New here, struggling with asthma - could use some support! :)

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CatherineHillin
CatherineHillin Posts: 66 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi everyone!

I'm 5'4", CW 175, GW 150. I am 23. I used to teach Tae Kwon Do so I was very active and gained a lot of muscle but I took a break for school and in the interim my asthma got so bad that I can't really exercise anymore. As soon as my heart rate elevates, I can't breathe and it feels like someone's sitting on my chest. It's really painful! I have seen a doctor and he gave me an inhaler but it can only help so much. I don't know what I can do other than walking for exercise, but I'm trying to do more of that and to eat better so I can feel healthier. It's been so hard! It seems like such a nice community here - I could really use some advice and support! Thanks everyone!

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  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    I was a really super bad asthmatic several years ago. My first year at the gym, I premedicated with a few puffs of my inhaler before every workout. My second year I was able to cut down to just before cardio workouts. My 3rd year I only use it if my chest is tight.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
    edited October 2015
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    CatherineHillin wrote: »
    Hi everyone!

    I'm 5'4", CW 175, GW 150. I am 23. I used to teach Tae Kwon Do so I was very active and gained a lot of muscle but I took a break for school and in the interim my asthma got so bad that I can't really exercise anymore. As soon as my heart rate elevates, I can't breathe and it feels like someone's sitting on my chest. It's really painful! I have seen a doctor and he gave me an inhaler but it can only help so much. I don't know what I can do other than walking for exercise, but I'm trying to do more of that and to eat better so I can feel healthier. It's been so hard! It seems like such a nice community here - I could really use some advice and support! Thanks everyone!

    Heh, glad the previous poster bumped this, I actually had it bookmarked yesterday evening!

    Can you expand on "can only help so much"? I may have experienced something similar when I was just getting back into shape. The inhaler isn't a magic pill where suddenly you'll be sprinting five miles. If you're out of shape, you're still going to somewhat feel like crud when you workout, I think. How long before your workout do you use the inhaler? I wound up settling on two puffs, which I still do. One fifteen minutes before, and another five minutes before. With deep, deep breaths after each puff. I really need that medicine getting in there!

    As part of getting back into shape, I actually realized that breaks during a workout helped. The breaks started out as long as five to ten minutes, and then got shorter and shorter until I didn't need them anymore

    By chance, do you exercise around any allergens, dampness or weirdo smells? It's possible that where you workout could be aggravating your condition.

    If the puffs are just not helping at all, it may be time to pay your doc a visit again. If you're not already on a daily medication, they can explore that. That option, too, can be temporary and only needed until your body and condition get back into better shape
  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
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    CatherineHillin wrote: »
    Hi everyone!

    I'm 5'4", CW 175, GW 150. I am 23. I used to teach Tae Kwon Do so I was very active and gained a lot of muscle but I took a break for school and in the interim my asthma got so bad that I can't really exercise anymore. As soon as my heart rate elevates, I can't breathe and it feels like someone's sitting on my chest. It's really painful! I have seen a doctor and he gave me an inhaler but it can only help so much. I don't know what I can do other than walking for exercise, but I'm trying to do more of that and to eat better so I can feel healthier. It's been so hard! It seems like such a nice community here - I could really use some advice and support! Thanks everyone!

    Hi Catherine, sorry to hear you've been having such a hard time with your asthma. I've got a few thoughts for you...

    1. You could ask your doctor to try you on Singulair on top of your inhaler. It is a small pill you take at night, and according to my kids' pulmonologist, it is a drug that either works for you, or it doesn't, there really isn't a middle ground. It works miracles for my daughter. I also understand it to be very safe. It can also help with allergies, and helps exercise induced asthma in particular, as well as regular asthma, from what I understand.

    2. Weight loss is all about a calorie deficit. Hopefully as you lose weight, your heart won't have to work as hard when you're working out and hopefully your asthma will improve. Even if all you can do for right now is walk, that's ok. Use a food scale, eat in a deficit, and the weight should come off.

    . Try different activities. I know I can not run. It drives my asthma crazy! But I can ride the exercise bike. I can lift weights. I can (now) use the elliptical and do zumba. Try different things and see if anything else works for you.

    4. Are you using your inhaler preventatively before working out?
  • Ashtoretet
    Ashtoretet Posts: 378 Member
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    It sounds like your asthma isn't being controlled and you should try to find a better doctor or a better way to communicate with yours. My allergist doesn't let me leave her office without a plan that will at least work on paper. I've changed inhalers/doses about 4 times since meeting her last year and now I'm on a low dose of Asmanex and haven't used albuterol in probably 4 months+

    Weight loss in general to put less strain on your body will help, but really cardio is what's going to help your lungs, and it's also what triggers your asthma so it's a catch 22. It's why the medicine is so important for you to make real advances.

    http://food.ndtv.com/health/world-asthma-day-cardio-exercise-can-prevent-severe-asthma-attacks-760401 goes a little bit into why exercise helps reduce asthma symptoms. And for what it's worth, my anecdotal evidence tells me that doing 30-50 minutes of fairly high intensity (breathing very hard and sweating a fair bit) cardio on the elliptical has improved my symptoms greatly. With my Asmanex I rarely ever feel chest tightness at all and my doctor thinks I'll be able to go off the Asmanex next year.
  • beastier
    beastier Posts: 1,908 Member
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    Lifetime Asthma sufferer here - you can be as fit as you like but asthma will hold you back severely. Though in my experience it's a case of having very limited lung capacity to take a breath rather than actual pain.

