Tim was first diagnosed as asthmatic when he was a 4 year-old with a persistent cough that kept him awake at night whenever he had a cold. His mother Claire gave him the prescribed Ventolin syrup but was concerned when it seemed to make him hyperactive. Over the next few years Tim's asthma was a problem more frequently, and although he led a normal life he seemed to his mother to lack energy at times.
When Tim was 8 his doctor suggested he take the non-steroid preventive Intal, but after using this for several weeks there seemed to be no improvement to his wheezing and breathlessness.
"Whereas Tim only had one or two serious asthma attacks during those years, he never seemed really well either," Claire recalls. "It made him miserable at times and worried us because if he caught a cold it meant more Ventolin to stop him coughing at night." The doctor suggested they try Vicrom, another non-steroid preventive, but again Tim's parents saw no change in his condition.
Claire had heard of the side-effects of steroid medication so when her doctor wanted to prescribe an inhaled steroid preventive for Tim, she wasn’t happy. Claire believed that she would have no alternative until she saw a Buteyko advertisement.
"When I was told the cost of the course it nearly put me off enrolling Tim, it seemed so expensive," Claire says. "But I had already spent more than that on other things that hadn't really helped. Also Buteyko had a 100% money-back guarantee which impressed me - no one would offer that if they didn't really believe their treatment worked, and no doctor or other health professional I had come across gave a similar guarantee."
Tim's improvement was obvious in the first couple of days of the course. "Tim's health that winter was so good I almost forgot that asthma had been a problem to him. He could get up early on frosty mornings and play hockey and even though we would take his puffer in case of emergencies, I no longer even thought about it. Whereas before when we went out I would be concerned if we had forgotten to bring his Ventolin, now I felt confident that if he did run into problems, we could handle them with this drug-free method."
"Tim’s asthma can still be a problem if he comes down with a virus. But the amount of medication he needs is minimal - he doesn't need preventives and he might use 2-3 doses of Ventolin in total at these times. There have been two occasions when I took him to the doctor for a chest infection, but he had no sign of asthma, to our doctor's amazement. He now supports our use of Buteyko. I would have paid much more than the cost of the course to get where we are today with his asthma - I really recommend any parents to enrol their asthmatic children. You won't regret it!"
“When Benjamin completed the course - many people commented on the tremendous improvement in his rugby. We thought he was a bit frightened of the action and hung back but after Buteyko there was no holding him back. We realise now that he had no breath and energy to keep up. Asthma is no longer the hassle. This summer I’d like to wean him off his preventer and see how he goes.” Alison
After some problems with wheezing at 12 months old, Felicity spent two days in hospital with a serious asthma attack, and this was repeated a month later. Her worried parents Mark and Mandee were shown how to give her a preventive drug four times a day, as well as the reliever Duovent, all by nebuliser as she was too young to take it any other way.
When not quite two Felicity had another attack, and again ended up in hospital. This time her condition was controlled only after being given large doses of steroids. It was at that time that Duovent, was withdrawn from the market because it was thought to increase asthma deaths. Ventolin was prescribed for her to use frequently to relieve her constant wheezing.
Felicity grew into a placid, co-operative little girl with dark rings under her eyes and little energy. She stumbled and often fell and had so many bruises that her parents felt embarrassed. She then had a series of fits and was tested for epilepsy. Nothing showed. The fits continued unpredictably, and Felicity was given a CAT scan for possible brain tumours, but again the results were negative. On top of this, Felicity started episodes of vomiting for no apparent reason. Mandee recalls, "She would do it at night in bed and we were afraid that she would choke."
Felicity was a regular patient of the local paediatrician, who could give no explanation for the fits or vomiting to the concerned parents. He suggested that as all the brain scans showed normal development, their child could be suffering from migraine. Mandee was beginning to feel increasingly uncomfortable about the large number of drugs Felicity was taking. The fits and vomiting lasted for a few months, and then gradually stopped altogether, but Felicity's asthma was becoming steadily worse. "I had never had anything to do with asthma before and Felicity's attacks scared us all," Mandee says. " We were dominated by the condition. I would wake up in the morning and sometimes wonder if she was still alive."
"Because she was continuously wheezing and short of breath, what I classed as an actual asthma attack had to be pretty bad," Mandee recalls. "We made many visits to our doctor, the paediatrician, and the hospital. Our lives were governed by Felicity's asthma; there was no let-up from it."
By Felicity's sixth birthday, her condition had been brought under control with a steady regime of drugs. She was taking the preventive steroid Pulmicort daily, and to counteract the frequent attacks she was often given courses of Prednisone and Betnosol. The reliever Ventolin no longer seemed to be effective and was replaced with a Bricanyl turbohaler. Felicity now had the typical moon face of a steroid user.
Mandee's mother had her local church pray for Felicity just before she saw an advertisement in the local paper for the first Buteyko course held in New Zealand.
Believing it was an answer to her prayers she persuaded Mandee to ring Buteyko. Although Mandee was sceptical, she was also desperate for help and enrolled Felicity in the course. Her doubts began to evaporate as she watched her daughter's condition improve, slowly at first, and then in leaps and bounds over the next seven days.
"It really was like a miracle," she says. "The exercises were simple and Felicity was really excited by it because she could feel the difference it made to her.
“At no time were we told to stop Felicity's preventive medication. We were also told she was to use her reliever if she became wheezy and the Buteyko exercises didn't give enough relief. We found she was so dedicated to the new technique that soon she wasn't having attacks."
