Battling Asthma (Inhaler Free?)

I’ve waited to post this blog for a while now because I wanted to see if it was a fluke, but I realized today that I’ve just hit my two month mark on something extraordinary that I thought I would finally write about.

I haven’t had to use my various inhalers for my asthma in two entire months.

TWO MONTHS!

I used to use my preventative inhaler twice a day and my emergency inhaler (for actual asthma attacks as they were happening), sometimes, three times a day, because of my asthma and shortness of breath. I was going through one emergency inhaler per month. Sometimes two albuterol inhalers. I pretty much had to use that emergency inhaler ALWAYS at least once a day. I had it in my pocket at all times. Sometimes I even panicked and had to stop everything if I forgot to take it with me. I would go back home because I was so dependent on it and frightened to be without it.

But I haven’t had to use any inhaler for the past two months. For me, that is remarkable because I have been dependent on inhalers for my entire life since about the first grade.

Now, I’m not saying I no longer have asthma or I’m cured. I have had two minor asthma attacks in these past two months… once from incense burning mixed with a woman’s perfume that walked past me. The other time was from someone burning leaves outside in my neighborhood as I was getting into my wife’s car. Those scents triggered asthma attacks but I was able to “breathe” through it and stop them on my own without using an inhaler. I relaxed, got in the right mindset, and concentrated with breathing techniques that I learned in karate which relaxed the constriction in my lungs so that I wouldn’t have to use my inhaler.

Everything returned to normal with my breathing and I made it through those two minor attacks. I probably should have used an inhaler on the second attack from the burning leaves, but I managed. I put my training to the test.

I’ve even been able to start cutting grass again – and this time, without a mask.

I do take asthma very seriously. It is a medical condition that some call a disability. It has hindered me my entire life. My wife’s uncle died of an asthma attack. My entire family, in-laws, outlaws and all of the above, are concerned about me.

But I’ve quit carrying my inhaler in my pocket. Maybe not the wisest thing, but I’m not going to be psychologically dependent on it any longer that I just have to reach in my pocket for the quick fix. It isn’t my crutch that I constantly carry with me. Honestly, after the first month of not having an asthma attack, I just plain started to forget about carrying it. Amazing.

I do have those emergency inhalers in key spots at home, at work, at the dojo, in my car, etc. so that they are always just a few extra reaches away, but I’m striving to only use them if I feel it is imperative to my life and if I possibly am unable to get my breathing under control. It is a choice that I’ve made for myself.

I feel for the first time in my life that I have taken the upper-hand and control over my asthma. There perhaps is also some mind over matter where I’m psychologically taking it on also. I mainly credit it to two things in my life… karate, and perhaps even some recent chiropractic care that I’ve received. More on the latter later, but first with karate…

With Yoshukai Karate, I’ve been working out several times a week for a year-and-a-half in which breathing is imperative to the art and techniques. Since earning my brown belt in March, I’ve been practicing a new kata called Niseishi. This kata has a very strong emphasis on breathing techniques that I’ve been particularly working on for the last 2 months.

2 months – Coincidence?

The kata uses both calm and explosive techniques that take 24 steps to make. Some have likened this kata to the ebb and flow of the ocean. This kata feels so right for me. The breathing is such an important aspect of the Niseishi kata that I practice in my Yoshukai Karate training.

It is my understanding, that Dr. Tsuyoshi Chitose, a Chito-Ryu Karate sensei who taught Yoshukai instructors Sensei Yamamoto and Sensei Foster, originally learned the kata from Okinawan Karate Master Aragaki Sensho*. Chitose O’Sensei also made minor modifications to the breathing techniques in the kata for health reasons based on his medical background.

And all these years later, I’m benefiting from it.

(* A point of digression, but I’ve been reading a couple of books on Okinawan masters and was just reading about Aragaki Sensho by coincidence before I realized he had originated the kata based upon some of the Chinese dragon styles of kempo.)

Dr. Chitose noted in his book, Kempo Karate-do – Universal Art of Self-Defense, the following about the benefits of deep breathing during training: The thorax widens and the diaphragm gets pushed down, the volume of the thoracic cavity increases and because the pressure within the cavity changes, air naturally flows in the lungs, which increases lung capacity and allows oxygen into the blood, which increases energy, another benefit of Karate-do training.

