Excercise Induced Asthma- Any Running PUD's out there?
Question:
My point is not that it won’t happen, but why should I get worried over something that is probably a much smaller risk than many other dangers in my life? – that *doesn’t* mean people don’t die of asthma, just that I will not allow you to add extra worries to my life through what is getting close to emotional blackmail.
But you *said* you’d never heard of anyone dying of asthma. I corrected that misapprehension. My, touchy aren’t we! Perhaps asthma is not nearly the biggest problem in your life. — Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/304B Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150
Response:
How common? Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road? How is that relevant? You are at risk; not acknowledging and lowering that risk is silly. However, as an asthmatic, your population probability of dying in any given year is ~0.04%. Your population probability of being killed in ANY sort of motor-vehicle accident in any given year is ~0.02%.
Is that an average figure for all asthmatics (including the people who are wheezing away every day) or for SOMEONE WHO GETS ONE MILD ATTACK A YEAR? Presumably the odds are *much* *much* less in my case. Which means they are significantly less than being killed in a traffic accident. So, again, why should I worry? Is anyone listening to what I am saying? Andrew Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
Response:
Actually you can die. Last year a baseball player in the Colorado
[...] quoting, in the message: [...] (My point is not that it won’t happen, but why should I get worried over something that is probably a much smaller risk than many other dangers in my life? – that *doesn’t* mean people don’t die of asthma, just that I will not allow you to add extra worries to my life through what is getting close to emotional blackmail).
[...] ‘nuf said? Andrew http://www.andrewcooke.free-online.co.uk/index.html Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
Response:
My point is not that it won’t happen, but why should I get worried over something that is probably a much smaller risk than many other dangers in my life? – that *doesn’t* mean people don’t die of asthma, just that I will not allow you to add extra worries to my life through what is getting close to emotional blackmail. Curiously enough, that paragraph was in my original message but you didn’t bother to quote it. Please can you read the whole message before replying, or are taking what I say out of context on purpose? In my original post I pointed out that I have a *mild* case of asthma about once a year. Your post contains no evidence to demonstrate why I should be worried about that – certainly nothing to justify putting me in the same bracket as people dying. Can you not see what (I assume well-meaning) extreme advice is doing? For goodness sake – once a year, and mild when it happens! Is everyone so molly-coddled that they can’t bear to see someone take control of their own life and have to start telling them how they will die unless they behave in the same the way as they do? When *I* feel I need to see a doctor, I see one. I certainly do not feel that such a slight problem is worth the effort. Of course, if someone posts evidence to the contrary, I will listen to reason, but not to vague platitudes. Andrew – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – How common? I’ve never known anyone die from asthma (compared with, for example, heavy smoker dying of no lung left, various relatives from old age/pneumonia/cancer, someone from road accident). Why is it a significant risk I should be bothered with? Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road? It is quite possible to die from asthma! I don’t know any statistics on this, but I do know that many asthmatics carry a "rescue inhaler," and wouldn’t dream of leaving home without it. I’ve had mild asthmatic attacks myself. Absolutely terrifying. As always, your doctor knows best when it comes to the old bod’. Talk to him or her. —
Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/304B Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150
http://barnyard.syr.edu/~tmc Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
Response:
Actually you can die. Last year a baseball player in the Colorado Rockies organization was in Arizona and died from an asthma attack. It does happen, maybe not as often as being hit by a car but it can happen. you could check the CDC website for mortality in the US. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – How common? I’ve never known anyone die from asthma (compared with, for example, heavy smoker dying of no lung left, various relatives from old age/pneumonia/cancer, someone from road accident). Why is it a significant risk I should be bothered with? Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road? Curious, Andrew (My point is not that it won’t happen, but why should I get worried over something that is probably a much smaller risk than many other dangers in my life? – that *doesn’t* mean people don’t die of asthma, just that I will not allow you to add extra worries to my life through what is getting close to emotional blackmail). I’m no doctor, but I run and have very mild (maybe once a year or so) (what I presume to be) asthma. Here’s my experience, to see if it helps any: I only have "asthma" whan I am hot and tired – it is normally after exercise rather than during it. I haven’t noticed any strange sounds, but it feels as though if I breath too hard I will cough/choke (a strange feeling, difficult to describe – as thought your throat/chest is closing up). Sucking a sweet and taking things easy helps – getting scared and breathing more quickly does not! I’ve never bothered seeing a doctor or getting medication as it is so infrequent. It is a bit worrying when it happens, but after a couple of times you know that all you have to do is keep calm and it will go away (normally it gets a lot better in a few minutes and clears completely overnight). You really, really need to see a doctor about this. An unfortunately all too common scenario in adult asthma is the man who drops over dead in the middle of strenuous exercise because his mild asthma suddenly decided to up the stakes. Chris Owens Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
Response:
How common?
