My story is one that still shocks me today when I tell it to family and friends. The day I called the Buteyko Breathing Center in Woodstock the summer of 2010, I was suffering from “exercise-induced” asthma that made it impossible for me to walk up a hill or a flight of stairs without wheezing. My doctor prescribed me steroids and bronchodilators that he said I would be taking the rest of my life. I was also diagnosed with a low functioning thyroid and further prescribed medication that was expected to be taken for life. I was anemic with dangerously low iron stores and taking supplements in hopes of improving that condition. I was on a slippery slope of medical intervention that I knew was, at best, treating my symptoms, not the problem, and at worst, making me much sicker.
I knew from the first phone conversation I had with the Buteyko Breathjing Center that these folks were going to help. They were so confident that they could improve my condition, it was the first time I’d felt hopeful since being diagnosed. It wasn’t long after my first meeting at the Buteyko Center that I knew they were going to do more than help. They were going to cure my condition. The science and logic behind their method made perfect sense to me; for reasons of stress or lifestyle, I was hyperventilating, and the imbalance of oxygen and CO2 in my body as a result of my hyperventilation was making me sick and causing my bronchial tubes to constrict in response. The constriction was, of course, my asthma.
Within a couple of days of merely beginning to implement the Buteyko method, I felt considerably better. Within a couple of months, I stopped wheezing altogether. Six months ago, I stopped taking all of my prescribed medication and supplements, even for my thyroid and anemia. I went to the doctor recently, and my routine blood test showed that I am no longer anemic. My thyroid function is normal, and my iron stores are fine. I didn’t need a doctor to confirm that I no longer suffer from asthma. Tomorrow, I am running my first road race since I was diagnosed with asthma. Thomas Fredricksen, Charles LaBarre and Konstantin Buteyko saved my life. There is no doubt in my mind.
Diane Fitzgerald Brooklyn, New York
