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Life with cranky lungs
I've had what I refer to as chronically cranky lungs all of my adult life. I've been seeing a lot of people who don't normally worry about lung complexities ask questions about it, and my lungs are also going through their change of season crankiness, so now seems a really good time to write up some notes about things I've found helpful.
Disclaimer: My lungs are not your lungs. I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice (though in a couple of places, I will suggest some stuff you might want to discuss with a doctor if it's relevant to you.) Some stuff suggested for lung issues really doesn't work for me, and it's quite possible some of the stuff I suggest won't work for you. Do the stuff that makes sense for you. Consult with doctors if needed.
Sharing: (update, 5pm March 12th) Please share, if you'd like. Here's a Tweet if that's helpful.
For people who don't know me: I'm a librarian with (as you might guess) cranky lungs in my mid-40s in the Boston MA area. If you want other specific coronavirus info, I recommend Siderea's excellent posts or Flatten the Curve.
I am making this a public post, but reserve the right to freeze or delete commenting, or make it non-public if needed. Please be kind. Questions are great. Telling me what I (or others ) should be doing differently, not so much. Please check if advice is welcome before offering it. If you'd like (non-medical/non-legal, etc.) advice from people, feel free to make that clear.
My particular lungs are cranky because I have asthma (the airways swell, get inflamed, and make extra mucus), and also because I had bacterial pneumonia when I was 11 and have some lung scarring from that. They make my allergist make faces at me. As a bonus, I can't take any long-acting inhaler we've tried (and we've tried most of them at one point or another) continuously without significant side effects, so these days I take one intermittently when I'm having more trouble. (Two weeks on, two weeks on, repeat as needed).
This means that they act up seasonally (when more things I'm allergic to are around) but also if I'm exposed to particular triggers (cigarette smoke, pot smoke, campfire smoke...). If I get a cold, it goes to my chest, stays there for a month, and I sound like I have tuberculosis. (It's a very particular kind of deep cough.) So I've got a lot of practice. However, they don't generally continue into bronchitis or pneumonia (I'm grateful!) Just chronic cough and irritation and some limitations on what I can do.
I live by myself with a cat, so if I don't make food/buy groceries/take out the trash, those things don't happen. Since there are sometimes strings of days (or weeks) where those things are super hard, I have learned a lot of techniques to manage. I have found my lung issues have gotten much better since I stopped working in libraries with a big public interaction component, and since I started using a CPAP machine (for mild sleep apnea) - breathing in filtered humidified warm air all night has been a big help.
1) Lungs take a really long time to heal.
If you have an acute lung issue, it can take a year or more for you to recover from it. That means you'll be more susceptible to future lung crud until they recover.
Avoiding getting things that hurt your lungs is a great idea if you can manage it. (Get a flu shot. If you are over 60 or have other chronic health conditions, ask about the pneumonia vaccine that protects against bacterial pneumonia. Wash your hands regularly.)
2) Reducing the load of irritation helps.
Reducing the load on your lungs in general is a good move if you have any concern about how they're doing.
If you have allergies, do what you can to reduce how much you're around them in the places you spend the most time. (Start with your bedroom. An air filter, bedding that reduces allergens, etc. can go a long way.)
If you have pets - look, okay, I'm not kicking my cat out of my bedroom, either. But I do cover the pillow in the morning so she can't sleep on it all day, and so she deposits allergens on the bits of the bed that I am not going to be directly inhaling.
3) Vitamins may help.
There's a reasonable amount of evidence that the antioxidant vitamins (A, C, E) all help with lung healing. I've heard from multiple people that A is particularly relevant and definitely find it helps me. Low levels of vitamin D can affect asthma and other factors (and many people in the northern US and much of Europe are Vitamin D deficient part of the year)
You may want to discuss with your doctor if supplementation is a good idea, but a well-rounded diet that includes these vitamins is a good idea for lots of other reasons.
4) You may not be using a sensible baseline for function.
