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asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA
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I had an allergy/asthma dr. tell me I had asthma when I went in for an allergy problem (developed a weird reaction to aspirin). Anyway, she examined my full pulmonary function test I had done in 2005. And, she put me on a daily inhaler. I felt better, I set a PR in an oly tri (a course that previously held my PR) and moved up a lane in my master's swim group. However, 8 weeks later my testing didn't show improvement. So my meds were switched to a singulair pill and symbicort inhaler, with an albuterol inhaler to take 15 min prior to exercise. I feel worse than when I was unmedicated. I have moved back down a lane in swimming and my lungs feel like an iron trap when I'm out running. I recently had a HORRIBLE reaction in a local 5k on super bowl sunday. Sub 8-min at the first mile marker, I was at 16 mins at mile 2 marker, and then did the last 1.1 miles in 11 minutes. I had slowed down really badly and it felt like giant invisible hands were squeezing my chest. My legs were not "feeling the burn" at all. About 10 mins after finishing I almost fainted. Headache the rest of the day. Next day, legs aren't even sore.
I went back for another pumonary function test at the hospital on 1-20-09 and the testing came up normal. So all my tests are showing full lung capacity but I feel worse. What gives? My dr. said "this isn't right" and is trying to get me referred to someone who has worked more with athletes. I am currently hounding her for the referral (OK, I sent 1 email reminder after waiting a week to hear from her).

Secondly, I have recently come across some studies about fish oil helping exercise-induced asthma (EIA). There have been a couple of small studies, but the results sound dramatic. Anyone have any experience with fish oil (DHA and EPA) and exercise induced asthma (EIA)? The amounts in the studies are much more than anyone would want to take... you'd probably smell like a fish. 3.2g EPA, 2.2g DHA. Yes, grams, not mg.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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I had a similar experience, after a year of Qvar 2 x a day and albuterol before exercising it seemed to stop working. I haven't been back to the asthma doc yet, will go next week.

I started taking fish oil when I was first diagnosed and then switched to krill oil a few months later. I stopped taking it in the winter when I wasn't training because it makes me bruise badly (krill oil, not so with fish oil). I started taking it again a month ago and it seems to have helped some.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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I went almost through the exact same thing - had an awful 5k...first mile was around 8 or so and overall time was 29 something. Almost died. My throat/neck felt awful and took about an hour to calm down.

You can look at the post I just posted here about POTS and it has links to two posts I wrote about the symptoms I was having and what my diagnosis eventually ended up being.

I'm not saying you have what I have, just saying be persistent in trying to figure out what was going on. I thought my issues might have been a reaction to long term use of symbicort but I don't think that is what it was anymore, but it might not have helped anything either. I stopped taking all allergy and asthma medicine at the end of December after being put on all of them in September.

_________________________________________
Kathleen
http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [KWTriGrl] [ In reply to ]
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Hey, I can't get the links about POTS in your other post to work at all. :(
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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Oh sorry! I just added a post there hopefully with links that work!

_________________________________________
Kathleen
http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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Not sure if this helps
http://www.indiana.edu/~kines/news/index.shtml

Tim Mickelborough is a former Pro Triathlete and Ironman and writes for Triathlete magazine.

http://www.speedsnakecoaching.com
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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if you're anywhere near Boulder, Dr Hunter Smith is the man to see. You definitely want a doc with athlete experience - most of the docs I've seen have patients from the population of old smokers with COPD, a very different population from athletes.

Is the pulmonary function testing done on a treadmill ? for true EIA, lung function is normal except under stress.

The meds for asthma are determined by trial-and-error in my experience.. if you feel better on the previous meds, go back to them. The test is only a single point in time whereas the symptoms will usually vary depending on air quality, stress levels, etc etc.

The albuterol inhaler worked for a couple of years for me then stopped working. Now apparently I have a pulmonary shunt as well as EIA, which shunt is not treatable. It took six months of testing to get that diagnosis though..

I take fish oil daily though not at those dosages. Did not notice any particular improvement in the EIA, however it did help with unexplained chest pains I'd been having. It's probably worth trying the high dosages as the side effects of the fish oil will likely be less harmful than the other meds. Advair for example raises my blood pressure to borderline hypertension (from 110/60 to 130/80), as well as producing glaucoma as a long-term effect, just lovely.
Last edited by: doug in co: Mar 18, 09 9:28
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [doug in co] [ In reply to ]
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I had exactly the same symptoms. I had trouble breathing while exercising and it usually carried over to when I was at rest, it felt like I was only using half a lung. It would go away after a day or to but when I exercised it would come right back. I went to the Doc and he prescribed me allbuterol - nothing happened. I got the cardio pulmonary test and it showed my lungs to be super strong and I actually have about 65% more lung capacity than the average 29 year old (apparently). The doctor did a background on me and asked if I was allergic to anything. "No, I said but I do have cats" He prescribed me Zyrtec which is now OTC. When I got home I popped one of the pills and within a few hours I worked out and felt better. The story doesn't end though. After about 3 days of being back to my old self the symptoms started to gradually reappear. I was devastated. The only thing that I had done differently on the days when my symptoms started coming back was have 2-3 glasses of wine. I wondered if that could be it so I cut out all alcohol. Within 2 days I was back to my old self. Turns out I was allergic to the cats but only mildly, the Zyrtec is an Anti-Histamine and it was able to deal and stop the lung problems from the cats. What I didn't know was red wine also contains histamine and a preservative called sulfites which I am sensitive to. My point being, it could be you are allergic to something around you. My doc prescribed one Zyrtec daily and the combination of that and stopping the red wine has made a 100% difference. I hope your able to find out what's wrong, good luck!
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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This isn't necessarily directed at you...but several posts.

