FOR more than 40 years, John Bailey suffered with severe asthma and relied on a daily cocktail of medication.

Now he has thrown away his inhalers after learning about the Buteyko Breathing Technique (BBT).

John, 60, who lives in Lower Parkstone, said it has changed his life.

“I was using a nebuliser several times a day, with strong steroid inhalers. I couldn’t do anything without struggling to breathe. I used to get out of breath lying in bed,” he said.

John attended a course about the breathing programme in Bournemouth last month, run by Simon Paddon, one of only nine practitioners in the UK “Since attending the course, I’m completely free of all medication as well as my nebuliser, and I feel fantastic,” he said.

“I saw a programme about it years ago so when I heard there was a course in Bournemouth I decided to go along. It’s not a cure, it’s more of a regime.”

Mr Paddon says Mr Bailey’s recovery is typical of all people who attend his courses.

“People with severe long term breathing problems are able to safely regain control of their lives”.

He cited clinical trials published in various medical journals, that have shown that sufferers of breathing problems who use BBT are able to safely reduce medication up to 90 per cent.

“In a report by UK journal The Nursing Times last week, there was a call for nurses to teach Buteyko on the NHS.

“But very few NHS doctors and medics have heard of the programme.”

Mr Paddon is hosting a two-hour course on BBT in Bournemouth next week for people with any type of breathing problems including (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), emphysema, bronchial problems and sleep disorders.

It will be at Kinson Community Centre, Pelh-ams Park, Millhams Road, on June 7 at 7pm.

Book either at buteykomethod. co.uk or call 0844 357 7373.