I was born with a lung condition called Bronchiectasis. Now, this is somewhat strange because the condition is more common with older people, mostly those 75 yrs and up. It was difficult growing up. Trying to live a normal life when chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing, and other lung symptoms become part of your daily routine. Each year the symptoms became worse and worse. It got so bad to a point where my doctors thought I only had 5 years to live - I was only 23 at that time! I had to get a lung lobotomy just to “manage” my condition. 

Five years later, my Bronchiectasis returned. Only this time, it was on the other side of my lungs. To make things worse, I then developed Aspergillosis three years after. What luck my lungs have, right?  Anyway, my lung condition got so bad that I had to retire early. I work as a warehouse manager and my job requires me to walk around the warehouse to inspect inventory the entire day - I could hardly get through the first two hours of my job without needing to take a 30-min break.

Retirement life wasn’t easy. There weren’t many hobbies I could do given my respiratory capacity. On top of that, I was constantly sick because of my weak immune system. About 5 months into “retirement life”, I was invited by my Church to join their choir ministry. I said yes immediately because I loved singing. My performance was a bit shaky in the first few weeks - I had trouble syncing with the group. After a few more weeks of practice plus singing/breathing exercises, I became comfortable and I was ready to take center stage! 

A year into it, I've been enjoying the experience so much that I didn’t realize I was starting to hold notes a little longer - I thought this was just luck so I had another checkup with my respiratory therapist. To my surprise, my lung capacity increased by 14%!  Who would have known that months of practicing vocalization techniques and diaphragmatic breathing improve my lung function by this much!

To this day I continue to participate with my Church choir group. After 2 years and 6 months of singing gospel/worship songs, I had another checkup and received the most amazing news ever. My pulmonologist said that my respiratory capacity is back to normal levels and that I should continue participating in choir activities as the singing exercises helped a lot!

So I encourage those looking to improve their lung condition to try out singing as a hobby, Simply try vocalization techniques at home, or better yet find a choir group to increase your respiratory capacity! Another thing I would highly recommend is using herbal supplements like Mullein. I've been taking Mullein for the past 2 years and I could say it has been a big help in improving my lung health, the biggest difference I noticed is the lung relief and improvement in lung capacity. 

SUPPORT

You can also learn more about health and nutrition by joining our group Lung, COPD and Health Examiner.

A great method of easing COPD, lung symptoms, and mucus build-up is by going through our Mullein Lung Detox Programme.