A number of the study participants say that See Your Breathing gives them new power and inspiration in dealing with a serious and long-standing obstacle in their lives – asthma. They are enabled and encouraged to put in the effort to improve their breathing health.
I.
“More Aware of the Options for Managing My Asthma”
N.C., a woman in her 20's living in Southern California
N.C. describes her evolving attitude about having asthma:
I always assumed I just had to deal with asthma. Now, I feel empowered to try different remedies, stay curious about what my asthma is telling me, and enjoy the process of aiming for better subjective and objective breath results.
I can't stop thinking about how much of an impact just testing out See Your Breathing has had on me. It has made me more aware of the options that I have for managing my asthma.
I realize that there will be good days and there will be bad days and it's a matter of just trying things out and seeing what works and what doesn’t. I wouldn't have been able to get anything close to objective information without testing out See Your Breathing. I can't begin to express my appreciation for participating in this study.
The more I play with See Your Breathing, the more I investigate, the more it becomes a game. It makes managing my symptoms a lot more fun and less about this condition that interrupts my life. It gets rid of that narrative and adds something more constructive and more joyful.
Example 1.
Here we see N.C.’s See Your Breathing recordings from a day on which N.C. felt no asthma symptoms in the morning. The morning recordings are colored black.
Later in the day N.C. worked out and recorded her breathing when she felt most out of breath. The workout recordings are colored red.
When N.C. says “the curves are tight” she is saying that these black recordings, recorded in immediate succession under the same conditions, lie pretty much on top of each other.
The red recordings were recorded later in the day during N.C.’s workout at the point when she felt most out of breath. These red curves also lie atop each other (they are tight).
The black recordings and the red recordings are clearly different.
These recordings confirm that N.C.'s recordings are higher and smoother when her breathing is not troubled by asthma.
Later in the day N.C. worked out and recorded her breathing when she felt most out of breath. The workout recordings are colored red.
When N.C. says “the curves are tight” she is saying that these black recordings, recorded in immediate succession under the same conditions, lie pretty much on top of each other.
The red recordings were recorded later in the day during N.C.’s workout at the point when she felt most out of breath. These red curves also lie atop each other (they are tight).
The black recordings and the red recordings are clearly different.
These recordings confirm that N.C.'s recordings are higher and smoother when her breathing is not troubled by asthma.
Example 2.
N.C. describes this See Your Breathing graph:
- The day started with N.C. having sinus congestion, chest tightness, a cough, and breathing issues.
- The dark blue recording was made at 9:45 a.m.
- The pink recording was made at noon.
- At 3:00 p.m. N.C. took Albuterol.
- At 3:30 p.m. N.C. had a See Your Breathing/Zoom meeting and used that occasion to make further breath recordings (colored orange, neon green, and neon blue) to see the effect of the albuterol, taken one half hour earlier, on her asthma symptoms.
II.
“See Your Breathing – A Tool for Me to Live My Best Life”
R.A., a man in his 50's living in New Your City
R.A. describes some of what he has learned about coping with lifelong asthma through the use of See Your Breathing:
For me, See Your Breathing is more than just an app! It allows me to create a dynamic journal of my respiratory health, and which I can use to determine which external and internal factors/antagonists I can influence to breathe better. See Your Breathing is a tool for me to live my best life.
Once I started to record my breathing I was then able to track and note where some of my symptoms affected the recording. This became my breathing diary.
I was able to see how my father’s dogs, the heavy dust factor at my father’s house and at my apartment, the dry heat in my apartment, the cold dry air of New York City, the use of dairy products, and my commuting environment on the subway affected my breathing.
I am able to measure and compare the effect of these antagonists on my breathing over a given period of time.
With this information, I am able to act to protect myself against an allergic reaction from pet dander, dust, and the tightening up of my chest from extreme dry hot and dry cold air with the use of masks, humidifiers, and a simple device to break up the phlegm in my lungs.
I was surprised and pleased by how a mask mitigated the effect of cold, dry air on my breathing.
The recordings that I have made became my breathing story. Just like a book, my story has chapters.
