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Exercise-induced asthma or working hard?
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Just wondering if I need to be taking my puffer before hard workouts or if I should just HTFU.

I do have asthma, but I haven't had a problem with it outside of respiratory infections for years.

Last night I was riding w/my bf. On our final lap, we pushed it a bit more than on the others and sustained over 37k/hr up a small incline. That's fast for me, not so much for him, but oh well. I lost some training time due to a psychotic episode and my weight loss reversed but I'll get it all back and it should help w/my fitness/power.

Not only was I breathing hard but I started wheezing.

Does anyone here wheeze due to exertion, or should I assume it was my asthma?

(On a side note, now that we're outside I'm wishing I had a bike that didn't weigh as much as a cyclocross bike. Oh well!)
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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high effort for me = wheezing, even since i quit smoking ;) tanker and i call it the "death whistle", and i definitely had it going at the end of the 5k i did on saturday. sounds like i'm about to die, really it just means i'm givin'er..

there's a propensity toward asthma in my family (grandfather, father, possibly mother), but i've never had an asthma diagnosis in 30 years of docs listening to my chest through the stethoscope, nor any attacks.

cheers!

-mistress k

__________________________________________________________
ill advised racing inc.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I have been diagnosed with EIA, and for me the biggest difference that I can tell between working hard and asthma attacks is the feeling that my airway/lungs are swelling shut & I just can't get air in.

I don't really know about the wheezing. I imagine people can have all sorts of types of asthma attacks.

My initial reaction is that it sounds like hard work, but if I were you, I'd keep my inhaler nearby just in case.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Elsa] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks guys.

I think it probably was exertion, but I've never in my life wheezed before during a hard workout so it weirded me out. I don't want to take any ventolin beforehand if it wasn't asthma, but it's a good point I should keep it on me just in case.

The only other thing I can think of is that I've developed extrapyramidal symptoms from my atypical antipsychotic, and the EPS has been manifesting by me losing the ability to swallow. I could swallow (and breathe) fine last night but maybe my throat is being a bit weird overall. On the balance though, it was probably just me working my butt off! :) Phew!
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I've wheezed when doing a VO2Mx test, and a standalone 5k race, and at the end of a crit once. I think it's likely exertion. Maybe mention it to your doc next time. I don't have EIA, but those who do often have problems breathing after the workout ends, for some time...

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I had major issues last year with what I thought was EIA but after extensive testing it turned out that I'm not asthmatic at all. Apparently asthma-like breathing is a symptom of many other types of problems, not just asthma.

I have no idea what caused the breathing issues as the final diagnosis (or rather non-diagnosis) was at the end of the season. I did, however, do a lot of reading and talk to a lot of people and one of the things that can cause asthma-like symptoms is acid reflux. Apparently the irritation of the esophagus can also affect your airways, so your side effects from your medications could very well be causing the breathing issue.

I would talk to your prescribing doctor and see what they think.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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hard to swallow eh? feel like a big lump in your throat? how's your thyroid these days?

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [AndyPants] [ In reply to ]
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It's not like a big lump in my throat....you know how the tongue touches against the roof of your mouth when you swallow? I get stuck there on that motion and my throat kind of freezes - I can start to swallow but I can't finish it. When it happens I have trouble swallowing my saliva and I can't swallow solids, though weirdly I can swallow liquids. They gave me Cogentin (also used for Parkinson's) to help with it and it hasn't totally made it go away but it helps.

Although, I've had trouble with acid reflux ever since starting on the Cogentin. I am taking Famotidine (Pepcid AC) for it and that's helping, though also hasn't eliminated it.

Huh. I'm going to hope it was caused by exertion. But I will mention it to my doctor and maybe ask for something stronger than OTC for the acid reflux (which I find exercise does make worse).

