No prob.
It was never explained to me that you had to force yourself to cough-It was my understanding that you just sat there on the vest, and if you coughed naturally that meant you had congestion, and great, spit it ip. If not, you were fine and I guess I thought the purpose was to just loosen mucus. When I switched hospitals they wanted to see me doing the vest. So I did what I normally do, put it on, sit there for 30 minutes, use two or three different frequencies and see if I cough at all.
Then they said there is a definate technique to the frequencies and to coughing-its not as easy as just saying well, if I cough great, if not, ok. I had to learn how to breathe in a way to force myself to cough, to do a controlled cough, and not put my airways into spasming. Like I said, the "textbook" way is-you should get up 5 spits for each frequency you do-you do 7-8 frequencies, thats 35-40 spits. Equaling about 1/4 cup of mucus per therapy. To get that mucus up, esp out of the deep airways is what keeps you living. The key to getting your pfts up, clearing your small airways and keeping lung damage to a minimum.
Heres an example of my therapy-
Start at frequency 7 for 4-5 minutes. Stop, deep breath in, (I blow out hard and fast just like a pft) Some people are worried about that giving them a spasm, so they go strong and slow when exhaling. When exhaling, put the pedal back on so your are vibrating as you exhale. Either way, whatever works best for you-it will bring up mucus. Do it 5 times in a row, giving you 5 good spits. (keep track of the spits in a cup)
Go to frequency 8/9-Do process again
Go to frequency 10/11-Do it all again-Repeat with frequencies 12, 15, 17, 20 as far as you can go. ( I only get to 18)
The whole point of physio is to get out as much mucus as you can, and get out mucus from those deep airway. Doing all the frequencies, from the little ones to the strong ones is what helps get out the deep mucus.
I hope this is clearer now, and let us know if you try it and if it helps at all!