I had a conversation with my allergist about six months ago that shocked me. We were doing our every six months appointment, and she asked how I was. I said most stuff was fine, but I was still having trouble after climbing stairs (somewhere between being a bit out of breath and needing to stop and cough for a minute or two, depending on the weather and the day).
She gave me this great and dubious look, and said "Everyone has trouble with stairs. Stairs are hard. Don't use that as your basis of how you're doing." Seriously, changed my perspective on 20+ years of my life. (I have been beating myself up for this for that long.)
Stairs are hard. Don't use that as your baseline.
If you anticipate being in a situation where your lungs might be having more issues (as I am semi-regularly around change of season, and once I've gotten a cold - usually the first couple of days are not so bad for my lungs, and then things get worse...)
Lung issues mean less oxygen is available to you. Less oxygen means thinking is harder. Do your thinking ahead of time.
One of my personal early signs that my lungs are on a downward slide is that the daily net-reading stuff I do suddenly starts taking me three times as long. This is also a big reason deep-water diving is dangerous - there's less oxygen, so when something unexpected happens, it's harder to make good choices on the fly.
If you're not used to this, know that you will probably be thinking more slowly, and it is more possible to make mistakes or forget things. Do what you can to make that easier for yourself. This includes:
- Put important information (doctor, etc.) where you can find it quickly.
- Stock food (and drink) that you can make easily and simply. (Just heating something up, etc.)
- Build habits to make sure you've done things like turn off the stove (or switch over to cooking methods where this is less of an issue). Use timers, reminder apps, etc. as needed. Do the same thing with anything else dangerous or potentially damaging if you lose track of time or forget it's going (i.e. running a bath, leaving a door open, etc.)
- Give yourself plenty of time to do things that involve thinking. This is not a great moment for a new project or learning a new skill.
- Figure out what stuff you absolutely have to do. (Feed yourself, feed kids and pets. Get and take necessary meds. Do a minimal amount of cleaning. Deal with basic trash removal and laundry. Personal hygiene). What is the simplest way to accomplish that, and when/how often does it absolutely have to be done? Can you move things or otherwise make those tasks easier?
- Expect that you may need a lot more rest. What would you do if you could only do one or two physical activities (like taking out the trash or making food) a day?
- Develop the habit of putting important things you use a lot in specific places as much as you can. (Keys, phone, wallet, medications are the biggest ones to consider here.)
My keys always go on a hook in my home, because when my lungs are cranky, I will spend ages trying to find them. My phone is always in one of two places or in my pocket if I'm home. Wallet is always in my bag, or goes right back there. My rescue inhaler is always in that bag.
- Lower oxygen levels can make you clumsy. This is not the time to pull out the familial china. Pick containers that are sturdy, have handles, or are otherwise easier to manage and less likely to break if dropped. (I use ceramic rather than glass routinely because at least if I drop it, I can see the pieces to clean them up.)
I have what I refer to as "one spreadsheet to rule them all" that tracks a bunch of stuff. I know that if I start seeing the 'amount my pedometer app has tracked' drop substantially (without an obvious reason like being at home all day), then I should start taking measures around my lungs being cranky. Even though I'm pretty self-aware about this stuff, my body will be protective about exertion before I consciously notice an issue.
There are devices you can use to measure lung function. You can get a simple mechanical spirometer for under $10 and a home oximeter for about $20 in the US. The former measures how much air is in your lungs and how well you can expel it. The latter measures oxygenation in your blood. Both are not amazingly accurate for home use, but can be great for giving you a baseline if you have concerns about function changing.
(Consult with a doctor about what baseline to use if relevant: a lot of asthmatics start a specific protocol of meds if their spirometer readings drop to a certain level.)
Move heavy stuff before you need it. Do stuff that involves bending over while you can. Think about where you can avoid stairs or uphill movement.
Carrying heavy things (like a bag of laundry, groceries, cat litter, taking the trash out) is harder on me than lighter things, but still needs to happen sometimes. When I know I might be having issues in the near future, I do as much of that as I can in advance. Put the cat food and litter where I can access it easily. Do laundry sooner than later. Take trash out in smaller doses if needed.
