I will share key lessons and takeaways to apply to your life to breathe better..to live more.
Live once, live A.W.A.K.E,
Luke