He also noted in his studies that the average lung capacity of someone that does not do exercise is 3350 cubic centimeters. A swimmer’s lung capacity is 4900 cubic centimeters. A karate practitioner’s average lung capacity is between 6000 - 7000 cubic centimeters.

What I notice is that I believe I’ve been only breathing with 33% to 45% air capacity in my lungs for most of my life in everyday life and normal breathing. It always felt like I was breathing with only the top third of my lungs. I took a breathing test in November 2006 with a pulmonologist when I my regular doctor sent me to this specialist for my asthma and sleep apnea. Shortly after that initial breathing test, I returned to karate in January 2007 after being away for more than a decade.

I took the same follow up breathing test in November 2007. My pulmonologist did a double-take right in front of me when he looked at the comparative results. He said that I had doubled my lung capacity in one year with my breathing and even he couldn’t believe it. Again, credited to the deep breathing of karate, weight loss and exercise.

Six months later and I’m breathing better than I believe I ever have in my entire life. I truly believe that the deep breathing exercises in association with working out in karate, a bit of zanshin meditation I do with breathing now, and especially deep breathing exercises with kata has allowed me to open up air passages and tubes that have been closed. I’m breathing deeper and deeper into my lungs and opening my diaphragm. There is a lot of visualization that I do while breathing that I believe helps when I breathe air in and tighten my core to expel the air for conditioning of my body so I can take a physical hit in karate by an opponent. I also breathe out all of the stale air at the bottom of my lungs and then breathe back in deeper.

I first heard Sensei Dugan state over a year or so ago that karate will eliminate asthma. I constantly had shortness of breath when I sparred or performed kata. No disrespect intended, but I doubted him. Not me. I’ve had asthma my entire life where I dealt daily with usually at least one attack. Doctors used to say when I was a child that I would outgrow it. It only got worse.

Karate gave me the tools to improve my health. Sensei Dugan was right. Karate has allowed me to take control of my breathing and mindset in ways I did not foresee when I got back into it after all these years. I feel more positive than I have since I was probably about 16.

But, there is something else that I have to acknowledge that I believe might also possibly be helping me. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor named Dr. Tana Frisina since December. The time frame where I began was about a month after my follow up trip to the pulmonologist where we saw I had doubled my lung capacity.

For these past six months, I’ve receiving chiropractic care at the insistence of my wife. I had a back injury that has bugged me for 20 years, arthritis in my hands, and some injuries from sparring.

The basic principle of chiropractic care is that spinal adjustments can improve many health problems that are related to the nerves, skeleton and muscles. Problems such as spinal conditions can be helped, and it can also assist to improve a person’s general state of health and wellness.

Spinal joints that are not working properly can irritate the nervous system. Chiropractors use manual treatments, referred to as spinal adjustments, to realign the joints of the spine. Once the mechanical structure of the spine is working properly, the body is able to maintain its own health and wellbeing.

In my particular case, I injured some of my vertebrae during my teen years from a diving board accident where x-rays have shown that vertebrae misalignment and pressure were pinching nerve endings in my spinal column that are associated with respiratory function. Those subluxations that caused my spine to pinch certain nerves made me more prone to asthma attacks according to Dr. Frisina.

She has been working on a series of adjustments to relieve the pressure while I’ve been more actively involved with yoga-like stretching and warm ups in karate.

Now, I know that there is great debate about the benefits of chiropractic care. Some think chiropractics are quacks. I still have my skepticisms but I’ve felt that it truly has made my quality of life better. More and more as I deal with the Eastern side of medicine and theory, I’m learning more about joint control and pressure points in both karate and chiropractics. I tend to believe there is something there with the holistic aspects that many in traditional thought kind of poo poo the ideas.

Balance and alignment are integral to karate. It is integral to chiropractics. It is integral to living and health. I’m working on getting aligned.

I'm embarrassed to say that I spent nearly 20 years letting my body go. I’ve spent almost 2 years now on the path to recovery. I cannot undo all the damage that I’ve done that quickly, but I’m seeing with patience, strength and persistence, I’m continuously improving. I still have a long way to go. I’m still unhealthy in many aspects, but I’m healthier than I have been in a decade. I feel like I'm at a turning a point of change in my life and with my health.

Each day, I’m feeling a little bit better than the day before.

I just have to remember to breathe first.