Approximately 5,500 deaths a year; the vast majority completely preventable. Why is it a significant risk I should be bothered with?
Because it is preventable, and you are in the at-risk population. Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road?
How is that relevant? You are at risk; not acknowledging and lowering that risk is silly. However, as an asthmatic, your population probability of dying in any given year is ~0.04%. Your population probability of being killed in ANY sort of motor-vehicle accident in any given year is ~0.02%. So, your probability of dying of asthma is more than twice that of your probability of being killed crossing the road. It’s about five times the probability of your being murdered. Chris Owens
Response:
Did you by any chance get asthma from the chlorine in the water?
It is, I suppose, possible that I was reacting to the chlorine or another chemical in the water. I had never reacted to chlorine, etc. during my many years of swimming, nor had such a reaction been a part of my prior asthma symtoms. | This was particularly bothersome to me since my form of asthma does NOT | involve trouble getting air, ever. But you just said you experienced shortness of breath.
Yes, I did experience shortness of breath. However, as mentioned above, shortness of breath has never been an asthma problem for me. I suffer from cough-variant asthma, and my usual and sometimes only asthma symptom is severe, persistent, and often out-of-control coughing. I did not experience any coughing during this swimming situation. The only reason why you could stop taking medicine and not getting into trouble is that your asthma couldn’t have been very serious to begin with. I think it’s very, very important not to give the impression that asthmatics should or can experiment with stopping their medication without consulting a doctor.
In general, you are right. Since this shortness of breath was maybe related to the swimming, I figured what is the worst that could happen? I stop the medicine, the "exercise-induced asthma" returns, and I then know that the medicine was helping. Since, upon stopping the medicine, the symptom didn’t return, well….. There is absolutely no reason why anybody should "go with your instincts" when medicines and potentially serious illnesses are involved.
I disagree. While I do agree that you should normally consult with your doctor, I also know that doctors often prescribe medicines which are not only ineffective for the symptom for which they were prescribed, but which can actually make things worse and/or add new, bad symptoms. In the several times when I have discontinued a medicine on my own, I have never suffered deleterious effects, and have sometimes improved. I’m aware that you’re only talking about your own experiences and what has worked for you. I’m not trying to flame you or anything but I just thought that I should point out that not all asthmatics should do what you’ve done.
I understand, and no offense taken. Naturally, everyone’s story here is precisely that — his/her individual story which may not be relevant to anyone else. Very little of what is posted here is of much use to me, since my form of asthma (according to every single specialist I have ever seen for it) is fairly atypical. Regarding the shortness of breath and swimming, I may never know what went on there. With any luck, it will never recur. (I am 47 now, had never experienced such a reaction before, and only experienced it for a period of several weeks. Who knows, maybe I had some undiagnosed virus which was messing me up.)
Response:
Speaking of asthma – according to some research (can’t vouch for numbers) the percentage of elite athletes (runners, bikers etc) having excercise-induced asthma is huge, something like 40%. Some researched got alarmed, but someone else offered a very simple explanation – (again, not sure how far from the truth it is) – having asthma allows the athlete to legally use a variety of drugs, some banned as performance-enhaancers. Therefore by claiming to doctor you have asthma, atheletes are able to legally take drugs and get away with it. Got me kind of suspicios of all those "asthma-fighting" athletes. Remember during Women’s World Cup, how a player on US team used to inhale something a few times during the game, and commentators said she had asthma? Did she really? I wonder if someone else can provide more information from medical side of this story… Oleg
:For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a : 25 :year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally :sedentary) for about a year now. : <snip 
Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to :prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I :closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was :full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it :really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, : but :always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was :so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the :tubes… : <snip :Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night :Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card :system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in :college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal :basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some : damage :to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? : First, as someone who has asthma but has almost none of the "typical" : symptoms of asthma, all I can say is that it is possible to have certain : forms of asthma without fitting the "typical" profile. : In re the smoking, I have asthma and I have never smoked cigarettes, other : than a very small amount of the usual trying someone else’s cigs while in : college. Very infrequent. Probably less than a pack in my total lifetime. : More likely less than a half a pack. Don’t beat yourself up over any : smoking you did — even if it did contribute to your current condition, : you’ll probably never know for sure, one way or another. Plenty of : non-smokers get asthma, and not all smokers get asthma. One of those "life : isn’t fair" deals. : I don’t run and have never been a runner. However, I do swim laps regularly : for exercise — only a half a mile at least three times a week, sometimes : more. About a year or so ago, I began experiencing shortness of breath a : little while into my swimming — so much so that I had to stop swimming and : could get my breath back by treading water for a bit. Still, I often had to : slow my pace thereafter. : This was particularly bothersome to me since my form of asthma does NOT : involve trouble getting air, ever. (Believe me, there is such a form.) I : mentioned this to my new pulmonologist, who does not know me well and had : just taken over for my former pulmonologist, who retired. He said, : tentatively, exercise-induced asthma, and gave me a bronchodilator (inhaler) : to take 15 minutes before beginning swimming. In addition, a : once-a-day-at-bedtime bronchodilator pill to take. I wish I could remember : the names — they’ll probably come to me as soon as I post this. : I’m not wild about taking any new medicine, as I’m sure many of you aren’t. : After the visit to the doc and the new meds, I was having mixed results with : the swimming, but was, in general, having an easier time. After a week or : two of this, I decided to back off the medicine and see what happened. In : short — nothing. I was back to normal breathing and swimming in no time : flat, and have not had a single recurrence of the problem since and haven’t : even considered taking the meds. Why should I? : Sometimes screwed up things happen in our bodies. Sometimes they go away as : mysteriously as they appeared. It pays to have things checked out by a : qualified doc. But it also pays, sometimes, to go with your instincts. : I hope some of what I spoke to is of some help to you. — Oleg
