Aerobika and nausea

[spring92]

Hi there,

Does anyone feel nauseous after/while using their aerobika? It's fairly new to me and I love the aerobika because it helps me move a lot of mucus (more than the vest in my case) but often it will trigger my gag reflex when I combine it with huff coughing. It never makes me actually vom, it just makes me feel like I'm about to hurl. Maybe I'm breathing too hard? I have it on the highest setting because that feels more effective. If I breathe out softer then it doesn't feel like it's doing anything. I would love to hear if anyone else experiences this and if you have any tips on how to avoid the nausea.

Thanks!

 

[kenna2]

I've never felt nauseous while doing it but that was awhile ago. I now use the Vibralung which I feel is a lot more effective than the Vest and aerobika for me. The one thing I will say is the Vibralung does make me move quite a bit of mucus and sometimes when all that is coming up and out I cough so hard that I do gag (happens more frequently when I'm sick). I haven't thrown up but it will cause me to gag. I think it's a combination of just how much is coming out and the force used to cough it all out does this. I would also like to know if anyone has a solution to avoid the gag but at this point I have just kinda chalked it up to "part of having CF".

 

[spring92]

Oddly enough for me it feels like I'm going to throw up more when its not a productive cough. If that makes sense... Like, if I'm getting good globs of stuff up I don't feel nauseous but if I use it and don't bring anything up then I feel like its triggering my gag reflex. You're probably right though, most likely just the force used to clear something. I'm towards the end of an antibiotic course right now so everything is much thinner/virtually nonexistent. I guess my default mode is to huff as hard as I can even if my mucus is coming up easily ha.

My doctor hasn't ever mentioned the vibralung. What is it? I've been using the vest for airway clearance religiously since I was 10 (I'm 26 now) and I've always been afraid to switch completely to something else because the vest has been such a part of my daily life. Recently I've been using the aerobika only in addition to my vest (even though I feel like it works better... when I'm not gagging...)

 

[kenna2]

The Vibralung is still a newer form of airway clearance(maybe 4 years old) that uses a speaker that emits sound waves. You hold it in your mouth like an aerosol and that's it. It has 3 settings a low, medium, and high. Each setting sends out about 7 mins of different ranges of pitches building up over time and with these vibrations they can reach the smaller airways that the vest can't get to. This can also be used with the Vest at the same time. They use a something like this on race horses before they run to clear out their sinuses. I can really feel the vibrations in my chest from it and I feel like it alone has gotten out more gunk than the vest ever could. There is also an adapter on the mouthpiece that allows you to do your medications while you do the vibralung. I don't personally use it because I want to make sure the med is getting in my lungs and not out with what i'm coughing up. Here is their website..... https://westmedinc.com/vibralung/