My story isn’t just a history of recordings of my breathing. It is an effective tool to pinpoint moments in time, with my added text and photos. This assists me in making the changes that I need to improve my breathing.
See Your Breathing gives me the ability to measure my breathing through recordings and refer back to what I observed at previous recordings. I am able to see trends in my recordings, and address them when needed. I am able to share my story and observations with my pulmonologist. See Your Breathing is now an important tool in my breathing better tool box.
Example 1.
Oct. 27, 2021 at 14:51:08. Recording During Asthma Attack with Severe Labored Breathing
Oct. 27, 2021 at 14:51:08. Recording During Asthma Attack with Severe Labored Breathing
Example 2.
Graphs from January 14, 2022. Follow R.A. over a half hour period in the afternoon.
2a "Wheezing and coughing after traveling in the dry cold air of New York City."
Graphs from January 14, 2022. Follow R.A. over a half hour period in the afternoon.
2a "Wheezing and coughing after traveling in the dry cold air of New York City."
2b "Wheezing and coughing up phlegm."
2c "Labored breathing. Wheezing. Coughing. Breaking up more phlegm."
2d "Took a couple of puffs from my inhaler. Continued wheezing and coughing."
2e "Breathing getting better, and less wheezing."
2f "Breathing clear and easy."
2g Composite graph shows the whole day of “Commuting today outside in the cold, dry, and windy air. Winter in the Northeast is hard on my respiratory system. I bounced back quickly using a cloth close fitting mask and using my inhaler.”
III.
“Many Times I Completely Stop an Asthma Episode from Occurring”
M.B., a woman in her 40's living in Arkansas
M.B. describes what she feels she gained using See Your Breathing:
Before using See Your Breathing, I hadn’t found an app like this one. I have for years struggled with asthma and breathing issues that were not only frightening at times, but also frustrating, in that the tools that were given to me to try did not work well for me. I relied heavily on medications prescribed to treat the issue.
But these medications didn’t help me catch an episode early or to have fewer episodes of breathing difficulties overall. The techniques and medications given to me previously were to help treat at the onset of an episode – not to help me prevent it, nor to catch it early enough that I could manage it on my own.
With See Your Breathing I can catch a slight variance very early and I immediately include my breathing techniques and exercises into my schedule.
Many times I completely stop an episode from occurring which is very exciting for me personally.
M.B.’s Style of Using "See Your Breathing" Illuminates its Nature
M.B.’s Zoom discussions over the course of five months with the app’s developer really helped to illuminate several points about See Your Breathing.
First, See Your Breathing is a flexible tool for a person with asthma to use in their efforts to make their asthma attacks less frequent and less severe. It is not a one-size-fits-all diagnostic test for people with asthma, where an individual learns from straight-out comparing his results with the results of others.
Second, one person’s “good breathing” recording may not look at all like another person’s.
Third, the recommendations in Getting Started for how to make and compare recordings are suggestions, not inviolable rules. You can see right on this page that R.A. in New York and M.B. in Arkansas both make one recording at a time (not three in succession each time), and R.A. and M.B. have each made real progress in learning about their individual triggers and remedies and applying what they learned to lessen their asthma problems.
Color Coding of Variations
M.B. developed a systematic way of doing single recordings several times each day to trace how the pattern of her recordings changed during the day. She colored recordings that seemed atypical.
M.B.’s Zoom discussions over the course of five months with the app’s developer really helped to illuminate several points about See Your Breathing.
First, See Your Breathing is a flexible tool for a person with asthma to use in their efforts to make their asthma attacks less frequent and less severe. It is not a one-size-fits-all diagnostic test for people with asthma, where an individual learns from straight-out comparing his results with the results of others.
Second, one person’s “good breathing” recording may not look at all like another person’s.
Third, the recommendations in Getting Started for how to make and compare recordings are suggestions, not inviolable rules. You can see right on this page that R.A. in New York and M.B. in Arkansas both make one recording at a time (not three in succession each time), and R.A. and M.B. have each made real progress in learning about their individual triggers and remedies and applying what they learned to lessen their asthma problems.