Bending over can also be quite hard with cranky lungs, and for me it can stay that way for an extended period even after I mostly feel okay again. Consider putting things you use often where you don't need to bend over. Clean your bathtub, so if you can't do it for a few weeks, it's okay. Consider whether your methods of cleaning the floor can be done standing upright.
Think about your physical situation. Are there stairs to get into where you live? A hill? (I live in a walkout basement apartment and there's a moderate hill to get in and out, or a set of stairs.) Those things will be harder with cranky lungs. Again, stairs are hard. Hills are often like stairs. Could you park in a different location at work, or when you do errands, that makes that easier?
This includes meds, as prescribed, if at all possible. (You have only one set of lungs, and you really really need them to do their job.)
However, you may also want to have other things on hand. Different cold and cough medicines do different things, but in general, you want to be encouraging the mucus to move around while you're awake (that's how your body gets rid of it and begins to heal.) You may need a cough suppressant at night (consult your doctor) to sleep. Don't flip them around.
A hot water bottle, heating pad, or equivalent can help loosen mucus and ease sore muscles. Also, it feels good.
Postural drainage and cupping positions can help. They work best if someone can do them to you, but there are positions you can use on your own. I find what's sometimes called the supported fish yoga pose helpful (bolster or pillows along my spine, so the shoulders open, head back or on a smaller pillow, arms open on the ground, palm up. I've found different leg positions that feel comfortable are fine.) It helps things drain, and also eases the really annoying ache between the shoulder blades that happens. Stay there for 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day.
A regular practice of deep breathing can also help a lot - a lot of the worse lung problems happen when no air is getting into the deeper parts of the lungs, so the more you can keep that moving, the more easily you'll recover.
Various herbs and cooking ingredients can also help keep things moving. The various pumpkin spice variants (cinnamon, cassia, ginger, etc.) all tend to help here, as do garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Hot liquid keeps you hydrated, and helps thin mucus (so you can get it out of your body faster) so herbal tea and soup are great. (Things with caffeine may not be so great, however.)
I find seltzer/fizzy water very soothing in a way still water isn't, and it helps with the constriction in the throat for me. Hot lemonade with honey is also often soothing.
Have ways to adjust your position while resting or sleeping. Many people find being partially reclined is a lot easier than lying flat. A recliner, plenty of pillows, a bed wedge, etc. are all possible solutions. You may find that sleeping on one side or the other is a lot easier.
While you're recovering, things are going to take longer. Work tasks, home tasks, errands. You may not be able to do as many things as you expect, probably for longer than you want.
Resting helps. Do more of that. Specifically, lying down resting (read or listen to an audio book or podcast, or watch something.) If lying down is hard on your breathing, recline to the degree you can, rather than sitting upright.
Conserve your energy. Don't take on extra tasks right now if you don't need to. Don't go to stuff you won't enjoy or will find exhausting (even if you're mostly recovered otherwise.) Take the elevator and not the stairs if you can while you're recovering. (When I'm having lung crankiness, taking the elevator gets me about 15 minutes more ability to brain every time I do it.)
Defer errands and tasks you don't have to do right now. Think ahead about how to do what you absolutely need to do with the lowest exertion. Consider getting groceries (or heavy items like cat litter) delivered. If budget might allow, you might want to research cleaning services or pick up laundry services if those could be issues for you.
For the things you need to do, aim for the ones where if you make a mistake, it's easy to fix later. I hate that moment where I come back to something I've written or organised, and have to redo it because I thought I was okay, and yet my brain clearly wasn't working quite right.
Have ways to amuse yourself that don't involve lots of thought or rapid communication. My sweet spot is usually mystery series (stuff going on, interesting characters, and if I don't figure out the plot until the end of the book, that's fine) or romance novels (these people are going to end up together, yay, how do they get there?) or the equivalent kinds of TV shows. This is maybe not the time for massive epic casts and lots of plot twists. Rewatching or rereading things you know and love can be great too.
Again, these are "things that work for me", and please adjust as needed for your situation. Good luck, and may you not need this information!
