Hello I’m Maureen Watt, a member of the Scottish Parliament and Minister for Public Health in the Scottish Government.Welcome to the My Lungs My Life website.

Here you will find easy to use information about living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD for short and asthma.
If you are the parent or guardian of a child who has been diagnosed with asthma, there is a specific section for you.

Throughout My Lungs My Life you will see self management tips.
My Lungs My Life and self management don’t replace your contact with healthcare professionals.

Instead they can help you understand your COPD or asthma so that you know how to look after yourself, have fewer hospital or emergency admissions and you will learn to know your own warning signs.
So that you can take early action before an infection, exacerbation or attack make you unwell.

My Lungs My Life can help you make choices which can make a difference to your health, well being and quality of life.

Narrator: Fran Bailey

• Asthma can develop at any age, including young children, adults or elderly people.
• 72,000 children in Scotland are receiving treatment for asthma.
• Over 331,000 adults in the UK have asthma.
• On average there are 2 children with asthma in every classroom in the UK.

[“Let’s Go Fly a Kite” by Cheyne Gang choir]

• There are over 118,500 people in Scotland with a diagnosis of COPD.
• Around 2/3 of people have COPD but have not been diagnosed, they often put their symptoms down to “getting older”.
• Most people are in their 50’s when diagnosed with COPD, but people as young as 35 can have COPD.

• Self management is key to better care of asthma and COPD.
• The Cheyne Gang are all people living with COPD.
• They use singing as part of their self management.

Cheyne Gang member: First Lady

COPD is a very disabling disease.
I’ve been diagnosed with it for 17 years now
And as the years have gone on the symptoms obviously get more and more and more you become… your chest infections last longer and you just become more unwell.
It’s not a nice disease to have.

Cheyne Gang member: Man

COPD affects me in a variety of ways.
I get out of breath very quickly and strange things like tying my shoelaces or putting on my socks I can get out of breath within a couple seconds.

If I walk any I distance I’ve got to stop after you know 15 or 20 yards.
I just get out of breath so easily and it’s frustrating.
Slightly worrying.

But like everybody else in the choir, we try not to let it rule our lives.
But we know about it, it’s there.

Cheyne Gang member: Second Lady

The self-management I found very helpful.
The deep breathing definitely takes the stress away.
When you start to feel short of wind, you don’t panic.
You just breathe deeply. You sleep better.

Your whole being feels better, because you feel better.
It’s not just the COPD that’s being treated, it’s the person as well as the disease.

Maureen Watt MSP

Hello. I’m Maureen Watt, I’m a Member of the Scottish Parliament
And Minister for Public Health in the Scottish Government.
And I was diagnosed with asthma in my 20’s.

As you have seen from this film, many thousands of people of all ages in Scotland and the UK are living with COPD or asthma every day.

The Scottish Government funded the My Lungs My Life website to help all these people and their families to understand their condition and to become equal partners in their care by using supportive self-management tips and advice.

Using self-management and working alongside all of the respiratory health care professionals will help you make the choices about:

1. Your COPD or asthma.
2. Reduce the risk of exacerbations or attacks by knowing the early warning signs and what to do.
3. Get to know all of the resources in your area and how they can help you manage better.

The My Lungs My Life website is free to use.
It has no advertising or those annoying pop-ups, and you don’t have to log in.

It has been written by respiratory specialists from across NHS Scotland.
And has been independently reviewed by respiratory clinicians and people like you and me, who are living with COPD and asthma.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland has been commissioned to develop My Lungs My Life in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, the British Lung Foundation and NHS Scotland through respiratory specialists and Managed Clinical Networks.