(Respectfully contributed by Richard Friedel)

In view of the increasing number of positive reports on the "Buteyko
Method" to come clear of asthma drugs and to restore health, the
following account must be worth reading.  Although on this newsgroup
much is written against the method, it will be seen on looking closer
that the attacks do not dispute the fact that the method is useful and
apparently free of danger. By systematically maligning the method they
seem to prove is practical value  Of course anyone on asthma drugs
should take a doctor's advice about tapering them off (if this is
possible). The attacks do not argue that the method does not work, but
rather that it works for different reasons to those often used for
explaining it.

Here is the description
(http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/ian_blan.htm):

Hello there,

Where to start? I guess my story started when I was first diagnosed as
having Asthma at the age of four. Both of my parents were relatively
young and didn't really understand what that meant, but were willing
to go along with whatever advice our local Doctor and Hospital
advised. At that time I was given tablets and my very first inhaler,
which I diligently used every day. That didn't stop me from attempting
to be the bright little boy that I was, but unfortunately asthma had
other ideas. I spent the next 8 years going to the hospital every
month for checks on my health, with attacks every three or four months
putting me in a hospital bed for anything from three to four days to
three weeks. I still managed to get an education and spent a lot of
time reading, studying and watching TV (I am a firm believer in young
children watching educational programs while at home - it worked for
me!) Due to this forced internment my reading level was raised
dramatically - I spent all of my school life excelling in English
language with a reading age at least +4 years ahead. It's not all bad
then!! Things turned around for my asthma as I grew older - by the
time I started comprehensive school (year 9 of school life) the
attacks had started to come under control - I had been used to asthma
for so long that I had started to "relax" during attacks, not stopping
the attack itself but aiding in the recovery. The then thin, weedy
little boy decided that his appearance (along with the onset of
puberty) had become a little more important to him, as well as "I've
just had enough of been weak all my life!" - spurred on by the
hormonal changes plus a competitive edge that seems to have always
been with me I started on a light fitness program - light walking /
jogging to school (a 15 minute walk for an asthmatic) and back each
day, with light weight-training and general flexibility exercises -
this took the form of stretching, sit-ups, squats, chin-ups, press-ups
and the like, regulated every day (before homework!) with a chart of
progress, which I would build on over time - I really was determined!
The asthma complained throughout, but that determined little boy was
steadily growing into the determined man he would become, so stuck at
it. Those formative years are the best time to exercise as the body is
just starting to grow at its greatest rate, gaining the most benefit
from any fitness routine; I took full advantage - from barely managing
5 press-ups, only 1-2 chin-ups (sweat!) and a brisk walk to school
nearly wiping me out (I would need my inhaler with me to take before
and after!) in 1 year I could do 100 press-ups, 100 sit-ups, 25
chin-ups and a run to school that took 4 minutes without stopping (I
still needed my inhaler though) For me, the achievement was beyond
belief! Ok, throughout this time my physical condition improving
didn't really help the asthma, but showed me that it was at least
possible to exercise - I still woke up in the middle of the night
coughing, up in the morning wheezy-chested, wheezy when the weather /
atmosphere changed - I just took this as normal (I'd been like this my
whole life!) At the tender age of fifteen I again suffered a number of
attacks which sent me back to the doctor's office - this time though
something different happened. Not just the listening to the chest and
the "Well, Ian's asthma is bad at the moment because he has a cold, so
for the next few weeks double the dose of ......" No! Into my hands
was placed what I would have described as "The best chemical
breakthrough known to Man!" Ok, so it was only the propellant
Salbutamol inhaler. Only!! Stop asthma attacks in under 2 minutes?
Fantastic!! No more sitting around for half an hour while the attack
subsides - I can just "Puff and Go!" Sounds like some kind of strange
TV commercial, doesn't it? What I was actually given was a time-bomb
waiting to go off - two years later I added to my drugs-list the
Becotide inhaler (which I didn't take very regularly *sigh*) and
didn't stop - I was down the Gym three times a week, I started work as
a printer / film processor, I was out all the time socialising - I was
enjoying my new-found freedom for the first time in my life!! At 19 I
changed career direction and started working shifts as a lowly
computer operator - I spent most of my working life in an
air-conditioned humidity-controlled computer room. Add together the
lifestyle, the "working-out", the socialising, the shift-work and the
changes in environment that I kept putting myself through (Cold, dry
air to warm, moist air and back every other day) - there just weren't
enough hours in the day!! I still felt bad in the night, woke up
wheezy - never really thought about it though. I later find that this
is the sure sign that your asthma is "out of control" - it took until
aged 22 for the "Time-Bomb" to stop ticking - I awoke in the middle of
the night to an attack that no amount of Salbutamol would stop - I
just got up (it was 3 in the morning) and drove myself to the
hospital, expecting them to put me on a nebuliser for 30 minutes and
i'd be "right as rain" - yeh, right! 12 hours later and another really
heavy attack put me on a ventilator in intensive care for two days -
having a machine breathe for you can be quite a sobering experience I
can tell you, especially for your family. Once i'd recovered fully (a
month later) I was then told all about what I should be looking for,
given the right amount of drugs and told - "be careful!" Since then I
stuck pretty much to the "drug regime," although I always have been
slack with the Becotide (just can't get around to taking it!) unless
i've got a cold or am a bit run-down.

