asthma and cycling

[legrandefromage]

Anybody here?

I went out yesterday and the fresh clean damp air from a new Nor'easter shrank my lungs to that of a small rodent.

It wasn't pleasant, my normally summer use inhaler was at home and it felt horrible, wobbly legs, burning chest. Sat there, feeling stupid until it passed.

Thing is, once it had passed, half an hour later, still without an inhaler, I could power back home with no symptoms - a bit like a warm up before a ride. Will definitely keep up with the medication!

 

[rosstheboss]

Are you normally quite asthmatic? I'm not and get wheezy sometimes with exercise, had a look around the internet and found out about exercise induced asthma. I had exactly the same symptoms as you - wheezing like a 40 a day smoker at the start of the ride then completely fine for the rest of it... it's not much fun when it happens

 

[taffy]

Most likely the damp cold air making your lungs work harder till you'd warmed up

 

[Neil]

Ever tried one of these?

I've had one for a couple of years (mild exercise induced asthma), and a family member has got one (has bronchiectasis).

Might be worth giving one a try, if you haven't already, they're not that expensive, and might help.

 

[pigman]

Ive often thought about one of those exercisers that neil proposes. But the difficulty I have (Ex ind asthma) is not one of lung muscle strength, but of getting air into the lungs. The legs want more oxygen, the lungs want more air and the airways say no. I can only describe it as breathing through a mosquito net. The state of me on a clubrun depends on the first half hour. If its severe, I never get it right till the cafe. If its an easy start, I'm usually ok. And I'm a different person on the way back compared to going out.

 

[Kerplunk]

What you need is pathetically weak chicken legs. Mine tend to stop working before my exercise induced asthma gets my lungs.

 

[The Ken]

I get this too LGF - sudden change of temp seems to be the worst thing in winter, a slow acclimatisation is needed before riding - or a blue puff.

Edit - And remember the severness of any asthma attack is multiplied by your distance to the nearest inhaler.

 

[drystonepaul]

I'm also addicted to a blue puff every now and then. Cold air in winter, pollen in summer, cats and dust the rest of the year are triggers for me.

I'm pretty much on top of it most of the time though.

 

[old_coyote_pedaller]

I have asthma, sometimes it's exercise induced, other times it can be an irritant like perfume, deodorant, dust, for a while would get a wheeze from oil seed rape. The fitter I am the less it bothers me but sometimes a precautionary scoosh with inhaler before a game of rugby or MTB ride keeps me breathing OK.
Yesterday I had to use inhaler when my lungs seized up while out on my bike. At the moment I am not very fit.
I've been caught out without my inhaler a few times and there is a technique I read about or maybe it was on a TV programme about asthma, that I find works.
My attacks don't reduce me to my knees so this technique might not/won't work in severe attacks. What you have to do is breathe out then not breathe in for as long as possible. This increases the CO2 content, obviously, in your blood and lungs which causes your air passages to dilate countering the narrowing caused by asthma attack. Not easy to do sometimes when I'm short of breath, but in that case I do it 2 or 3 times to clear lungs. Often results in coughing up the mucous that is obstructing airways.

 

[weeman_mtb]

Went to the docs for one of those routine asthma assessments last year and found out I'd been taking my preventative inhaler wrongly for years. As a result my asthma had never been properly under control and I needed to regularly use the blue inhaler to get me out of bother. The nurse changed my preventative medication and I now hardly use the blue thing atall unless I have a bad cold.

Most surgeries have a dedicated asthma nurse or someone similar so all I can say is if you feel things are getting worse book an appointment.

LGF, know what you mean about the cold damp air, was regularly stopping on the way home last Winter for a puff on the magic blue thing. I cycle to and from work every day and the first good hill combined with the cold air would close my airways up although so far so good this Winter.

Cheers for the tip, old_coyote_pedaller, will give that a go if I get caught out in the future.