Response:
They may think the meds (Albuterol, etc) help but several studies have shown that EIB meds do not help athletes with normal lung function. Studies have been done in extreme conditions such as subzero (C) XC skiing which normally will induced bronchospasm if you got it. Also, the earliest date of data gathering was 1984 Summer Olympic team where the surprising large numbers came up and the testing showed EIB (hard to fool a pulmonary test when the person does not know what you are looking for and when several buddies are around checking on your vital capacity–good competition). – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Speaking of asthma – according to some research (can’t vouch for numbers) the percentage of elite athletes (runners, bikers etc) having excercise-induced asthma is huge, something like 40%. Some researched got alarmed, but someone else offered a very simple explanation – (again, not sure how far from the truth it is) – having asthma allows the athlete to legally use a variety of drugs, some banned as performance-enhaancers. Therefore by claiming to doctor you have asthma, atheletes are able to legally take drugs and get away with it. Got me kind of suspicios of all those "asthma-fighting" athletes. Remember during Women’s World Cup, how a player on US team used to inhale something a few times during the game, and commentators said she had asthma? Did she really? I wonder if someone else can provide more information from medical side of this story… Oleg :For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a : 25 :year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally :sedentary) for about a year now. : <snip Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to :prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I :closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was :full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it :really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, : but :always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was :so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the :tubes… : <snip :Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night :Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card :system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in :college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal :basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some : damage :to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? : First, as someone who has asthma but has almost none of the "typical" : symptoms of asthma, all I can say is that it is possible to have certain : forms of asthma without fitting the "typical" profile. : In re the smoking, I have asthma and I have never smoked cigarettes, other : than a very small amount of the usual trying someone else’s cigs while in : college. Very infrequent. Probably less than a pack in my total lifetime. : More likely less than a half a pack. Don’t beat yourself up over any : smoking you did — even if it did contribute to your current condition, : you’ll probably never know for sure, one way or another. Plenty of : non-smokers get asthma, and not all smokers get asthma. One of those "life : isn’t fair" deals. : I don’t run and have never been a runner. However, I do swim laps regularly : for exercise — only a half a mile at least three times a week, sometimes : more. About a year or so ago, I began experiencing shortness of breath a : little while into my swimming — so much so that I had to stop swimming and : could get my breath back by treading water for a bit. Still, I often had to : slow my pace thereafter. : This was particularly bothersome to me since my form of asthma does NOT : involve trouble getting air, ever. (Believe me, there is such a form.) I : mentioned this to my new pulmonologist, who does not know me well and had : just taken over for my former pulmonologist, who retired. He said, : tentatively, exercise-induced asthma, and gave me a bronchodilator (inhaler) : to take 15 minutes before beginning swimming. In addition, a : once-a-day-at-bedtime bronchodilator pill to take. I wish I could remember : the names — they’ll probably come to me as soon as I post this. : I’m not wild about taking any new medicine, as I’m sure many of you aren’t. : After the visit to the doc and the new meds, I was having mixed results with : the swimming, but was, in general, having an easier time. After a week or : two of this, I decided to back off the medicine and see what happened. In : short — nothing. I was back to normal breathing and swimming in no time : flat, and have not had a single recurrence of the problem since and haven’t : even considered taking the meds. Why should I? : Sometimes screwed up things happen in our bodies. Sometimes they go away as : mysteriously as they appeared. It pays to have things checked out by a : qualified doc. But it also pays, sometimes, to go with your instincts. : I hope some of what I spoke to is of some help to you. — Oleg
Response:
Speaking of asthma – according to some research (can’t vouch for numbers) the percentage of elite athletes (runners, bikers etc) having excercise-induced asthma is huge, something like 40%. Some researched got alarmed, but someone else offered a very simple explanation – (again, not sure how far from the truth it is) – having asthma allows the athlete to legally use a variety of drugs, some banned as performance-enhaancers. Therefore by claiming to doctor you have asthma, atheletes are able to legally take drugs and get away with it. Got me kind of suspicios of all those "asthma-fighting" athletes. Remember during Women’s World Cup, how a player on US team used to inhale something a few times during the game, and commentators said she had asthma? Did she really? I wonder if someone else can provide more information from medical side of this story…
