Tag Archives: heart failure

Will Community Resources Make Your Life Happier?

Are you feeling isolated and alone?

Would you like to feel connected to the world outside your door?

It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, building a support system can be challenging.

If you have reached the point of feeling isolated, you need to take quick action to plug yourself in and get the support you need.

Community Resources may be the answer.

Online communities like this one, can offer great resources and contacts that will enrich your life.

The inter-net has the amazing ability to connect you with people all over the world.  There is, however, no substitute for real, flesh and blood, people in your life.

 

 

Surround yourself with people who are living an active lifestyle!

Find someone who is full of life, and you have found a role model.

Find someone wanting to make the changes you want to make and you’ve found an accountability partner!

People who are actively participating in community organizations are positive people taking positive action.

 

Will community resources make your life happier?

The potential is there.  It is up to you.

You definitely can’t make your life better in isolation.

Get out of your comfort zone:

  • Ask about programs at your neighborhood community center.
  • Many churches offer support to the community, even if you are not a member of the church.
  • Volunteer your time in a way that gets you doing what you love.
  • Reach out to like minded individuals and build healthy relationships.
  • Remember, you get what you give.  Smile at everyone you meet.

Join The Life Breath Club and Laugh With Us Every Monday Noon US Pacific.

Join Now

This is a private membership site to protect your medical privacy.

It’s FREE!

 

Many blessings,

 

Carrie Tucker, RCP

The Life Breath Coach

Heart Failure Solutions

 

PS– Remember everyday:

  • Relax and Release tension
  • Exhale Slowly
  • Be active in a way that adds Joy to your life

Plus pure water ~whole foods~sunshine~and laughter

If You wheeze do you have asthma

If You Wheeze, Do You Have Asthma?

If You wheeze do you have asthma

Does wheezing mean that you have asthma? 

Good question.

Your doctor will diagnose you with asthma when you have wheezing that reoccurs over an extended period of time.

You just have “reactive airways” when you wheeze with a cold, and it goes away.  When you return to your doctor complaining of ongoing wheezing, you are eventually considered “asthmatic”.

 

Asthma is considered to be a disease that “inflames and narrows the airways”.

 

It is commonly accepted that asthma is not curable, and it lies dormant waiting to flare up at anytime.

The treatment for asthma is a combination of oral and inhaled medication to make your airways less inflamed.

Recently advisers to the FDA recommended that the drugs, salmeterol (Serevent) and formoterol (Foradil), not be used for young children and there is concern for young adults.

They want the drugs used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but not asthma.

 

These drugs are considered to carry too high a risk for asthma-related complications and death!

These drugs have been used routinely to TREAT asthma and COPD for years.

Now they are saying that they are just too dangerous when used without steroids!

 

Steroids are used to reduce inflammation

Does any of that make sense to you?

Heck, doesn’t make any sense to me, and I have been taking care of asthma patients for well over 20 years.

 

So if you wheeze, DO you have asthma?

Do you have a disease you will have to medicate the rest of your life?

Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t.

 

You certainly DO have the power to reduce inflammation, and you can do it without dangerous drugs!

Less inflammation is always a good thing.

However, there is a bigger issue here that we need to talk about.

 

Wheezing can also be caused by fluid in the lungs.

  1. There are a variety of reasons that you might have fluid in your lungs.
  2. Fluid in your lungs is a cause for major concern. 
  3. The cause of your fluid imbalance should be identified as soon as possible!

Heart Failure is often MIS-diagnosed as asthma!

 

If you are actually dealing with heart failure, low oxygen levels are a huge concern!

Oxygen and other essential nutrients can not be transported where they need to go when you have excess fluid interfering with the process!

Tight wheezy lungs can compound a fluid retention situation quickly for a heart failure patient.

Shortness of breath can become a scarey trip to the hospital, QUICK!

 

Even if you don’t have heart failure, fluid retention robs your health.

The excess fluid you retain over works your heart.

Low oxygen level will cause quick distress to a failing heart.

 

If you are wheezing, you are definitely experiencing inflammation and narrowing of your airways.

Whether you actually have asthma or not, how do you reduce the inflammation in your breathing passages that causes your wheezing?

You just read that the FDA has issued warning about the safety of asthma drugs.  They don’t do that often.  In fact, there are many drugs available today that science is proving to be harmful without any warning being issued to the user.

Your doctor gets to decide if what you are drugging is worse than the side effects of the drug you are about to swallow?

Or do YOU want to decide if you are willing to take the risk of developing deadly side effects?

 

To Reduce Inflammation:

  • Remember that only fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh fruit and vegetable juices become alkaline in your body.  Everything else is acid forming.
  • Sip water all day.
  • Avoid prepared fruit juice and soda.  (If you drink your fruit you are better off using a blender than a juicer.)
  • Eat nuts raw, not roasted.

 

  • Sit for a few minutes in quiet stillness daily.
  • Keep your meat and dairy consumption to a minimum.
  • Focus on slow exhale all day.  (Lift your chin and explore your slow exhale followed by a short pause if you can.)
  • Get plenty of sustained activity.
  • Choose peace and happiness.

If you reduce inflammation, you will reduce the incidence and severity of your wheezing and shortness of breath.

Your joint pain will diminish.

You will sleep better.

Your mental irritability will decrease, and your attitude will improve.

If you wheeze, do you have asthma?

Reduce your inflammation and find out if your wheezing goes away.

Need Help?

Join the Life Breath Club

 

Many blessings,

Carrie Tucker, RCP

The Life Breath Coach

Heart Failure Solutions

 

PS-  If you have severe swelling at your ankles, and you have just been diagnosed with asthma, get a second opinion!

