anyone else with exercise induced bronchospasm (asthma)???? help!

FutureDVM2020

I've been diagnosed with exercise induced asthma for about 10 years now. I was very active in high school, running cross country and playing tennis. I was never great at endurance running because of my breathing and was finally diagnosed in my senior year. One knee surgery, several years, and about 60 pounds later, I cannot seem to get my asthma under control so that I can do a decent cardio workout. I've tried using an albuterol inhaler, but that makes my heart rate spike and doesn't help my breathing. I've been on daily inhalers along with using albuterol when I work out, still no improvement.
Anyone else out there that has exercised induced asthma that has had success with some sort of treatment so that they can work out effectively without gasping for breath and feeling light headed all the time?

dutchandkiwi

I have it and it is under control now. Was/is a bane in my body as it has always held me back in exercise routines. For me it got worse as I gave in to it and did not try to contain it. As I gave into it I found myself gaining weight, losing body strength and feeling generally down and depressed. Not where I wanted to be at all!

What helped was building up my cardio in a very slow manner. I simply started by walking. It is not big time cardio but it gets the heart and the breathing going. Initially not fast, but at least I moved. I also did yoga to learn how to breath deeply more and cycled (we all do here in the Netherlands)
As my endurance grew, so did my speed in walking. From walking to work once a week I went up to now 4x a week. I then went for a multiple day hike (with special thanks to the inhaler) did the same thing again a year later and still needed the inhaler when going uphill, not so much on the flat anymore.
At some stage I added strength training in the morning and last year I finally felt I could join a gym and do cardio (note that took over 2 years to get there). This winter I finally started to run. I am now up to 6km runs. Increase also slow as that took me 8 months. No C25K for me, way too fast in build up. I feel what I can do and keep to it. When I started running I started wth the inhaler. These days it is no longer in use. My lungs give me enough air to run. My goal is to get to 10K before the end of the year.

These days I don't use my inhaler anymore whereas 3.5 years ago it was essential for major exercise. I still use my allergies pills for my dust mite allergy, and they also help with the exercise induced asthma. However I am thinking of reducing those meds as well now (from the max dosis to 2/3s of it, with my GPs blessing) My VO2 max is apparently superior now and in the top bracket for my age (I am 49)
As said I took it slow One step at a time. Just like with losing weight I gave it the time it needed.

kavahni

Are you working with an asthma specialist or just your regular physician? If it's your regular physician, they generally don't know anything beyond albuterol. Get thee to an asthma specialist! There are several really good alternatives to albuterol. My son used Levibuteral after albuteral made him nuts. Also, you may need a daily inhaled steroid. And there is something to taking one or the other (can't remember which) before exercise. Can be very helpful.
Best thing you can do for yourself though, is get a really good asthma specialist. If you are currently seeing one, and albuterol is the best they can do, find a new one.

FutureDVM2020

Thanks y'all. I've only been working with my gp as my insurance restricts who I can see. But it has been a while since I have been to the doctor so I'm working on getting in so that I can hopefully get something different to help me out. In the mean time, I'm still exercising and working toward my goals. I'm just ready to actually be able to feel like I'm getting the most out of my workout instead of just a fraction of the benefits while fighting for air throughout my entire workout.

VintageFeline

I have mild asthma and it can be exercise induced if I'm not on top of my preventative inhaler. But even that has improved now that I am very fit. I second the suggestion of building up slowly. I was always advised to take longer to warm up at a low intensity, it may be you need to work at a low intensity full stop initially.

Definitely get to the doctor as soon as you can, uncontrolled asthma is incredibly dangerous.

ETA: Another thing that springs to mind, you say your reliever/s don't work at all sometimes? I had this and thought it was asthma, turns out it was exercise induced anxiety/panic attacks. Took a while for the penny to drop but it feels a lot like asthma without the wheeze but you don't notice the no wheeze because you don't realise it's anxiety!

This may not be it at all but something to throw out there.

guacamole17

It definitely sounds like you need to revisit your controller meds w/ your doctor. I have asthma (exercise induced, allergy induced, and just general) and I meet with my asthma/allergy doc every 6 months for a check up and to adjust my meds if needed. My original asthma doc a long time ago told me, before I started seeing him, that whatever my gp put me on before is basically worthless and did nothing to control my (really really bad asthma)....so there's that. I now take a series of meds that keep my asthma, allergies, and eczema under control, including a steroid.

Anyways, exercise - it sounds like you are already taking your rescue inhaler before hand. You might want to ask your doc about a different brand that might have different side effects, as far as the high heart rate. I third the advice of starting slowly.

FutureDVM2020

VintageFeline wrote: »

I have mild asthma and it can be exercise induced if I'm not on top of my preventative inhaler. But even that has improved now that I am very fit. I second the suggestion of building up slowly. I was always advised to take longer to warm up at a low intensity, it may be you need to work at a low intensity full stop initially.

Definitely get to the doctor as soon as you can, uncontrolled asthma is incredibly dangerous.

ETA: Another thing that springs to mind, you say your reliever/s don't work at all sometimes? I had this and thought it was asthma, turns out it was exercise induced anxiety/panic attacks. Took a while for the penny to drop but it feels a lot like asthma without the wheeze but you don't notice the no wheeze because you don't realise it's anxiety!

This may not be it at all but something to throw out there.

Thank you for your input!!! Exercise induced anxiety/panic attack may actually be a contributing factor. When I was competing in high school I would notice it get worse if I was competing w/ someone at the finish line or if I started thinking about how poorly I was doing, etc. I also suffer from general anxiety on a daily basis. What were you able to do for this aspect?

VintageFeline

FutureDVM2020 wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

I have mild asthma and it can be exercise induced if I'm not on top of my preventative inhaler. But even that has improved now that I am very fit. I second the suggestion of building up slowly. I was always advised to take longer to warm up at a low intensity, it may be you need to work at a low intensity full stop initially.

Definitely get to the doctor as soon as you can, uncontrolled asthma is incredibly dangerous.

ETA: Another thing that springs to mind, you say your reliever/s don't work at all sometimes? I had this and thought it was asthma, turns out it was exercise induced anxiety/panic attacks. Took a while for the penny to drop but it feels a lot like asthma without the wheeze but you don't notice the no wheeze because you don't realise it's anxiety!

This may not be it at all but something to throw out there.

Thank you for your input!!! Exercise induced anxiety/panic attack may actually be a contributing factor. When I was competing in high school I would notice it get worse if I was competing w/ someone at the finish line or if I started thinking about how poorly I was doing, etc. I also suffer from general anxiety on a daily basis. What were you able to do for this aspect?

Just working through it as much as possible. At the start I was obviously really unfit and the anxiety would kick in as soon as my heart rate elevated. When it was unbearable I would stop what I was doing and just walk it off. Even if this was every 20 seconds, I'd stop and walk it off until I was able to crack on again.

Now it barely bothers me, the exception being if I run in public but I don't run very much anyway so not a huge deal.

So the best thing I did for it was to get fitter so that I wasn't maxing out my heart rate immediately and so that I could get over the mental hurdle of my heart rate being high.

Of course what worked for me may not work for you, I'm stubborn AF and wasn't about to let it stop me. Except that one time it unexpectedly rained during a run. I had a full blown panic attack and did stop!

dutchandkiwi

Just noting that anxiety about it was a factor for me I so much feared it coming out that it would come out. Learning what the onset was, acceptance and las vintagefeline says working wrought it when possible helped. Learning how to breath differently (using midriff more) helped also.
Occasionally I still feel that it wants to come up - the breathing resides then help. I feel I am not cured but that I control it now, whereas before the attacks controlled me