    I'm assuming your doctor had issued you with a blue ventolin inhaler which is the reliever to help after asthma had already kicked in. It certainly helps but it is very much a "there & then" treatment of the symptoms.

    If you feel you are genuinely suffering with asthma then push back to your doctor for a proper assessment (they may even have a dedicated asthma nurse) & they will assess your peak flow & talk to you about what/when it's induced.

    If they concur that youre a sufferer then they will likely issue you with some level of maintenance dose of a preventer inhaler - this should really kill the problem for you.

    I've suffered with asthma since birth but through ignorance, etc never used preventive inhalers until my early 20s - I'd go as far as saying this was life changing.

    Go get yourself properly checked out :-)
  • CatherineHillin
    CatherineHillin Posts: 66 Member
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    You guys are so sweet and so helpful! Thank you! My doctor did try advair, but it is an immonosuppressant and it made me really really sick, so I quit that and just decided to stick with the albuterol rescue inhaler. I have been with this doctor for three years now, mind, and he has only just decided that it was EIB the whole time (I am very grumpy about this). do you guys really think there are other medicines that could help?

    I try to do the inhaler 30 minutes or so before I exercise. I've been walking a lot lately for my job, and trying a couple different exercises - I really like yoga but it's obviously not very intensive. I also try elliptical and treadmill but I can only do ten minutes; I think I need to build up.

    It makes perfect sense that a lot of the crappy feeling from working out is just me being out of shape, it's not really a feeling I'm used to! The hardest part is that my old TKD trainer used to push me really hard to keep up with the group and it made my lungs a lot stronger, and now I can't find anything like that for myself, the studios around me are either too easy or the teachers are crazy! It's a journey I guess >.< thanks everyone for the support!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    I did singulair for a while, too. It was very helpful. I preferred it to a daily inhaler I was using prior to that, since the inhaler tasted really bad.

    If you're using only one puff/dose, you may wish to read your inhaler instructions or check with your doctor to see if you can use two. You may just need to wait about five minutes between doses. I found I got much better results when I added the second puff

    Personally, I would play with the timing of that first puff - maybe come in a bit closer like the 20-30 minute window prior to exercise, in case that affects your results. It's a bit of a balancing game, not too close to exercise start time but not too far either

    Check out Les Mills BodyCombat videos online to see if it's a workout that may interest you. I prefer attending the classes in person, though they do have videos for sale. It's not a contact exercise but there's punching and kicking, so. :)
  • CatherineHillin
    CatherineHillin Posts: 66 Member
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    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    I did singulair for a while, too. It was very helpful. I preferred it to a daily inhaler I was using prior to that, since the inhaler tasted really bad.

    If you're using only one puff/dose, you may wish to read your inhaler instructions or check with your doctor to see if you can use two. You may just need to wait about five minutes between doses. I found I got much better results when I added the second puff

    Personally, I would play with the timing of that first puff - maybe come in a bit closer like the 20-30 minute window prior to exercise, in case that affects your results. It's a bit of a balancing game, not too close to exercise start time but not too far either

    Check out Les Mills BodyCombat videos online to see if it's a workout that may interest you. I prefer attending the classes in person, though they do have videos for sale. It's not a contact exercise but there's punching and kicking, so. :)

    That sounds really fun! I will check that out! And I guess I should go back to my doctor and try to get something new :)
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    CatherineHillin wrote: »
    You guys are so sweet and so helpful! Thank you! My doctor did try advair, but it is an immonosuppressant and it made me really really sick, so I quit that and just decided to stick with the albuterol rescue inhaler. I have been with this doctor for three years now, mind, and he has only just decided that it was EIB the whole time (I am very grumpy about this). do you guys really think there are other medicines that could help?

    I try to do the inhaler 30 minutes or so before I exercise. I've been walking a lot lately for my job, and trying a couple different exercises - I really like yoga but it's obviously not very intensive. I also try elliptical and treadmill but I can only do ten minutes; I think I need to build up.

    It makes perfect sense that a lot of the crappy feeling from working out is just me being out of shape, it's not really a feeling I'm used to! The hardest part is that my old TKD trainer used to push me really hard to keep up with the group and it made my lungs a lot stronger, and now I can't find anything like that for myself, the studios around me are either too easy or the teachers are crazy! It's a journey I guess >.< thanks everyone for the support!

    Find a pulmonologist. If the person currently treating you claims to be one, then honestly, he needs to be reported if he is trying to treat you with a rescue inhaler. Unless you mean this is not what he advised but you are not following the initial prescription? Did he actually tell you that inhaled steroids are immunosuppressant, or was this a decision you made to stop?
    You do not treat asthma with rescue inhalers of albuterol. Of course there are meds out there, to make you feel better and be symptom free long term and there are several options. Get an appointment with a new dr. being properly medicated will change your life completely.

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