I have my planning appointment next week and in my information pack is a letter telling me that I will need to hold my breath for 15seconds at a set volume 20 times over a 30 minute period and that I need to start practicing now. Silly question but… how deep a breath do I need to practice holding.
Laura
Wlecome to the forum and this thread.
I know that there are several ladies on here who have had to do the same for their rads and i am sure they will be along shortly to give you advise on it.
I have started a new thread for ladies who are embarking on their rads in August so when you start you might find the support from the ladies on that a help as well, as it will probably have ladies who are already undergoing rads and who finish in August as well.
Helena
Hi Laura, I finished holding breath treatment two weeks ago, its really easy once you get it right. I used the same holding breath method I used in Archery.
They will set your level at your practice appointment. Relax yourself and breath naturely. There will be a small screen just in front of your face with a line that moves up and down as you breath. try not to focus on the line but have the lines in your vision. Breath normaly and they will set the bottom line, then when they ask for you to breath in. On the relaxed out breath, breath in more deeply until you feel comfortable close your throat and hold. The yellow line moves up towards a blue line then it turns green, this is the point they set the blue line, you have keep it green in that line while holding. Dont watch the green line you will struggle to keep it there it jiggles a bit and it makes you want to move it. I could see it with my perriferal vision and it stayed more steady. Practice this lying on your back with your arms above your head, it feels totally diferent because you are stretching your body. Practice holding like this for 30 seconds steady so when it comes to getting on the machine.
Hope this helps Laura, good luck.
hugs to all
Christine. xxxx
Hi Laura, I finished holding breath treatment two weeks ago, its really easy once you get it right. I used the same holding breath method I used in Archery.
They will set your level at your practice appointment. Relax yourself and breath naturely. There will be a small screen just in front of your face with a line that moves up and down as you breath. try not to focus on the line but have the lines in your vision. Breath normaly and they will set the bottom line, then when they ask for you to breath in. On the relaxed out breath, breath in more deeply until you feel comfortable close your throat and hold. The yellow line moves up towards a blue line then it turns green, this is the point they set the blue line, you have keep it green in that line while holding. Dont watch the green line you will struggle to keep it there it jiggles a bit and it makes you want to move it. I could see it with my perriferal vision and it stayed more steady. Practice this lying on your back with your arms above your head, it feels totally diferent because you are stretching your body. Practice holding like this for 30 seconds steady so when it comes to getting on the machine.
Hope this helps Laura, good luck.
hugs to all
Christine. xxxx
Hi Laurajw, before I went for my appointment I downloaded info from this site on radiotherapy. It’s in pdf form. I don’t know if it tells you how deep a breath, but it does explain your type of radiotherapy. I’m guessing your op was on the left side where your heart is? My Onco was very good explaining the three types to me, and mine is just bog standard on right side. Good luck. ? X
Hi, I have breath hold radiotherapy. At the planning appt you practise holding your breath so that your boob is lifted away from your heart and the machine will make measurements. I didn’t have lines to look at but the lovely team told me what to do. Once the machine has made measurements you will need to hold your breath at that level during your treatments. The machine will know if you need to breathe in a bit more or let a bit out and the team will tell you. It stops if you drop out of breath hold so no worries there. 20 seconds seemed like ages at first but now I’m on day 11 it’s fine. Hope your appt goes well xx