So why, after all those years trusting the advice of the medical
profession, do I try something so radically different as Buteyko?
Well, as previously mentioned my appetite for reading has never
diminished - I am a voracious reader and now that I am a Computer
Consultant have access to a large amount of data: The Internet. I've
always been very sceptical of homeopathy and other forms of "natural
healing" - to add insult I also suffer from eczema and have tried a
number of "alternative medicines" - no joy. I consider eczema to be a
low-risk disease so there was no way I was going to try my asthma out
on it. You know the story - "Hey, you're having an attack - take this
herbal tea and you'll feel much better!!" And what part of "There's No
Way i'm Trusting that to Save Me" don't you understand? The other
thing is that most of the people I have spoken to about asthma
couldn't really answer the fundamental question - Why? All the doctors
I spoke to said "We don't know exactly what is the cause of asthma -
you are just triggered by "something" which closes your airways" Ok I
say, I can take that as long as the drugs carry on working i'll be
fine. Thing was, when that obviously wasn't working it was time to
change my lifestyle to fit my illness. I'd have to calm down and not
run myself into the ground, get plenty of sleep, not stress myself,
that kind of thing - ok, I can accept that; doesn't mean I like it
though. Then came my final asthma breakthrough - I was reading on the
Asthma NewsGroup all about different drugs people take, different
remedies, symptoms, conditions etc,. when I came across an interesting
word - Buteyko. As I had only just started reading messages posted by
the group it took me a while to find out what this word meant. Most
people posting on the board were giving it what can only be described
as a hard time, but if it was worth talking about then to my mind it
was worth looking into - I love a good puzzle. Not only are there a
few people talking about this "Buteyko" but someone just happens to
post a memo saying that there will be a QED Programme (TV Science /
Fact Show) on this Buteyko thing - i'll watch a bit of that!
Unfortunately I missed the first half of the show but caught enough of
the info and the results to convince me to take a further look into
it. Back at the office I started hunting on the net - lo and behold a
WebSite! For the next two days I burrowed through the blurb and
finally had enough info to try the technique myself. Now i'd been
running low on my inhaler for a number of days as my asthma was pretty
hay-wire - I was using the inhaler about 10-15 times a day. I had to
put into the Doc's for a prescription for Salbutamol - this I did, but
ran out later that day. That's when I started using the Buteyko
method, breathing through my nose from then on. I did the control
pause (10 seconds) and relaxed my breathing down to practically
nothing, then tried to hold my breath for as long as possible - the
feeling of "no air in the lungs" was quite disconcerting at first, but
I soon got used to it after a number of tries. On the second week, I
think on a tuesday, I was seated at my desk when the "attack Warning
Signs" reared their ugly head. Following the Buteyko method I again
relaxed my shoulders and breathed shallowly, holding my breath for the
control pause again for as long as possible. Within five minutes my
lungs felt "clear" - no attack, no wheezing, just an incredible sense
of euphoria I will never again feel - I almost burst into tears. From
that day to this I have not used my Salbutamol inhaler, nor have I
needed to. I bought the inhalers with my prescription two days after
starting the Buteyko method and I used the Becotide Inhaler for the
following two months - after that I stopped taking it altogether. The
Salbutamol inhaler I carry with me always, but since Day 1 have never
needed to use it and hope I never have to use it again.

Now I could go into the reasons the Buteyko method is supposed to
work; the carbon dioxide control, the "ultra-hyper-ventilation" theory
- for me, that doesn't matter. The real reason for my trying the
method is simple - the question "Why?" has been answered, a question
none of my Doctors could answer. The symptoms of hyper-ventilation and
their relation to asthma I feel is easy to see, once explained
rationally with the concept of hyper-ventilation in mind. The answer
to the question "Why?" is plain. That the "answer" has been under
everyone's noses all these years is just life - that's the way it
goes. What we come to in the end is a really simple premise - IT
WORKS. I don't want to get into a debate / argument over the issues
because i'm not a Doctor or a scientist so I don't feel i'm in a
position to argue - what I am is an asthmatic who is practising the
Buteyko method and for the first time does not have to use drugs to
control it and has had no further asthma attacks. I can run, train,
play paintball - I play for a team and no longer require my inhaler to
enjoy it, as long as I breath through my nose while playing and don't
try to "gulp down" tons of air! I still get tired and sweaty, just
like every normal person I guess, but still no asthma attacks or
wheezing. I have to admit to not taping my mouth shut at night but
otherwise follow the principles to the letter. Not much to ask then to
get rid of my asthma altogether, just a few minutes "exercise" a day.
Dead easy.

Well, that's about it - if all this does is make an interesting read
to an asthma sufferer somewhere, or the worried parent of a child who
has been diagnosed as asthmatic then that's fine by me. I could give
you all that blurb about "I have no affiliation with the Buteyko
Institute blah, blah, blah" but I don't think that's necessary - you
don't need to hear it. My only "hard sell" if you like is that I would
Strongly Advise you to investigate this method and to try it out. It
works for me and i'd hope it would work for any asthmatic, young or
old. If that means getting a Buteyko expert if you can contact one
direct for training in the method, then please do so. I have learned
how to do this from studying all the literature I could get my hands
on, as well as the Web Pages and mailers from people who have attended
the courses, but I did it with my GP's guidance and the "crutch" of
the drugs until I felt I was strong enough to get off them, just as I
was advised to do. Never stop taking the drugs you have been
prescribed until your GP says otherwise, as this is against all the
teachings of the method.
So there you have it - My Story. Hope it helps and good luck for the
future.
Regards,
Ian Bland.