•12:13 AM
People with COPD know that you can have good and bad days. On the bad days everything seems to take your breath away. You just can’t seem to get a deep enough breath no matter what you do. You’re exhausted and have no energy what so ever. Below are some things you can do to help make those bad days a little easier.
Housework
• Make the bed while you’re still in it. What that means, if you sleep alone, spread the covers over the bed before getting out of it. That way when you do get out of bed you just need to straighten them. If you share a bed with someone have them pull the covers up on their side when they get up.
• When changing the bedding, work your way around it. Do everything on one side before proceeding to the other. Put an upper corner of the fitted sheet on the bed then move to the lower corner on the same side. Before leaving that side, put the top sheet and blanket on that side of the bed. Move to the lower corner on the other side then finish with the upper corner. Pull the top sheet and blanket over and the bed’s made.
• If you share a dresser with someone and they have no problems with breathing try to put your things in the upper drawers. This prevents you from having to bend over too much which can make breathing difficult.
• When cleaning don’t feel you have to clean the entire house in one day. Get a push cart of some sort with wheels and put all your cleaning supplies in there. If you find something that belongs in another room put it on the cart to put in it’s proper place when you get to that room. Don’t be running all over the house carrying things in your arms and putting things away one at a time. This is exhausting even for people with good healthy lungs.
• In the kitchen, put what you use regularly at a level where you can reach them without stretching or bending. If you use the same pot every night leave it on the stove. If it’s clean who cares. This saves you from having to dig it out every day.
• When you’re cooking, fix enough for 2 or more meals and freeze it. It doesn’t take any more time to fix 2 meals than it does to fix 1. When you’re having a bad day you can still have a home cooked meal without much work.
Personal Care
• A shower chair works wonders. It makes it easier to shower and reach your lower legs. A hand held shower head is also great. It makes it easier to rinse off.
• If you have room put a chair in your bathroom. This makes it easier to shave, brush your teeth and fix your hair.
• Women, get an easy, no fuss hairstyle. It’s very tiring keeping your arms up putting rollers in you hair or using a blow dryer and curling iron.
• If you know you’re going to have a busy day, get things ready for bed in the morning. Put your pajamas out and pull down the covers. That way you can collapse into bed in the evening when you’re exhausted without too much work.
I know when you have breathing problems like COPD you feel like you can’t do anything anymore. This is not correct. You may have to give up some things and modify how you do others but you still need to move and be semi active. I’m not saying you need to go out and run the next marathon but don’t give up on life. There are some great things you can do. There are exercise programs designed for people who are semi ambulatory. One such program is called Chairobics. These are exercises you do while seated.
Housework
• Make the bed while you’re still in it. What that means, if you sleep alone, spread the covers over the bed before getting out of it. That way when you do get out of bed you just need to straighten them. If you share a bed with someone have them pull the covers up on their side when they get up.
• When changing the bedding, work your way around it. Do everything on one side before proceeding to the other. Put an upper corner of the fitted sheet on the bed then move to the lower corner on the same side. Before leaving that side, put the top sheet and blanket on that side of the bed. Move to the lower corner on the other side then finish with the upper corner. Pull the top sheet and blanket over and the bed’s made.
• If you share a dresser with someone and they have no problems with breathing try to put your things in the upper drawers. This prevents you from having to bend over too much which can make breathing difficult.
• When cleaning don’t feel you have to clean the entire house in one day. Get a push cart of some sort with wheels and put all your cleaning supplies in there. If you find something that belongs in another room put it on the cart to put in it’s proper place when you get to that room. Don’t be running all over the house carrying things in your arms and putting things away one at a time. This is exhausting even for people with good healthy lungs.
• In the kitchen, put what you use regularly at a level where you can reach them without stretching or bending. If you use the same pot every night leave it on the stove. If it’s clean who cares. This saves you from having to dig it out every day.
• When you’re cooking, fix enough for 2 or more meals and freeze it. It doesn’t take any more time to fix 2 meals than it does to fix 1. When you’re having a bad day you can still have a home cooked meal without much work.
Personal Care
• A shower chair works wonders. It makes it easier to shower and reach your lower legs. A hand held shower head is also great. It makes it easier to rinse off.
• If you have room put a chair in your bathroom. This makes it easier to shave, brush your teeth and fix your hair.
• Women, get an easy, no fuss hairstyle. It’s very tiring keeping your arms up putting rollers in you hair or using a blow dryer and curling iron.
• If you know you’re going to have a busy day, get things ready for bed in the morning. Put your pajamas out and pull down the covers. That way you can collapse into bed in the evening when you’re exhausted without too much work.
I know when you have breathing problems like COPD you feel like you can’t do anything anymore. This is not correct. You may have to give up some things and modify how you do others but you still need to move and be semi active. I’m not saying you need to go out and run the next marathon but don’t give up on life. There are some great things you can do. There are exercise programs designed for people who are semi ambulatory. One such program is called Chairobics. These are exercises you do while seated.
copd
|
0 comments: