How to Stop Acute Asthma Exacerbation (Very Easy Breathing Exercise)

Woman with asthma: acute exacerbation Over 250,000 asthmatics could not be wrong. Acute asthma exacerbations can be stopped with this simple breathing exercise developed by leading Soviet physiologist Dr KP Buteyko and over 200 Soviet and Russian doctors who have been teaching the Buteyko breathing self-oxygenation technique. The exercise helps, in most cases, to stop asthma attacks without using bronchodilators.

How to Stop Acute Asthma Exacerbation in 1-2 Min

With first signs of asthma (wheezing, chest tightness, dyspnea, labored breathing) sit down in any comfortable chair, couch, sofa or divan. If there are no objects to sit on, sit on the ground or floor, on your knees or with crossed legs. Relax all your body muscles.

Next, hold your breath for about 3-4 s. You will get air slight hunger or desire to breathe more. After this, instead of taking your usual big or deep inhalation, take a slightly smaller inhalation (only about 10-20% less than your usual inhalation). Then immediately relax all muscles, especially upper chest and all other breathing muscles. Take another (smaller or reduced) inhalation and again completely relax.

With each breath, take a small or reduced inhalation and then completely relax. Maintain air hunger. The goal is to preserve this comfortable level of air hunger for 2-3 minutes. The breathing can be frequent during this reduced breathing but this is OK. If you do the exercise correctly, you will notice that your chest tightness, wheezing, dyspnea, and other symptoms will subside or disappear.

About Your Medication

Doctors and patients with acute asthma and coughing If you cannot alleviate your acute asthma exacerbation in 5 minutes, use about 1/3 of your standard medication. After taking medication, repeat this breathing exercise monitoring the severity of your symptoms. If it is still not possible to stop the acute asthma exacerbation, again take 1/3 of your usual dose. Do the breathing exercise once more. Russian MDs and other health practitioners found that most patients could eliminate their symptoms in 2-3 minutes without using medication.

Breathing and Asthma

CO2 bronchodilation All known medical studies found that asthmatics chronically hyperventilate (over-breathe). Hence, they have low CO2 content in their lungs and airways. But CO2 or carbon dioxide, the gas we exhale, is a powerful bronchodilator. This is the reason why breathing less works.

If you retrain or normalize your unconscious breathing pattern, your body oxygenation and health state will be dramatically improved. If your body oxygen level is more than 20 (after exhale and with no stress - the body oxygen test), your asthma symptoms will disappear and no medication will be necessary. This clinical observation is based on experience of thousands of Soviet and Russian asthmatics who learned the Buteyko breath technique. The Buteyko method was approved by Russian Ministry of Health for treatment of asthma.

Related web pages:
Cause of Asthma - Hyperventilation. The Table on this page is based on 5 medical studies that measured breathing in stable asthmatics and found that they breathed about 2-3 times more than the medical norm
Asthma and Allergies - Their Natural Treatment with breathing normalization
Acute Asthma Exacerbations Clinical Trial - Application of the Frolov device in hospital setting with astonishing improvements in lung function results

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

References: CO2 Effects Web Pages
Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion (or blood supply) to all vital organs
The Bohr effect How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
Cell Oxygen Levels and oxygen transport are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing
Oxygen Transport depends on breathing and these two effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are parts of two diagrams that summarize influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery
Free Radical Generation takes place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing
Inflammatory Response is controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies chronic inflammation through over-expression of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces these processes
Nerve stabilization takes place due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence
Brochodilation - dilation of airways (bronchi and bronchioles) by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia
CO2: Best Natural Cough Suppressant and "home remedy" since it calms urge-to-cough nerve receptors located in the tracheobronchial tree and larynx
Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids
CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer
Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
CO2 myth "CO2 is a toxic waste gas" myth
Breathing control How is our breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven and erratic?

References related to hyperventilation-asthma-acute asthma

Int J Psychophysiol. 2010 Oct;78(1):68-79. Epub 2010 May 25.
Hyperventilation in panic disorder and asthma: Empirical evidence and clinical strategies.
Meuret AE, Ritz T.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75206, USA.
... Similarly, hypocapnia and associated hyperpnia are linked to bronchoconstriction, symptom exacerbation, and lower quality of life in patients with asthma. Raising CO2 levels by means of therapeutic capnometry has proven beneficial effects in both disorders, and the reversing of hyperventilation has emerged as a potent mediator for reductions in panic symptom severity and treatment success.

J Asthma. 2010 Mar;47(2):224-5.
Acute exacerbation of asthma complicated by hyperventilation in emergency department.
Wiwanitkit V.
Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand 10160.
Acute asthmatic attack is an important emergency medical condition. The author hereby reports a case in the emergency department of an acute exacerbation of asthma, complicated by hyperventilation. In this case, the patient had underlying needle phobia, which suddenly occurred during the salbutamol injection. Nevertheless, both physical and psychological approaches led to the successful control of the condition. This report addresses a situation, which, although rare, should not be overlooked.

Thorax. 2000 Dec;55(12):1016-22.
Hyperventilation and asymptomatic chronic asthma.
Osborne CA, O'Connor BJ, Lewis A, Kanabar V, Gardner WN.
Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, Guy's, King's and St Thomas'
School of Medicine, King's Denmark Hill Campus, London SE5 9PJ, UK.
...We have consistently argued that mild asthma is an important underlying aetiological factor in patients with severe symptomatic hyperventilation. While hyperventilation has been demonstrated in acute asthma, there have been few studies in mild chronic asthma, and mechanisms are uncertain...

Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2008 May;100(5):426-32.
Psychological triggers and hyperventilation symptoms in asthma.
Ritz T, Kullowatz A, Bobb C, Dahme B, Magnussen H, Kanniess F, Steptoe A.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75205, USA.
...CONCLUSION: Differences in perceived asthma triggers are substantially associated with hyperventilation symptoms, and patients with more frequent psychological triggers also tend to report that they experience more hyperventilation symptoms during their asthma symptom episodes.

Ann Behav Med. 2008 Feb;35(1):97-104. Epub 2008 Feb 16.
Hyperventilation symptoms are linked to a lower perceived health in asthma patients.
Ritz T, Rosenfield D, Meuret AE, Bobb C, Steptoe A.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75205, USA.
BACKGROUND: Hyperventilation symptoms are among the sensations asthma patients tend to report during exacerbations of their disease. However, little is known about their importance for the patients' perceived well-being... CONCLUSION: It is possible that hypocapnia creates symptoms that asthma patients cannot control by using their antiasthmatic medication, thus compromising their perceived control over the management of their asthma, and consequently their perceived health. Behavioral interventions should address the problem of hyperventilation in asthma.

Br J Psychiatry. 1988 Nov;153:687-9.
Demonstration and treatment of hyperventilation causing asthma.
Hibbert G, Pilsbury D.
University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital.
Ambulant, transcutaneous PCO2 monitoring has been used to show that hyperventilation precedes exacerbation of asthma in a patient. Brief treatment was shown to give him greater control of his breathing and enable him to avoid attacks of asthma.

Clin Chest Med. 1984 Dec;5(4):607-17.
Ventilatory control in asthma.
Lavietes MH.
Ventilation (liters of air per minute) increases during an acute attack of asthma. Hypocapnia is the rule, although eucapnia may occur. This suggests both that respiratory center output is increased and that acidemia is not the major stimulus to augmented respiration...

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