Well, asthma drugs DON’T act as performance enhancers in non-asthmatics, so that theory just bought the big one. The two most common, and plausible, explanations for the high percentage of asthmatic high-performance athletes are: 1. Athletes have asthma at the same rate as the general population. The high-performance athlete is more likely to be symptomatic precisely because s/he is high-performance. A lower level of physical exertion might not call forth asthma symptoms. 2. Parents are encouraged to get asthmatic children involved in sports, since the enhancement of lung development caused by regular exercise is beneficial. Thus, athletes are pre-selected to have a high percentage of asthmatics. Chris Owens
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Hal, I run at least 5 miles a day, and 20 on Sunday’s and am training for the Cape Cod Marathon in October…and I’ve got excercised induced Asthma. I take two puffs of Albuterol prior to all my runs, and it lasts me for several hours. Prior to that, I used to suffer with the wheezing you described, even when I was only running 2 miles every other day! I’m also use Aerobid (Flunisolide) which is a steroid…each morning and Serevent (Salmeterol) each evening before bed. I’ve lost 75 pounds since I started running last January, and my asthma is very much under control. I carry the Albuterol with me on long runs…to help my performance. I can’t remember the last time I had a wheezing session! One other note: I sometimes find that allergies bother me, so I take Claritin (Loratadine) on days that the pollen and mold count is high. That seems to solve that problem! Good luck – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a 25 year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally sedentary) for about a year now. In college, and some time after I would have my seasonal cycles of 3, 3 milers a week but have been out of the habit for at least a year now. At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I have begun training for the Physical Readiness test. I’ve actually begun running with the local University ROTC program to get in shape for OCS (Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes… I can’t say that I felt it limited my performance, although it probably did- the guy I was sprinting against had some long legs, and pulled ahead of me no problem, but was this because I was working so hard trying to get O2? I have never had an Asthma attack, but this has happened to me once before from a hard run, but I never really gave it any thought- Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? Would it hurt if I took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the problem? I have only just begun getting back into the running routine, and find that it doesn’t really happen when I am on longer "jogs" (this morning we ran 3 miles and it was fine because I kept a steady pace the whole time, although I still wasn’t happy with my time… Any input from Medical Professionals, or just runners with asthma would be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any sites that may have more info on the topic that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Hal Wilkerson
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Speaking of asthma – according to some research (can’t vouch for numbers) the percentage of elite athletes (runners, bikers etc) having excercise-induced asthma is huge, something like 40%. Some researched got alarmed, but someone else offered a very simple explanation – (again, not sure how far from the truth it is) – having asthma allows the athlete to legally use a variety of drugs, some banned as performance-enhaancers. Therefore by claiming to doctor you have asthma, atheletes are able to legally take drugs and get away with it. Got me kind of suspicios of all those "asthma-fighting" athletes. Remember during Women’s World Cup, how a player on US team used to inhale something a few times during the game, and commentators said she had asthma? Did she really? I wonder if someone else can provide more information from medical side of this story… Oleg
couple of other likely explanations…firstly the more athletic your life style the more likely you are to get your exercise induced asthma diagnosed…especially if you are a good enough athlete for fairly small changes in your breathing to affect your performance also, from singing rather than sport, the natural breath control I’ve learned to stay alive helped me learn formal breath control for voice production…I assume there is a similar effect going on with sport…I feel so with my own experience of swimming, though on moving to the UK age 10 I gave up serious swimming due to the difficulty of getting to a pool incidentally a lot of singers, actors and dancers are also asthmatic, I have no figures for this, but certainly in my experience it’s higher than the average for the rest of the population eric
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explanation – (again, not sure how far from the truth it is) – having asthma allows the athlete to legally use a variety of drugs, some banned as performance-enhaancers. Therefore by claiming to doctor you have asthma, atheletes are able to legally take drugs and get away with it. Got me kind of suspicios of all those "asthma-fighting" athletes. Remember during Women’s World Cup, how a player on US team used
I know it’s sometimes way more interesting to jump to these types of conclusions, but there are certainly more non-cheating-related explanations. – Possibly the instances of asthma in the general population is the same, making the athletic population simply representitive. – I know that I got into athletics, and specifically running, to help improve my asthma. From reading this newsgroup, I know I’m not the only one. Maybe the high percentage is just a result of more asthmatics getting into athletics. I’m not claiming to know why the percentage is so high, but personally I find it offensive that the first explanation offered is "well, maybe they’re cheating!". I use my medication to help even the field, and I’d leave it at home in a second if I could. The last thing I want is somebody giving me the evil-eye because in their mind I’m faking the gasping so I could get a nice shot of that kick-ass performance enhancing "medication". Triumph is ahead – Belief is Essential – Courage is Fuel Fear is Irrelevant – Strength is Within – Weakness is Temporary Pride is Power – Boston is Forever (Adidas, Boston’99)