Disclaimer: My lungs are not your lungs. I am not a medical professional, and this is not medical advice (though in a couple of places, I will suggest some stuff you might want to discuss with a doctor if it's relevant to you.) Some stuff suggested for lung issues really doesn't work for me, and it's quite possible some of the stuff I suggest won't work for you. Do the stuff that makes sense for you. Consult with doctors if needed.
Sharing: (update, 5pm March 12th) Please share, if you'd like. Here's a Tweet if that's helpful.
For people who don't know me: I'm a librarian with (as you might guess) cranky lungs in my mid-40s in the Boston MA area. If you want other specific coronavirus info, I recommend Siderea's excellent posts or Flatten the Curve.
I am making this a public post, but reserve the right to freeze or delete commenting, or make it non-public if needed. Please be kind. Questions are great. Telling me what I (or others ) should be doing differently, not so much. Please check if advice is welcome before offering it. If you'd like (non-medical/non-legal, etc.) advice from people, feel free to make that clear.
Some background
My particular lungs are cranky because I have asthma (the airways swell, get inflamed, and make extra mucus), and also because I had bacterial pneumonia when I was 11 and have some lung scarring from that. They make my allergist make faces at me. As a bonus, I can't take any long-acting inhaler we've tried (and we've tried most of them at one point or another) continuously without significant side effects, so these days I take one intermittently when I'm having more trouble. (Two weeks on, two weeks on, repeat as needed).
This means that they act up seasonally (when more things I'm allergic to are around) but also if I'm exposed to particular triggers (cigarette smoke, pot smoke, campfire smoke...). If I get a cold, it goes to my chest, stays there for a month, and I sound like I have tuberculosis. (It's a very particular kind of deep cough.) So I've got a lot of practice. However, they don't generally continue into bronchitis or pneumonia (I'm grateful!) Just chronic cough and irritation and some limitations on what I can do.
I live by myself with a cat, so if I don't make food/buy groceries/take out the trash, those things don't happen. Since there are sometimes strings of days (or weeks) where those things are super hard, I have learned a lot of techniques to manage. I have found my lung issues have gotten much better since I stopped working in libraries with a big public interaction component, and since I started using a CPAP machine (for mild sleep apnea) - breathing in filtered humidified warm air all night has been a big help.
Things you may not know about your lungs
1) Lungs take a really long time to heal.
If you have an acute lung issue, it can take a year or more for you to recover from it. That means you'll be more susceptible to future lung crud until they recover.
Avoiding getting things that hurt your lungs is a great idea if you can manage it. (Get a flu shot. If you are over 60 or have other chronic health conditions, ask about the pneumonia vaccine that protects against bacterial pneumonia. Wash your hands regularly.)
2) Reducing the load of irritation helps.
Reducing the load on your lungs in general is a good move if you have any concern about how they're doing.
If you have allergies, do what you can to reduce how much you're around them in the places you spend the most time. (Start with your bedroom. An air filter, bedding that reduces allergens, etc. can go a long way.)
If you have pets - look, okay, I'm not kicking my cat out of my bedroom, either. But I do cover the pillow in the morning so she can't sleep on it all day, and so she deposits allergens on the bits of the bed that I am not going to be directly inhaling.
3) Vitamins may help.
There's a reasonable amount of evidence that the antioxidant vitamins (A, C, E) all help with lung healing. I've heard from multiple people that A is particularly relevant and definitely find it helps me. Low levels of vitamin D can affect asthma and other factors (and many people in the northern US and much of Europe are Vitamin D deficient part of the year)
You may want to discuss with your doctor if supplementation is a good idea, but a well-rounded diet that includes these vitamins is a good idea for lots of other reasons.
4) You may not be using a sensible baseline for function.
I had a conversation with my allergist about six months ago that shocked me. We were doing our every six months appointment, and she asked how I was. I said most stuff was fine, but I was still having trouble after climbing stairs (somewhere between being a bit out of breath and needing to stop and cough for a minute or two, depending on the weather and the day).