Mandee's family doctor was supportive of their trying the new technique. "He knew that I took a responsible attitude with Felicity's medication and felt we had nothing to lose," Mandee recalls. "He suggested we give it a go, and if it worked, well and good."
But the enormous improvement in Felicity's health far exceeded everybody's expectations. "The constant night coughing stopped and for the first time in her life, Felicity was able to sleep right through. What a relief that was - for everyone! She was so much happier in herself, and gradually we saw her energy levels rise." Within a few months she was off all her medication completely. "I just cannot emphasise enough how much she improved, " Mandee says with obvious emotion. "It was like having a different person in the house - a new child. I wanted to go and scream it out from the roof-tops."
The next 18 months saw Felicity enjoy the best health of her entire life, and she used no drugs whatever. For three months she continued with a programme of breathing exercises learned at the course that maintained her health, and if she ever felt wheezy or tight-chested, she would return to the more intense sets of exercises that she had learned initially. Her health was so much better at the end of this time that the regular exercises gradually tailed off, and she would only do them if she felt the need.
That was five years ago. Felicity is now a normal, healthy, bright child. She occasionally wheezes, but these have not been significant as far as her mother is concerned. "I am very happy with her progress, there is just no comparison with how sick she used to be." Mandee says.
"I agreed to this interview hoping that someone reading it might be encouraged to take their sick child to one of these courses. If one other child could be helped by it, it would be worth it. I want all those other parents out there to try it - you have nothing to lose."
‘My son is a new person since using the Buteyko technique. He is sports mad and now plays rugby, runs, swims, and wins!!! Without breathlessness.’ Tracey
Robert was initially a healthy baby, but at eighteen months of age he was diagnosed as having asthma.
Robert's parents were determined to help their baby son become well, so when their GP prescribed asthma medications, they made sure that he had it. Robert was periodically on Ventolin syrup until he was six, and had continuous courses of antibiotics for all the infections he constantly picked up. At this stage the doctor prescribed Becotide, a cortico-steroid based preventer.
But the infections kept coming., and at the age of 12 Robert had a severe bout of 'flu which resulted in a massive asthma attack and he was rushed to hospital. Once he was home, his parents were instructed to give him a nebuliser every three hours; life-saving at the time but a move they feel was the beginning of the end to their son's good health. Prednisone was prescribed, which he took periodically for the next two years.
Robert had been a keen runner, but his championship days were over; he could no longer run fast enough to win races, and Robert was beginning to suffer psychologically as well as physically from his condition. It seemed so unfair that asthma made such a negative impact on his life.
Determined to do everything and anything they could to improve Robert's situation, his mother and father began a long round of other treatments in search of help. They went to an environmental doctor, and after many tests, he was given a list of ten foods that he could safely eat. The family spend considerable amounts of money on vitamins and herbal remedies they hoped may bring about some improvement.
Sessions with a chiropractor and a naturopath did not change the still necessary daily regime of nebulisers and Ventolin because Robert now had asthma most of the time, especially during winter.
He had cough variant asthma, so wheezing was not obvious but he coughed continually. Despite being under the very best of specialists, and his parents following instructions for his conventional medication to the letter, he was getting worse.
He appeared short for his age and had an over-round face that is typical of steroid users. Doctors warned his parents that Prednisone could stunt his growth, but there seemed to be no alternative. They felt helpless; the stress of Robert's condition was beginning to take its toll on them all.
On the allergy specialist's recommendation, Robert's parents sold their colonial home and bought a new house on the other side of town, away from the pollution of the inner city, with tiled floors and no carpets. The only difference it made was to inconvenience them as they now had to cross Brisbane to keep doctors' appointments for Robert. His asthma condition continued to deteriorate. Often depressed and lacking self-confidence, he missed lots of school because of sickness.
Then Robert's mother saw a documentary on TV about the Russian Buteyko drug-free technique of asthma control. The TV programme explained Buteyko treated asthma as one of the conditions caused by over-breathing or hyperventilation. By teaching asthmatics to breathe normally, they could reduce symptoms and drugs by as much as 90% in a few weeks.
"I thought the reasoning behind it sounded so silly that I found it hard to take seriously," Robert's father, also asthmatic, comments. "I couldn't understand how breathing too much could make you breathless or create coughing. "
However, the money-back guarantee made them decide that they had nothing to lose by attending the course, and so father and son enrolled to learn the Buteyko method. They were in for a surprise. The first day of the course was the last time Robert took Ventolin and in a very short time he was completely drug-free. Their food allergies and other sensitivities gradually disappeared.
“We felt thrilled - ecstatic! A whole new life opened up for us. Robert felt better almost straight away, and after a few days his improvement was obvious, to us and to others who knew him. The drugs we had always believed to be keeping him alive were suddenly obsolete - and Robert was feeling the best for years.”
Robert launched himself into the thrill of a healthy life and he has remained that way ever since. His father comments; “Parents are often sceptical at Buteyko’s claims, only to be surprised, then overjoyed at the results. No parent likes watching their child suffer; with asthma there often seems to be so little they can do to help. With Buteyko we can be responsible for our own health, and for our children's - its that simple. I believe it is the treatment for the future. I hope it will be only a matter of time before the medical authorities come to realise its true value, and it is taught here in hospitals.”
“My ten-year old son has practiced Buteyko for two years. The positive effect on his general wellbeing continues to impress me greatly. I am pleased we took this step and will encourage my two other children to use Buteyko as well.” Ann
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