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Let’s Go Walking! Join me for a virtual walking support group
Just Want to Talk | Last Active: Sep 12 6:29pm | Replies (4356)Comment receiving replies
Oh I am so jealous of your cooler temps. I want to walk every day not only to get extra energy (I have Mac) but also to lose some weight— 20 pounds overweight. So, today I took a 2 mile walk (1st time in 2 weeks) ,95° Humidity very high. I had to stop about five times and I either sat next to a tree or wherever I could to relieve my shortness of breath. I always have to sit down,I don’t know why. I used my albuterol inhaler three different times in the hour I walked. Does anyone use a spacer with the hand held inhaler? Wonder if that would help get more of the albuteral, it seems to go from the top of my throat instead of in my lungs. I was scared that I wasn’t going to make it and I did have a mod am’t of anxiety on the last fourth of the walk. I didn’t think I could make it but I did. I shouldn’t of walked. I keep thinking I’m 40 and healthy, not 73 and have a lung disease. Has anyone else been in a situation
where you do too much and scare yourself? I’ve got to think more before I do things. Judy
Replies to "Oh I am so jealous of your cooler temps. I want to walk every day not..."
@judyhodgern, I think learning to better pace myself has been one of the harder challenges for me as I age. So many times, I've forgotten that health and age make it harder for me to keep doing what I used to do with ease and have had to pay the price later. While there is a lot of truth in the saying: "Mind over Matter", I'm working to remember that while my mind might think 40's, my muscles and breathing often remind me that 77 is my new reality! Glad you took some needed sit down breaks and returned home safely.
Hi Judy - I have 3 spacers to use with my handheld inhaler. One resides in the bathroom drawer, is quite bulky & I called an OptiChamber by Respironics, another the Vortex. I really like them, but they aren't very portable. In my "go bag" with my inhaler & EpiPen, that goes everywhere with me is a homemade version I have had for years - a 6" piece of corrugated oxygen tubing from a respiratory therapist at the hospital, with a nebulizer mouthpeice on one end. I jam the inhaler into the other end to use it. Works quite well, actually. I think there are also devices called disposable spacers or microspacers that would serve this function.
Don't feel bad about stopping to rest on your walk! The whole point of this group is to get us all up and moving at our own pace. Two miles in 95F & humid weather is quite an accomplishment. Several of my walking routes have benches on them - either in parks, next to Little Libraries, or set out by neighbors along the lakefront or walking path. Yesterday I stopped at one to stretch, and the homeowner came out with a cold bottle of water for me and visited for a few minutes - how nice!
Keep walking!
Sue
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@judyhodgern I think 2 miles is great! Lol- and I’m 40! I have days where I can walk miles without any issues- but then I have times where I can’t walk a block. When I’m going through a “flare up” I stay closer to home, rather then going to far, with that fear of not making it back. I wonder if it’s just my mind. When I think about my breathing- it makes everything worse! I have the same issue with the inhaler. I don’t think I actually get anything into my lungs. I put a little peppermint oil on a tissue and inhale- it helps me a lot. I say, think less and keep moving:)