Color Coding of Variations
M.B. developed a systematic way of doing single recordings several times each day to trace how the pattern of her recordings changed during the day. She colored recordings that seemed atypical.
M.B. discovered that her episodes of troubled breathing were linked to periods of hectic activity – times in which she had too many things to do and too many different family and job responsibilities pulling her in different directions at once.
Based on that realization M.B. made a very conscious effort to pace herself and give herself relaxation breaks of a few minutes regularly during the day – breaks where she might sit down and read and have a cup of tea or listen to a calming meditation tape.
M.B. was very happy to find herself managing days in a row without breathing problems and she credits See Your Breathing for helping her discover that overly hectic days often led to her breathing problems and that pacing herself made a world of difference.
Based on that realization M.B. made a very conscious effort to pace herself and give herself relaxation breaks of a few minutes regularly during the day – breaks where she might sit down and read and have a cup of tea or listen to a calming meditation tape.
M.B. was very happy to find herself managing days in a row without breathing problems and she credits See Your Breathing for helping her discover that overly hectic days often led to her breathing problems and that pacing herself made a world of difference.
IV.
“See Your Breathing can provide critical insight to chronic sufferers of asthma.”
G.P., a woman in her early 30's, living in Texas
G.P. tell about her history with asthma:
See Your Breathing is helping to solve the mystery of asthma by visualizing the state of a user’s breathing. Over the last several months I have observed See Your Breathing draw my breathing patterns during different physical states from waking early in the morning to just after working out in the afternoon.
I believe that See Your Breathing can provide critical insight to chronic sufferers of asthma.
I have had asthma all 33 years of my life, but my condition has been better controlled over the last 10 years. I still have seasonal flare-ups, but nothing compares to the memories of weekly breathing treatments, steroids, and the embarrassment of always having to carry my inhaler throughout my childhood and adolescence.
Asthma never truly goes away—for me, it is always there lurking in the shadows. The seasonal flareups surprise me; wheezing can be triggered by accidentally inhaling a spice while cooking, or by pushing myself too hard during a workout. At other times the same activities have no impact on my breathing.
Although I continue to carry my inhaler everywhere I go, See Your Breathing has provided me a meaningful opportunity to help me better understand my breathing trends.
V.
“When I was petting my cat my breathing altered from its optimal point.”
M.L., a student in her 20's, living in Tennessee
M.L. says:
When I was younger, I had intense asthma symptoms that have since been managed. I still experience shortness of breath at a quicker rate than my friends, but overall I do not consider asthma to impair my day to day life too much.
I was curious upon using the See Your Breathing app as to how much change there is in my breathing when going about my daily activities.
When I started my self-research, I took measurements when I felt great, worse, and in between. I can see clearly on the graph what it looks like when the recordings align or move from my optimal breathing. Some activities really surprised me with how much my breath changed, such as just running errands.
I became most curious, however, about how my breathing is affected by my cat. I’m not allergic to her, but I figured it would be a great opportunity to learn something about my breathing. I learned throughout multiple recordings that when I was petting my cat or when I would take a nap with her in the room, that my breathing altered from its optimal point.
I want my home to be a place where I can breathe and relax my best, so from learning this, I now know I can buy specific cat washes to help control her effects on my breathing.
VI.
“What I found so interesting was how I was able to “see” what I was feeling.”
J.L., a woman in her 40's, living in Florida
J.L. says:
In the winter I have the most problems with my asthma. I get that tightness in my chest and I know what is coming. Since I was young I have been able to drink water, breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth slowly, and then if needed use my rescue inhaler.
I was able to test my breathing with the See Your Breathing app when I felt the tightness, then I would drink some water and wait a few minutes to test it again. Sometimes there was an immediate difference and not only could I feel it but I could ‘see’ it on the App!!
Other times I would do the same thing with breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth and again, whether I was ok or needed to use my inhaler, I could ‘see’ what I was feeling. I was able to ‘see’ the biggest change when I used my rescue inhaler.
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