[mhoholuk]

Hi Everyone, I am wondering if anyone of you had severe breathing problems before the surgery and if the surgery helped at all......I am 5'5" and am 286....For the last two years....after a bit of weight gain after grad school, my "asthma" has been out of control....soemtimes the asthma meds don't help...soemtimes they do.....Did anyone or is anyone suffering with a chronic breathing issue....and did the WLS help?....I am still awaiting a response and am hoping that the surgery will help me breath easier...

Thanks, Marianna

[Kenyar]

Hi. Welcome.
YES i have asthma. Before i used advair, and a rescue albuterol daily. now i use nothing but my advair which my dr wants wean me off of. i havent had an attack at all. i dont know if its psychological or the changes in hormones from the surgery but i havent had to use the rescue once since 4/21.

[DocSanae]

The answer is yes, it should help you.
Obesity is known to aggravate asthma, so, even if you still have asthma after you lose weight, the amount of medication you need, and the attacks should get better.
Also bear in mind, sleep apnea is actually one of the comorbidities that are included in the criteria for surgery.
When you are overweight, your diaphragm--the muscle layer that is between your chest and abdomen--is raised so it obstructs your lungs when spreading to take the air in. Also, excess fat in your abdominal area will get in the way of the diaphragm pushing down to let the lungs expand, so, even if you don't have asthma, as you lose weight, you will find it easier to breathe.

[mhoholuk]

Did you ever experience asthma that was not controlled by meds before the surgery.....I guess I have very chronic asthma....sometimes, my meds don't work......

[armywife2aerial]

I'm trying to understand all of these breathing things myself . i dont have asthma but i do became out of breath very easy. I gess the about we breath and the breath we take have a lot to do with are body and the oxgen leavals. I don't realy understand this and i am not a doctor. But i gess bye deeper beathing and bringing in more oxegen it works parts of your body that could asist is wait issues. I dont know though i really dont understand it all they way but in a round about way that how i understood it.

that hole beathing like a yogie thing

[DocSanae]

Well, it's kinda simple arithmetic.
If you have a large body mass, you need a large amound of oxygen as part of the fuel to move your body. The distance your heart has to send out blood to circulate throughout your body is longer with larger bodymass. Added to that, the lung is actually unable to expand as much as it needs to, due to the fat in the abdomen getting in the way of complete expansion of the lungs.
So, you have less oxygen than you need, your heart needs to beat much faster than is the norm, and to compensate for the smaller air intake per breath, you increase the number of breaths you take.