Working out with asthma - advice?

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bobafit
bobafit Posts: 6
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey there. I was hoping for some advice on working out with Asthma. I was diagnosed at around age 5 and I am now 25 and cardio has always been next to impossible for me. Even swimming can bring on an attack and using my fast acting inhaler so much is a pain. Does anyone out there with asthma have any suggestions on workouts or exercises for people with asthma that are effective!

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  • litatura
    litatura Posts: 569 Member
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    I have asthma and the better shape I'm in and the more cardio I do, the less symptomatic I am. I can't even remember the last time I had to take my fast-acting inhaler and I'm a runner. It sounds to me like you don't have well-controlled asthma. Are you on a daily inhaler or do you just take your puffer when you have an attack?
  • gamehen2
    gamehen2 Posts: 45 Member
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    I have very mild, non life-threatening, asthma but...

    ...at first it was pretty painful. I would always take a hit before I even started working out which seemed to alleviate some of the symptoms, and then just took it slow. The more consistent I've been working out, the better it has gotten; to the point that I now rarely, if ever, need my inhaler at all.
  • georgina1970
    georgina1970 Posts: 333 Member
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    Hi, I'm an Asthma Nurse - recommendations are: if you need to use your blue reliever inhaler (known as ventolin, salbutamol or bricanyl in my neck of the woods) more than 2x in any week, or are waking at night with symptoms, then you should be on an orange/brown preventer inhaler (Flixotide, Pulmicort, etc.)
    Reliever (blue) inhalers only relax your bronchial muscles. Preventer inhalers reduce inflammation, mucous production and sensitivity to triggers - meaning that you won't react as badly when you come in contact with your triggers. I suggest you see your doctor for an asthma review to discuss.
    Athmatics should spend more time warming up prior to hard exercise as well - recommend 10-15min low-moderate intensity before hitting it hard.
    Hope this helps.
  • Symonep
    Symonep Posts: 181 Member
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    I think some swimming would definitely help. This was recommended to us by many asthma specialists when my eldest was young and we were being admitted to hospital every 6 months or so.
  • schustc
    schustc Posts: 428 Member
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    I take the daily 2 x pulmicort and it controls my asthma 99% of the time. My Dr told me that using the rescue inhalers 15 minutes before a heavy workout can prevent symptoms if u are highly symptomatic. Good luck!
  • upmihah
    upmihah Posts: 17 Member
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    It's definitely all a balancing act. I have found that using preventatives is the only way to go. Usually if I have an attack now, it's because I had more than one trigger at the same time. So I decided to try a new wine a while ago, and all of a sudden I had problems doing cardio because that was too many triggers for the meds to deal with. It is difficult to track down what exactly is triggering sometimes, I only figured that one out when i bought another bottle and the same problem happened again.
  • bobafit
    bobafit Posts: 6
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    Thank you all so much for the advice. I haven't been on a preventative inhaler in years but I'll go speak to my doctor about attempting to get my asthma back under control. I use my rescue inhaler far more than I realize. And thanks to those who made suggestions about how to make work outs easier! I appreciate the responses!

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