24 April 2017
The sixth meeting of the ILD Support Group took place at St Georges Hospital on Monday 24th April 2017 between 16:30 – 18:00.
The topic this week was “Pacing for Improved Energy” and was presented by Occupational Therapist, Catherine Gray.
The session was well attended and we welcomed some new attendees to the session. Catherine introduced the group to some strategies to improve and promote energy conversation, which she referred to as The four P’s.
THE FOUR P’s
- PLAN how you will carry out the task.
- PREPARE all the items you will need.
- PACE yourself and slow down during the task.
- PAUSE and rest whenever needed.
You can view the slides from the presentation below. Use the ‘space bar‘ to pause/play the presentation.
Throughout the presentation there were plenty of opportunities for questions and general discussion and sharing of personal experiences, which always makes these sessions so worthwhile. Participants shared their experiences of breathlessness and how some relatively straight forward tasks can lead to breathlessness quite quickly. It also seemed that through experience many of the group had developed their own individual ways of coping with breathlessness, such as pacing themselves when climbing the stairs, or giving themselves plenty of time to plan the day ahead so they do not have to rush.
Following the presentation and discussion, Katherine then got the group to try some gentle breathing and meditation techniques using an application called ‘Headspace‘. The application can be used on mobile phones, tablets or downloaded onto your desktop or laptop, whichever is more convenient. The application can be accessed through the following link:
Guided relaxation to help with your breathing:
The following recording is a guided relaxing exercise to help control your breathing. Before playing the recording be in a relaxed and comfortable place and make sure that you will not be interrupted during the session.
St Georges ILD Support Group 