Exercise induced Asthma anybody?

jenns1964

I have EIA too. It was bad when I first started exercising, but has subsided. I do occasionally get it when my allergies are really bad. I have RAD also. (Reactive airway disease.) It is brought on by viruses or allergies for me. I have in inhaler with me at all times.

__Di__

Hi Again Everyone,
Asthma Nurse here.

Asthma is usually the result of an allergic reaction to a trigger. Symptoms may include cough, wheeze and shortness of breath. You may have one or all of these symptoms.
These symptoms are caused by a narrowing of the airways. This narrowing is the result of muscle spasms + inflammation of the lining of the airway, and increased mucous production.
Exercised induced asthma is slightly different in that often a trigger like 'cold air' triggers spasm of the muscles around the breathing tubes or bronchi, and is often associated with underlying low grade inflammation of the airways.

The potential triggers are many and varied, and will differ for each person. Common triggers are Emotions/Stress/Excessive Laughter, Hormonal, Animals, Cold Air, Exercise, Dust/Dustmites, Food/Drinks, Mould/Damp, Pollens, Cold/Flu or Aspirin/NSAIDS. Knowing your triggers is important in the management of asthma. Avoiding triggers wherever possible and reducing their impact.

Blue inhalers - these are reliever or rescue inhalers that relieve your symptoms, usually within 5mins of using it. They work by relaxing the muscles around the airways.

Brown/Orange inhalers - commonly known as preventers, reduce the inflammation and mucous production over time, and reduce your sensitivity to your triggers. They take at least 2weeks to start working, and symptoms continue to improve for up to 3months. That means you need to take this medication every day, and not miss more than 2 doses/wk.

Purple/Red inhalers - these are combination inhalers. They contain a preventer and a long term reliever. Used when asthmatics haven't acheived maximum control on a preventer alone, and still require reliever inhaler more than 2x/wk.

Please note:
most people with asthma are undertreated;
those not on preventers often have underlying inflammation which if left untreated can lead to remodeling of the airways, causing irreversable airway disease called Chronic Obstructive Respiratory Disease;
if you use your reliever inhaler more than two times per week, or wake at night with cough, wheeze or shortness of breath, then please see your Doctor or Asthma Nurse for assessment. You should probably be using a preventer.

Excellent posting, thanks Georgina!

I have also been under a hell of a lot of stress this year actually, that would have contributed then. My hubby is always telling me to calm down, but I have always been a big worrier and I often start to build scenarios in my head starting with the smallest little thing, that by the end of it, I picture myself incarcerated :laugh:

JayMri

I'd like to join this club..... Mine is really bad during colder runs. Like I can't run under 50 degrees. It burns my lungs and I end up with URI every time !!!!!

Yes! It is so hard to breathe when it is cold! And I live in a place where you cannot avoid the cold every winter. Someday I will get smart and move somewhere warm.

Cold weather is the worst for me too! Once it get's below 30°F I can not even jog outside and get winded shoveling the driveway. I am okay walking in that weather though so that's what I stick to for outside activities.

georgina1970

I'm curious, just how many of you are using a preventer inhaler?
From the previous posts it sounds like nobody??

I also get asthma, including EIA.
The recommendation is to double your warm-up time to prevent onset of asthma, particularly when triggers like cold air are present during exercise.

Happy to answer questions if anyone has any.

dbmata

I'm curious, just how many of you are using a preventer inhaler?
From the previous posts it sounds like nobody??

I also get asthma, including EIA.
The recommendation is to double your warm-up time to prevent onset of asthma, particularly when triggers like cold air are present during exercise.

Happy to answer questions if anyone has any.

I don't use a preventative. I have one prescribed, but I refuse to use it, out of sheer stubbornness and a refusal to put that stuff in me any more than I need to.

I tend to not warm up, kinda because I like jumping right into a workout, and I'm still young enough to not worry about it too much even though I know I'm risking my body.

Now, I do have one question, I have a triathlon coming up, and I was thinking of hitting a breathing treatment about 40 minutes or so before the start time. It helps my breathing, but makes me pretty jumpy. Are there any things you suggest I research about the treatment prior to doing it?

georgina1970

Quote
I don't use a preventative. I have one prescribed, but I refuse to use it, out of sheer stubbornness and a refusal to put that stuff in me any more than I need to.

I tend to not warm up, kinda because I like jumping right into a workout, and I'm still young enough to not worry about it too much even though I know I'm risking my body.

Now, I do have one question, I have a triathlon coming up, and I was thinking of hitting a breathing treatment about 40 minutes or so before the start time. It helps my breathing, but makes me pretty jumpy. Are there any things you suggest I research about the treatment prior to doing it?
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Why would you refuse to use something that would help you to breath easier, and therefore enable you to train harder?
The inhaled medication don't enter the bloodstream, except in minute, barely detectable amounts. It works locally on the lung tissue to prevent inflammation and mucous production. It also reduces your reactivity to triggers.

My suggestion is to start your preventer now. It takes at least two weeks of regular use before symptoms and increased exercise tolerance improve. If no iproved after 4weeks, then your dose may need to be adjusted.

Note: the jumpiness is just a side effect of the reliever medication. Some people experience it, some don't.

__Di__

Okay update:

Yesterday, I took my inhaler, gave it fifteen minutes whilst I got ready for my run and ventured out, I started running, all seemed fine, I went down to the seafront about ten minutes away and ran along the sea wall, I kept going, my legs held out and my breathing seemed fine.

Two and half miles into the run, I turned around and ran back home, legs were fine, no wheezing or coughing (except for one little one lol).

I measured the course when I got back home on Gmaps Pedometer and it was just over five and a half miles - I haven't ran that far since October 2012!

I think I *may* have cracked this, fingers crossed.

(Glad I had my inhaler, I think it will be very helpful!)

Oh yes, my HR, instead of being over 170 for the run as it has been in the last few weeks, was down to 162 average, that in itself is an improvement!

nikiafter

My asthma has been horrible for the last 4 months. It is both allergy and exercised induced. Saw an allergist who put me on some different preventors and they are not working. Just finished a course of prednisone again and I want to cry as it doesnt seem to last and I feel horrible taking it too. Gonna start walking/running again coming Monday and I am going to try the salbutamol and the flovent 15 minutes before and see if it works. I just dont know what else to do? Have tried the symbacort turbohaler but I swear its not working either! Like I think its not dispensing the medication right.
My worst trigger is perfume or scented hand lotion and I cant get the girls at work to stop wearing it. Have gone to the boss and we have a scent free policy at the hospital I work at. But they just dont get it.

bumblebums

I've had exactly three attacks of exercise induced asthma in my life. All three happened after climbing a hill on a bicycle, on a hot humid summer day (two of them were in the swampy hellhole known as Washington, DC). I didn't even realize what it was until later, when I read about exercise induced asthma somewhere. But it was frightening.

My solution? I don't ride bikes uphill anymore. All I do for cardio these days is walk with my dog. If I really wanted to be a runner or a bicyclist, though, I would carry an inhaler with me just for those rare scenarios. It's too taxing on the heart otherwise.

plantgrrl

High Humidity, Cold Air, days where the air is stagnant and I'm in an area with highly polluted air (downtown Chicago comes to mind) and cat boxes.

Except for the pollution and the cat boxes, I really have to be jogging or running to set off my lungs--I can walk just about anywhere in the humidity or cold, but when the respiration level goes up, that's when my lungs stage a protest.

happy123456

I have EIA and its rubbish!
I stopped going to the gym so because I was so embarrassed but I am going back because I think that I would be better building up slowly x