Become familiar with what asthma (and EIA) is...and what it isn't. Severals of the symptoms in this thread sound like heart issues, not lung issues.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [Diesel] [ In reply to ]
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Good point. For me, I also had an echocardiogram done on 1-20-09 and it was normal.
I don't have breathing issues until I am "pushing it" while exercising, and it usually doesn't crop up until I'm some time into it.

I also did get allergy tested. I have some allergies, from 6th grade to 8th grade in the past I got allergy shots. I am not allergic to my dog! The scratch I got last year showed NO reaction, which I knew because of my 6th grade testing.
My current allergies are grass and tree related (oh and cats, which I avoid like the plague!).
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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My symptoms are roughly 7-8 hours into an event.....intensity level isn't a factor. Intially, the Doc did everything as mentioned above assuming it was asthma or allergies. That all changed a few years ago at IM when I was tossed in the back of an ambulance and given http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroglycerin. I wasn't pushing the pace and was pacing well below my fitness levels as it was a "for fun" event.

Feel like a world champ within a matter of minutes after taking the nitro. That was the "ah ha" moment. Holy %#$ was my first thought.

Since then, I've had 20 or so stress/non stress echos, 2 heart caths and a heart MRI. Each time, they invite in all the staff to see how a clean heart appears on the screen. While I have a floppy mitral valve (MVP - fairly common) and a thick heart (relatively common for a person who does aerobic training, yet not HCM), there is no "pre-existing condition" which would explain my symptoms.

Since I'm now aware of what is happening (and very much aware of the early signs), I simply stop when it occurs. I've been working with several doctors, but it's been a bit of a rollercoaster to find any answers. The short version is "your heart is failing". Anybody's heart can fail at any moment, so at least I'm aware.....more cautious than naive.

In the next 9 months, I'd expect some of the studies which I've been the guinea pig will be released. I'm hoping to start a website in which people can connect and compare symptoms...along with Docs monitoring the messages.

Certainly not saying you have my issues...just wanted to share my experience.

Good luck.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [Diesel] [ In reply to ]
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Ouch!
That sounds horrible! I hope that soon a solution is to be found.

Basically, what happens to me is that if I try to push the pace too much (i.e. keep up with others that are faster or stronger than me), after maybe 5 mins or so (give or take) I am huffing and puffing and wheezing. My breathing gets out of control, I am no longer able to "pace it". I feel like I can't breathe. I have to slow down dramatically and then I can recover. My breathing will always force me to slow down before "the burn" does in my legs.

Riding or running up hills seems pretty bad for me too - this is where I'm most likely to drop off on group rides or runs.

I feel best when I can "pace" or "regulate" my breathing. For running it can be x steps breathing in, then x steps breathing out.

The symptoms arise in shorter events like 5k runs where I am going "all out" (5k version of all out, not 100m dash all out), no issues during Ironmans.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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and wheezing

That's the key. Without the wheezing, it's not EIA or standard asthma.

Head over to JoAnna Z's site and she has some good tips on dealing with it. While some would argue that drugs are created equal, I have cycling buddies who swear one version works better than the others....
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [determination] [ In reply to ]
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I just found this article that I thought was interesting. My asthma has been controlled for over a year. And it's only ever been bad in VOG or heavy SMOG conditions. 10 days ago i started to have daily asthma attacks when exercising and have constantly had that little cough/clearing the throat....even though the air quality has been excellent here. Today i realized my heartrate was WAY low for a workout and I declared myself over trained and got off the bike. Looks like the asthma might have been a signal earlier.
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Re: asthma update - and Q re: fish oil & EIA [PirateGirl] [ In reply to ]
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Well, since my current asthma dr. hasn't gotten back to me about seeing someone else who had more experience with athletes, I took matters into my own hands and found someone new to see. I'll be seeing this dr. on April 1.
He's worked with elite athletes before, and a few olympic swimmers (not surprising, I'm near the University of Michigan).
I just can't shake the feeling that this routine of meds I've been on since Oct. is not the right stuff. I'm worse than when I was unmedicated (as judged by times for repeats in the pool and run pace).

Good point about overtraining, though it's definitely not my problem right now!
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