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| I am a 25 | year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally | sedentary) for about a year now | At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I | have begun training for the Physical Readiness test | … and I found myself WHEEZING as I | closed on the end of the run | Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night | Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card | system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" I think there is a good chance that you may have (mild) asthma. However, you should absolutely get a proper diagnosis of your condition. Preferably you should visit a specialist rather than a GP. For the exercise test (to diagnose asthma) it’s a big advantage if you can run on a treadmill rather than riding a stationary bicycle – if you’re not a cyclist you’ll get a higher pulse and stress on your system with a treadmill. Also, if you get more asthma when it’s cold, you should be breathing cold air (0 degrees F for instance) from a tank. For several years I wasn’t properly diagnosed due to incorrect methods resulting in inadequate treatment so this is important. | Would it hurt if I | took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the | problem? If running or being physically active otherwise is important for you, I think there is a good chance your doctor will prescribe daily medication based on your diagnosis. I’m taking Flutide and Oxis twice each day for EIA but it goes without saying that your doctor will decide what type of medicines you should take. Asthma medicines today have less chance of serious side effects than before so personally I’m not afraid of taking them. | While in | college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal | basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage | to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? I very much doubt that 6 months of smoking could have done any real damage to your lungs that wouldn’t heal itself within a short period of time. I’m not a doctor though so ask a professional if you want an accurate answer. I too, like Ellis, will recommend http://www.runnersworld.com/injuries/asthma.html for tips on how to minimize asthma when you’re running. In the article it is stated that you should "wrap a scarf over your mouth when running in cold weather" but if cold weather is a big problem you should get a proper thermal mask instead. You should also try to run at or under the "threshold of asthma" to minimize your problems but this takes quite a bit of practise. Good luck! — Best regards, Ove Vik-Mo http://www.ove.cx/
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How common? I’ve never known anyone die from asthma (compared with, for example, heavy smoker dying of no lung left, various relatives from old age/pneumonia/cancer, someone from road accident). Why is it a significant risk I should be bothered with? Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road?
It is quite possible to die from asthma! I don’t know any statistics on this, but I do know that many asthmatics carry a "rescue inhaler," and wouldn’t dream of leaving home without it. I’ve had mild asthmatic attacks myself. Absolutely terrifying. As always, your doctor knows best when it comes to the old bod’. Talk to him or her. — Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/304B Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150
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How common? I’ve never known anyone die from asthma (compared with, for example, heavy smoker dying of no lung left, various relatives from old age/pneumonia/cancer, someone from road accident). Why is it a significant risk I should be bothered with? Do you even know what the risk is compared to being knocked over while I cross the road? Curious, Andrew (My point is not that it won’t happen, but why should I get worried over something that is probably a much smaller risk than many other dangers in my life? – that *doesn’t* mean people don’t die of asthma, just that I will not allow you to add extra worries to my life through what is getting close to emotional blackmail). – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m no doctor, but I run and have very mild (maybe once a year or so) (what I presume to be) asthma. Here’s my experience, to see if it helps any: I only have "asthma" whan I am hot and tired – it is normally after exercise rather than during it. I haven’t noticed any strange sounds, but it feels as though if I breath too hard I will cough/choke (a strange feeling, difficult to describe – as thought your throat/chest is closing up). Sucking a sweet and taking things easy helps – getting scared and breathing more quickly does not! I’ve never bothered seeing a doctor or getting medication as it is so infrequent. It is a bit worrying when it happens, but after a couple of times you know that all you have to do is keep calm and it will go away (normally it gets a lot better in a few minutes and clears completely overnight). You really, really need to see a doctor about this. An unfortunately all too common scenario in adult asthma is the man who drops over dead in the middle of strenuous exercise because his mild asthma suddenly decided to up the stakes. Chris Owens
Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
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Hi, I’m no doctor, but I run and have very mild (maybe once a year or so) (what I presume to be) asthma. Here’s my experience, to see if it helps any: I only have "asthma" whan I am hot and tired – it is normally after exercise rather than during it. I haven’t noticed any strange sounds, but it feels as though if I breath too hard I will cough/choke (a strange feeling, difficult to describe – as thought your throat/chest is closing up). Sucking a sweet and taking things easy helps – getting scared and breathing more quickly does not! I’ve never bothered seeing a doctor or getting medication as it is so infrequent. It is a bit worrying when it happens, but after a couple of times you know that all you have to do is keep calm and it will go away (normally it gets a lot better in a few minutes and clears completely overnight). Your description struck me as odd because you only complain that you are noisy and having a hard time running. That sounds more like just being out of shape rather than what I have felt (for me the difference is that if I run too hard I simply have to stop and I will get my breath back, but when I have asthma it is not possible to breath as strongly as I would like, so I end up trying to balance not breathing enough with not breathing too hard in an attempt to find an equilibrium…). But of course, this is not a medical opinion! Andrew PS Incidentally, a cousin of mine started cycling after being recommended to do so by a doctor to help his asthma (ordinary asthma, not exercise induced, I presume). Anyway, he ended up at the Olympics! Make what you will of that… [...] – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes… I can’t say that I felt it limited my performance, although it probably did- the guy I was sprinting against had some long legs, and pulled ahead of me no problem, but was this because I was working so hard trying to get O2? I have never had an Asthma attack, but this has happened to me once before from a hard run, but I never really gave it any thought-
Share what you know. Learn what you don’t.