She gave me this great and dubious look, and said "Everyone has trouble with stairs. Stairs are hard. Don't use that as your basis of how you're doing." Seriously, changed my perspective on 20+ years of my life. (I have been beating myself up for this for that long.)
Stairs are hard. Don't use that as your baseline.
What you can do
If you anticipate being in a situation where your lungs might be having more issues (as I am semi-regularly around change of season, and once I've gotten a cold - usually the first couple of days are not so bad for my lungs, and then things get worse...)
0) Do your thinking ahead of time.
Lung issues mean less oxygen is available to you. Less oxygen means thinking is harder. Do your thinking ahead of time.
One of my personal early signs that my lungs are on a downward slide is that the daily net-reading stuff I do suddenly starts taking me three times as long. This is also a big reason deep-water diving is dangerous - there's less oxygen, so when something unexpected happens, it's harder to make good choices on the fly.
If you're not used to this, know that you will probably be thinking more slowly, and it is more possible to make mistakes or forget things. Do what you can to make that easier for yourself. This includes:
- Put important information (doctor, etc.) where you can find it quickly.
- Stock food (and drink) that you can make easily and simply. (Just heating something up, etc.)
- Build habits to make sure you've done things like turn off the stove (or switch over to cooking methods where this is less of an issue). Use timers, reminder apps, etc. as needed. Do the same thing with anything else dangerous or potentially damaging if you lose track of time or forget it's going (i.e. running a bath, leaving a door open, etc.)
- Give yourself plenty of time to do things that involve thinking. This is not a great moment for a new project or learning a new skill.
- Figure out what stuff you absolutely have to do. (Feed yourself, feed kids and pets. Get and take necessary meds. Do a minimal amount of cleaning. Deal with basic trash removal and laundry. Personal hygiene). What is the simplest way to accomplish that, and when/how often does it absolutely have to be done? Can you move things or otherwise make those tasks easier?
- Expect that you may need a lot more rest. What would you do if you could only do one or two physical activities (like taking out the trash or making food) a day?
- Develop the habit of putting important things you use a lot in specific places as much as you can. (Keys, phone, wallet, medications are the biggest ones to consider here.)
My keys always go on a hook in my home, because when my lungs are cranky, I will spend ages trying to find them. My phone is always in one of two places or in my pocket if I'm home. Wallet is always in my bag, or goes right back there. My rescue inhaler is always in that bag.
- Lower oxygen levels can make you clumsy. This is not the time to pull out the familial china. Pick containers that are sturdy, have handles, or are otherwise easier to manage and less likely to break if dropped. (I use ceramic rather than glass routinely because at least if I drop it, I can see the pieces to clean them up.)
1) Consider tracking useful data
I have what I refer to as "one spreadsheet to rule them all" that tracks a bunch of stuff. I know that if I start seeing the 'amount my pedometer app has tracked' drop substantially (without an obvious reason like being at home all day), then I should start taking measures around my lungs being cranky. Even though I'm pretty self-aware about this stuff, my body will be protective about exertion before I consciously notice an issue.
There are devices you can use to measure lung function. You can get a simple mechanical spirometer for under $10 and a home oximeter for about $20 in the US. The former measures how much air is in your lungs and how well you can expel it. The latter measures oxygenation in your blood. Both are not amazingly accurate for home use, but can be great for giving you a baseline if you have concerns about function changing.
(Consult with a doctor about what baseline to use if relevant: a lot of asthmatics start a specific protocol of meds if their spirometer readings drop to a certain level.)
2) Reduce the need for physical exertion
Move heavy stuff before you need it. Do stuff that involves bending over while you can. Think about where you can avoid stairs or uphill movement.
Carrying heavy things (like a bag of laundry, groceries, cat litter, taking the trash out) is harder on me than lighter things, but still needs to happen sometimes. When I know I might be having issues in the near future, I do as much of that as I can in advance. Put the cat food and litter where I can access it easily. Do laundry sooner than later. Take trash out in smaller doses if needed.