PPS– Remember everyday:

  • Relax and Release tension

  • Exhale Slowly

  • Be active in a way that adds joy to your life

Plus pure water ~whole foods~sunshine~and laughter.

 

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Planning on Acute Heart Failure This Holiday?

Plan on acute heart failure?

Nobody wants to rush to the emergency room gasping for breath, and then spend a few days dining on hospital fare with your butt hanging out of the most unflattering attire imaginable.

“Ho ho ho?”

“I don’t think so!”

Yet, if you are shopping ‘til you drop, and then having chips and dips and drinks with desert (prescription medication too?), you are asking for a hospitalized holiday!

Lack of sleep, water and good wholesome food will catch up with you quick.

You waste SO much energy processing and eliminating stimulants, alcohol and junk food!

Plan on avoiding acute heart failure!

Want to enjoy your holiday? Continue reading Planning on Acute Heart Failure This Holiday?

Christmas Is For Kids

The holidays are upon us. 

I was raised catholic so Christmas time is full of Mid-night Mass memories.

In my adult life, I have observed and accepted many different religions.  Where there is love, I am at home.

Christmas to me means giving of yourself with a brand new spirit of good will, that will carry you through ‘til the spring time, when amazing things are possible.

Since I was born and raised in Montana, for me the winter thaw, followed by spring and new life is a powerful time.

Whenever you get caught up in your ego, spend some time with young children and animals.  They can really teach you something about being yourself.

A Child knows exactly who they are even when the adults in their life are wondering.

By the time they hit adolescence, you’ve got your hands full….but those early years are precious innocence.

Christmas Is for Kids is one of my favorite holiday songs.  My mom used to play it every year when I was growing up.

The song talks about adults returning to childhood with the spirit of Christmas.

Ya gotta love it.

If you can embrace the season with a child like innocence you will bring joy into the hearts of everyone you meet.

Magic and wonder are not given the credit they deserve, and happiness really is contagious!

 

Many blessings,

Carrie Tucker, RCP

The Life Breath Coach

Heart Failure Solutions

 

PS– Remember everyday:

  • Relax and Release tension
  • Exhale Slowly
  • Be active in a way that adds Joy to your life

Plus pure water ~whole foods~sunshine~and laughter

Is the Joy of Christmas Casting a Shadow of Depression On Your Holiday Season?

Christmas 2008-s

Are you finding yourself feeling depressed this holiday season?

In every culture, there are special days that bring back memories of home and loved ones.

Those special days can feel bitter sweet when you are dealing with loss.  The pain becomes intensified.

You don’t want to deal with happy people because you just can’t feel happy.  There is just no faking it.

 

Do you just wish the holidays were over?

Somehow, when the world is celebrating, loneliness is magnified.

John was a patient of mine for many years.  He absolutely loved the holidays.

His devoted wife was a beautiful energetic lady who was always busy doing something creative.  She had an unbelievable garden, lots of cats and dogs, she loved to bake and used to have a delicious care package to give me whenever I visited.

Every Christmas, she turned their home into a winter wonderland.  It was quite a treat, since the hot humid Hawaiian afternoon just didn’t feel like Christmas to this Montana girl!

I have fond memories of sitting at their kitchen table drinking hot cocoa with candy canes.  (With the air conditioning, it almost felt like winter!)

I remember Ida telling me about her challenges making her traditional Christmas dishes without salt.  John really looked forward to the family celebration, but usually ended up in the hospital before the new year.  To much salt, wine, and fun always did him in.

John would say, “Ida, I’m only gonna live once, it wouldn’t be Christmas without your famous Christmas dinner!”

Every year with the house looking like a post card, the two of them would greet their kids, grand-kids, and extended family for the wildest celebration you have ever seen.  My favorite part was singing Christmas carols by the bonfire.

Their family was full of so much love, you could feel it in the air.

Five years ago, John passed away a few days after Thanksgiving.

Ida faced her life without him.  She couldn’t celebrate the holiday.  Her family tried everything to get her to join them at their homes, or even a Christmas vacation for the whole family. Continue reading Is the Joy of Christmas Casting a Shadow of Depression On Your Holiday Season?

Is There a Solution For Heart Failure?

Senior couple making nordic walking

Honestly, is there a solution for heart failure?

If there were a solution would the world be facing an epidemic of heart failure?

Surely if people could avoid this devastating disease, they would, right?

The problem is that heart failure is not diagnosed until after your weak heart has enlarged in an attempt to meet your needs. Unfortunately, that is very late in the disease process.

I used to think that you can’t undo the enlarging of your heart. However, I have had the pleasure of meeting half a dozen people over the past couple years, who have done exactly that.

UPDATE December 20, 2012

Many Life Breath Clubbers have healed from a devastating heart failure diagnosis!  They are getting back to work, enjoying their lives more and even getting off of the heart transplant list!

Until the proverbial “shit hits the fan”, most people live in denial.

You may not even notice symptoms that might alert your doctor to the impending doom.

However, even if you tell your doctor about your symptoms there may be no alarm sounded until it is too late.

Hey, let’s face it, if your doctor can’t drug it or surgically repair it, odds are, he or she can’t help you.

Unfortunately, he can run a bunch of tests and give you a clean bill of health to dismiss your concerns when you should be making changes!

If you are eating lots of sugar and plenty of processed foods, and rarely get off the sofa; that comforting bit of information could be your death sentence.

You may have NO warning of impending heart failure before your health is lost!

Even if your health care provider has told you that your heart “is fine”, you can abruptly lose your quality of life as well as YEARS worth of your expected income!

YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT HEART FAILURE IF: Continue reading Is There a Solution For Heart Failure?