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’m no doctor, but I run and have very mild (maybe once a year or so) (what I presume to be) asthma. Here’s my experience, to see if it helps any: I only have "asthma" whan I am hot and tired – it is normally after exercise rather than during it. I haven’t noticed any strange sounds, but it feels as though if I breath too hard I will cough/choke (a strange feeling, difficult to describe – as thought your throat/chest is closing up). Sucking a sweet and taking things easy helps – getting scared and breathing more quickly does not! I’ve never bothered seeing a doctor or getting medication as it is so infrequent. It is a bit worrying when it happens, but after a couple of times you know that all you have to do is keep calm and it will go away (normally it gets a lot better in a few minutes and clears completely overnight).
You really, really need to see a doctor about this. An unfortunately all too common scenario in adult asthma is the man who drops over dead in the middle of strenuous exercise because his mild asthma suddenly decided to up the stakes. Chris Owens
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| I don’t run and have never been a runner. However, I do swim laps regularly | for exercise About a year or so ago, I began experiencing shortness of breath a | little while into my swimming Did you by any chance get asthma from the chlorine in the water? I heard about some local swimmers that thought they got asthma that way. | This was particularly bothersome to me since my form of asthma does NOT | involve trouble getting air, ever. (Believe me, there is such a form.) But you just said you experienced shortness of breath. If this shortness of breath wasn’t a result of trouble breathing out (and thus not getting enough air) could it then have been asthma? What causes the shortness of breath you experience then? | I’m not wild about taking any new medicine, as I’m sure many of you aren’t. | After the visit to the doc and the new meds, I was having mixed results with | the swimming, but was, in general, having an easier time. After a week or | two of this, I decided to back off the medicine and see what happened. In | short — nothing. I was back to normal breathing and swimming in no time | flat, and have not had a single recurrence of the problem since and haven’t | even considered taking the meds. Why should I? | | Sometimes screwed up things happen in our bodies. Sometimes they go away as | mysteriously as they appeared. It pays to have things checked out by a | qualified doc. But it also pays, sometimes, to go with your instincts. The only reason why you could stop taking medicine and not getting into trouble is that your asthma couldn’t have been very serious to begin with. I think it’s very, very important not to give the impression that asthmatics should or can experiment with stopping their medication without consulting a doctor. There is absolutely no reason why anybody should "go with your instincts" when medicines and potentially serious illnesses are involved. To speak from my own experience I can easily notice that my asthma has worsened when running if I miss only one of my two daily doses of medicine. I’m also quite sure that there are people with a lot more asthma than me in both the rec.running and the alt.support.asthma newsgroups; people that would have suffered a great deal more if they stopped taking medicines. I’m aware that you’re only talking about your own experiences and what has worked for you. I’m not trying to flame you or anything but I just thought that I should point out that not all asthmatics should do what you’ve done. — Regards, Ove Vik-Mo http://www.ove.cx/
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Just a thought … and I’m not asthmatic so I can’t vouch for it … but some people I know claim great things for the Buteyko method for lessening the effects of asthma, bronochitis etc. It’s based on the theory that the trouble’s caused by hyperventilation, and the method teaches you to breathe <<less. Sounds daft, but there’s theory behind it to do with carbon dioxide requirements. A search on the Web will come up with loads of links if you’re interested. As I say, I make no claims …. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hal, I run at least 5 miles a day, and 20 on Sunday’s and am training for the Cape Cod Marathon in October…and I’ve got excercised induced Asthma. I take two puffs of Albuterol prior to all my runs, and it lasts me for several hours. Prior to that, I used to suffer with the wheezing you described, even when I was only running 2 miles every other day! I’m also use Aerobid (Flunisolide) which is a steroid…each morning and Serevent (Salmeterol) each evening before bed.