Bending over can also be quite hard with cranky lungs, and for me it can stay that way for an extended period even after I mostly feel okay again. Consider putting things you use often where you don't need to bend over. Clean your bathtub, so if you can't do it for a few weeks, it's okay. Consider whether your methods of cleaning the floor can be done standing upright.
Think about your physical situation. Are there stairs to get into where you live? A hill? (I live in a walkout basement apartment and there's a moderate hill to get in and out, or a set of stairs.) Those things will be harder with cranky lungs. Again, stairs are hard. Hills are often like stairs. Could you park in a different location at work, or when you do errands, that makes that easier?
3) Have suitable treatments handy.
This includes meds, as prescribed, if at all possible. (You have only one set of lungs, and you really really need them to do their job.)
However, you may also want to have other things on hand. Different cold and cough medicines do different things, but in general, you want to be encouraging the mucus to move around while you're awake (that's how your body gets rid of it and begins to heal.) You may need a cough suppressant at night (consult your doctor) to sleep. Don't flip them around.
A hot water bottle, heating pad, or equivalent can help loosen mucus and ease sore muscles. Also, it feels good.
Postural drainage and cupping positions can help. They work best if someone can do them to you, but there are positions you can use on your own. I find what's sometimes called the supported fish yoga pose helpful (bolster or pillows along my spine, so the shoulders open, head back or on a smaller pillow, arms open on the ground, palm up. I've found different leg positions that feel comfortable are fine.) It helps things drain, and also eases the really annoying ache between the shoulder blades that happens. Stay there for 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day.
A regular practice of deep breathing can also help a lot - a lot of the worse lung problems happen when no air is getting into the deeper parts of the lungs, so the more you can keep that moving, the more easily you'll recover.
Various herbs and cooking ingredients can also help keep things moving. The various pumpkin spice variants (cinnamon, cassia, ginger, etc.) all tend to help here, as do garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Hot liquid keeps you hydrated, and helps thin mucus (so you can get it out of your body faster) so herbal tea and soup are great. (Things with caffeine may not be so great, however.)
I find seltzer/fizzy water very soothing in a way still water isn't, and it helps with the constriction in the throat for me. Hot lemonade with honey is also often soothing.
Have ways to adjust your position while resting or sleeping. Many people find being partially reclined is a lot easier than lying flat. A recliner, plenty of pillows, a bed wedge, etc. are all possible solutions. You may find that sleeping on one side or the other is a lot easier.
4) Conserve your energy. Plan on recovery time. Rest.
While you're recovering, things are going to take longer. Work tasks, home tasks, errands. You may not be able to do as many things as you expect, probably for longer than you want.
Resting helps. Do more of that. Specifically, lying down resting (read or listen to an audio book or podcast, or watch something.) If lying down is hard on your breathing, recline to the degree you can, rather than sitting upright.
Conserve your energy. Don't take on extra tasks right now if you don't need to. Don't go to stuff you won't enjoy or will find exhausting (even if you're mostly recovered otherwise.) Take the elevator and not the stairs if you can while you're recovering. (When I'm having lung crankiness, taking the elevator gets me about 15 minutes more ability to brain every time I do it.)
Defer errands and tasks you don't have to do right now. Think ahead about how to do what you absolutely need to do with the lowest exertion. Consider getting groceries (or heavy items like cat litter) delivered. If budget might allow, you might want to research cleaning services or pick up laundry services if those could be issues for you.
For the things you need to do, aim for the ones where if you make a mistake, it's easy to fix later. I hate that moment where I come back to something I've written or organised, and have to redo it because I thought I was okay, and yet my brain clearly wasn't working quite right.
Have ways to amuse yourself that don't involve lots of thought or rapid communication. My sweet spot is usually mystery series (stuff going on, interesting characters, and if I don't figure out the plot until the end of the book, that's fine) or romance novels (these people are going to end up together, yay, how do they get there?) or the equivalent kinds of TV shows. This is maybe not the time for massive epic casts and lots of plot twists. Rewatching or rereading things you know and love can be great too.
Conclusion
Again, these are "things that work for me", and please adjust as needed for your situation. Good luck, and may you not need this information!