Shortness of Breath Discussed at ILD Meeting

I had missed the last two ILD (Interstitial Lung Disease) meetings at my university hospital for various reasons. I really regreted missing last month’s as it was on the process of lung transplantation - before and afterwards. Tuesday’s meeting featured Ginger Carreiri-Kohlman, RN, PhD who is an expert in dyspnea – shortness of breath - which is a huge daily struggle with people living with lung disease. She has conducted many studies in the field.

To meet Ginger was something else. She was a very hip 70 years old and had devoted herself to teaching and research with a special focus of shortness of breath in people with emphysema. Shortness of breath is a perception. It cannot be measured in a lab except for the Borg scale which is measured by the patient's perception of being short of breath. What is very short of breath to me may be just a minor inconvenience to you.

I found these interesting facts about Shortness of Breath (SOB) on Wikipedia: People with SOB make up about 7% of people who present to the emergency department in the United States. Of these approximately 51% are admitted to hospital and 13% are dead within a year.[17] Some studies have suggested that up to 27% of people suffer from dyspnea,[18] while in dying patients 75% will experience it.[12] Acute shortness of breath is the most common reason people who are palliative visit an emergency department.[3]

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As a good researcher, she asked us a lot of questions. She asked if leaning forward offered us relief as it does with people who have emphysema. No. Actually, leaning back to open up the chest gives ILD people the best relief. She asked how we have changed our lives to adjust to being short of breath. Everything from my blog about what I learned in rehab was discussed, including the use of paper plates! She had never heard of that one!

There seems to be a huge correlation between being short of breath and depression. This is a link recently being researched. 

She is a huge advocate of fans. She says they are the cheapest thing a person can do to relieve the symptoms of shortness of breath. Air movement. On the face. Try it.

Yoga is the latest thing that is being studied to see if it helps with shortness of breath. 

She also said that one should not be afraid of being out of breath. Kick up the oxygen or slow down or adjust but for heaven's sake, keep moving. She was also very impressed that almost everyone in the room was enrolled in a pulmonary rehab program. She is a huge advocate as they have done studies on how the body is less likely to show the symptoms of being short of breath if there is hard consistent exercise. Rehab. Magic.