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For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a 25 year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally sedentary) for about a year now.
<snip (Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes…
<snip Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition?
First, as someone who has asthma but has almost none of the "typical" symptoms of asthma, all I can say is that it is possible to have certain forms of asthma without fitting the "typical" profile. In re the smoking, I have asthma and I have never smoked cigarettes, other than a very small amount of the usual trying someone else’s cigs while in college. Very infrequent. Probably less than a pack in my total lifetime. More likely less than a half a pack. Don’t beat yourself up over any smoking you did — even if it did contribute to your current condition, you’ll probably never know for sure, one way or another. Plenty of non-smokers get asthma, and not all smokers get asthma. One of those "life isn’t fair" deals. I don’t run and have never been a runner. However, I do swim laps regularly for exercise — only a half a mile at least three times a week, sometimes more. About a year or so ago, I began experiencing shortness of breath a little while into my swimming — so much so that I had to stop swimming and could get my breath back by treading water for a bit. Still, I often had to slow my pace thereafter. This was particularly bothersome to me since my form of asthma does NOT involve trouble getting air, ever. (Believe me, there is such a form.) I mentioned this to my new pulmonologist, who does not know me well and had just taken over for my former pulmonologist, who retired. He said, tentatively, exercise-induced asthma, and gave me a bronchodilator (inhaler) to take 15 minutes before beginning swimming. In addition, a once-a-day-at-bedtime bronchodilator pill to take. I wish I could remember the names — they’ll probably come to me as soon as I post this. I’m not wild about taking any new medicine, as I’m sure many of you aren’t. After the visit to the doc and the new meds, I was having mixed results with the swimming, but was, in general, having an easier time. After a week or two of this, I decided to back off the medicine and see what happened. In short — nothing. I was back to normal breathing and swimming in no time flat, and have not had a single recurrence of the problem since and haven’t even considered taking the meds. Why should I? Sometimes screwed up things happen in our bodies. Sometimes they go away as mysteriously as they appeared. It pays to have things checked out by a qualified doc. But it also pays, sometimes, to go with your instincts. I hope some of what I spoke to is of some help to you.
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Agree with Ove about gettting an exercise challenge test. However, if the meds will depend on your situation. I (and several athletes I work with) have EIB and only take the inhaler before exercise. I even skip it on some days (low intensity days). – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – | I am a 25 | year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally | sedentary) for about a year now | At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I | have begun training for the Physical Readiness test | … and I found myself WHEEZING as I | closed on the end of the run | Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night | Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card | system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" I think there is a good chance that you may have (mild) asthma. However, you should absolutely get a proper diagnosis of your condition. Preferably you should visit a specialist rather than a GP. For the exercise test (to diagnose asthma) it’s a big advantage if you can run on a treadmill rather than riding a stationary bicycle – if you’re not a cyclist you’ll get a higher pulse and stress on your system with a treadmill. Also, if you get more asthma when it’s cold, you should be breathing cold air (0 degrees F for instance) from a tank. For several years I wasn’t properly diagnosed due to incorrect methods resulting in inadequate treatment so this is important. | Would it hurt if I | took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the | problem? If running or being physically active otherwise is important for you, I think there is a good chance your doctor will prescribe daily medication based on your diagnosis. I’m taking Flutide and Oxis twice each day for EIA but it goes without saying that your doctor will decide what type of medicines you should take. Asthma medicines today have less chance of serious side effects than before so personally I’m not afraid of taking them. | While in | college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal | basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage | to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? I very much doubt that 6 months of smoking could have done any real damage to your lungs that wouldn’t heal itself within a short period of time. I’m not a doctor though so ask a professional if you want an accurate answer. I too, like Ellis, will recommend http://www.runnersworld.com/injuries/asthma.html for tips on how to minimize asthma when you’re running. In the article it is stated that you should "wrap a scarf over your mouth when running in cold weather" but if cold weather is a big problem you should get a proper thermal mask instead. You should also try to run at or under the "threshold of asthma" to minimize your problems but this takes quite a bit of practise. Good luck! — Best regards, Ove Vik-Mo http://www.ove.cx/
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Might just be you are out of shape. Keep training. I betcha it didn’t go away. And don’t worry about that 6 months of smoking. I know guys who smoked for more than a decade who had no visible lasting damage after running for a while. They could get cancer yet, but I’d worry about the amount of air pollution where you live rather than six months of smoking. Bruce – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It could be Mild exercise induced asthma. You could try pretreating with a Ventolin inhaler (albuterol), you’ll need to get a scrip from your doctor. I doubt he would prescribe a steroid inhaler. Here are links: http://www.runnersworld.com/injuries/asthma.html ASTHMA, EXERCISE-INDUCED http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/06jun/dis_pa.htm Your Guide to Exercising With Asthma http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/jan_96/rupp.htm Diagnosis and Management of Exercise-Induced Asthma, Jan 96 Ellis For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a 25 year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally sedentary) for about a year now. In college, and some time after I would have my seasonal cycles of 3, 3 milers a week but have been out of the habit for at least a year now. At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I have begun training for the Physical Readiness test. I’ve actually begun running with the local University ROTC program to get in shape for OCS (Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes… I can’t say that I felt it limited my performance, although it probably did- the guy I was sprinting against had some long legs, and pulled ahead of me no problem, but was this because I was working so hard trying to get O2? I have never had an Asthma attack, but this has happened to me once before from a hard run, but I never really gave it any thought- Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? Would it hurt if I took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the problem? I have only just begun getting back into the running routine, and find that it doesn’t really happen when I am on longer "jogs" (this morning we ran 3 miles and it was fine because I kept a steady pace the whole time, although I still wasn’t happy with my time… Any input from Medical Professionals, or just runners with asthma would be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any sites that may have more info on the topic that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Hal Wilkerson
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For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a 25 year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally sedentary) for about a year now. In college, and some time after I would have my seasonal cycles of 3, 3 milers a week but have been out of the habit for at least a year now. At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I have begun training for the Physical Readiness test. I’ve actually begun running with the local University ROTC program to get in shape for OCS (Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes… I can’t say that I felt it limited my performance, although it probably did- the guy I was sprinting against had some long legs, and pulled ahead of me no problem, but was this because I was working so hard trying to get O2? I have never had an Asthma attack, but this has happened to me once before from a hard run, but I never really gave it any thought- Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? Would it hurt if I took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the problem? I have only just begun getting back into the running routine, and find that it doesn’t really happen when I am on longer "jogs" (this morning we ran 3 miles and it was fine because I kept a steady pace the whole time, although I still wasn’t happy with my time… Any input from Medical Professionals, or just runners with asthma would be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any sites that may have more info on the topic that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Hal Wilkerson
Response:
It could be Mild exercise induced asthma. You could try pretreating with a Ventolin inhaler (albuterol), you’ll need to get a scrip from your doctor. I doubt he would prescribe a steroid inhaler. Here are links: http://www.runnersworld.com/injuries/asthma.html ASTHMA, EXERCISE-INDUCED http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1998/06jun/dis_pa.htm Your Guide to Exercising With Asthma http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/jan_96/rupp.htm Diagnosis and Management of Exercise-Induced Asthma, Jan 96 Ellis – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – For any of you Pulmonologists (or runners with Asthma) out there: I am a 25 year old male, that has been out of the habit of running (and generally sedentary) for about a year now. In college, and some time after I would have my seasonal cycles of 3, 3 milers a week but have been out of the habit for at least a year now. At any rate, after deciding to enter the Naval Officer Candidate Program, I have begun training for the Physical Readiness test. I’ve actually begun running with the local University ROTC program to get in shape for OCS (Officer Candidate School)… at any rate, Wednesday we ran a 2 mile run to prepare for the practice physical test, and I found myself WHEEZING as I closed on the end of the run- We were timing ourselves for speed, and I was full bore stroking it against this young buck for the last 100 yards… it really scared me, first, because I’ve heard this before from my running, but always attributed it to "getting back into shape" and Second because it was so darn loud- I felt like a breathing machine with a hole in one of the tubes… I can’t say that I felt it limited my performance, although it probably did- the guy I was sprinting against had some long legs, and pulled ahead of me no problem, but was this because I was working so hard trying to get O2? I have never had an Asthma attack, but this has happened to me once before from a hard run, but I never really gave it any thought- Question: While I do not have any normal Asthmatic Symptoms (i.e. Night Wheezing, Random Attacks etc.) is this "wheezing" from stressing my card system, symptomatic of the so called "excercised induced asthma?" While in college, I did get in to the party scene and took up smoking on a minimal basis for about 6 months (like an idiot). Could that have done some damage to the alveoli in my lungs, generating this condition? Would it hurt if I took a small dose of an inhaled steroid on a regular basis to eliminate the problem? I have only just begun getting back into the running routine, and find that it doesn’t really happen when I am on longer "jogs" (this morning we ran 3 miles and it was fine because I kept a steady pace the whole time, although I still wasn’t happy with my time… Any input from Medical Professionals, or just runners with asthma would be greatly appreciated. Also if you know of any sites that may have more info on the topic that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Hal Wilkerson
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. Chris 