My thyroid is normal now - I used to be hypothyroid as a side effect from lithium, but once I went off the lithium it went back to normal. No more synthroid for me :)

Just got back from a quick and easy ride, nothing happened, but then I wasn't exerting myself either.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I started having EIA a few years ago and it has correlated with an increase in the things I am allergic to. Used to be just dust mites and now it is almost anything that grows. I take Singulair and that helps some, but I also hit the hooka (inhaler) before my workout. I also carry it with me-if someone is mowing their lawn I will go into full blown asthma attack. Even with the two meds when I am doing a tempo or pace workout at times I feel like I can't fill my lungs all the way, it is a scary feeling. I try to breathe deep and I can't. Don't know if you have allergies-this year is supposed to be a really bad year for them.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [pookie87] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
I started having EIA a few years ago and it has correlated with an increase in the things I am allergic to. Used to be just dust mites and now it is almost anything that grows. I take Singulair and that helps some, but I also hit the hooka (inhaler) before my workout. I also carry it with me-if someone is mowing their lawn I will go into full blown asthma attack. Even with the two meds when I am doing a tempo or pace workout at times I feel like I can't fill my lungs all the way, it is a scary feeling. I try to breathe deep and I can't. Don't know if you have allergies-this year is supposed to be a really bad year for them.

I've been having the same problem. I have EIA and it has been really well managed over the last year (no attacks). However in the last week I have had two and attribute it to a combination of very bad pollen counts (both workouts outside and I'm allergic to tree pollen) and high intensity workouts (hill run and 40K bike TT).

Team Danbury Audi - Triplet Mommy!!!
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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A year or two ago, I was experiencing asthma-like symptoms. Finally after several doctors, I got put on a treadmill for a test. They measured lactic acid, VO2 Max, Heart Rate, and EKG or something. I had tubes and wires and stuff going everywhere.

During the test is when I found out that my 'asthma' symptoms were really me just hyperventilating because I was deep in the 'red' zone - I was totally anaerobic. So now I have a heart rate to correlate that to - so I now know if I'm above heart rate "X", I'm likely just too far anaerobic, and not having an asthma attack.

So if you know your heart rate zones, you could wear a monitor for those harder workouts and that might help you figure out what's going on.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [determination] [ In reply to ]
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I have allergies, but they're like my asthma - I almost never have issues with them, some years not at all.

I am inclined to think it was exertion - I went back and looked at the file on Garmin Connect and my max HR was 89% which would've been at that point of the ride.

Again, I've hit that number before and not wheezed, but there could be a whole bunch of little factors (don't know how good air quality on that loop is as a decent part of it runs 20M away from the 401, which is a major highway here) adding up that pushed me over the edge when I reached that level of exertion, and if I hadn't pushed that hard I would've been fine.

Thanks guys! :)
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I have EIA and I find it's always in the cold, and not necessarily when I'm working super hard. Apart from the wheezing, I also get an urge to cough (like there is phlegm in my throat but there's not) and a sharp pain at the base of my throat which may or may not be related.

I would take a puffer with me 'just in case' ... I usually leave mine in my seat bag and forget about it.

Oh, and I find air quality makes a HUGE difference! I had an asthma episode (not an attack as such) walking up an ourdoor flight of stairs in Bangkok once!
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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I had to reply to this thread to share my experience, on the off chance it might help anyone else...

When I started ramping up my training I started wheezing -- basically, the greater the effort, the more I wheezed. Swimming and running in particular, not so much on the bike. I went to the doctor after I failed a V02 running test (yeah, I know how stupid that sounds!!) and the lady administering it told me to get checked for EIB.

My family doctor immediately prescribed inhalers -- I was on a steroid one, another one for on-demand use, and tried Ventolin (sp?) too. I was taking Singulair and this steroid nasal spray too. The thing was, I was taking sooo many hits of the inhalers and they never worked -- on top of the 4 hits of the steroid one I would take (2 in morning, 2 in evening) I was taking 9 hits of the other inhaler every day.

Lucky for me, the local Respiratory Therapist swims at the same time as me sometimes, and when she heard what I was doing she got me in to see a Respirologist...

When I finally got in to see him, and he asked me to explain my symptoms, he told me I didn't have EIB at all. You see, no one had ever asked me when I made the wheezing sounds. I made them on the inhalation -- apparently asthmatics make the wheeze on the exhalation. Thus, when he heard me describe my symptoms, I was diagnosed with Vocal Chord Dysfunction. He told me that over time, my body had taught itself to respond to certain triggers like chlorine in the pool, heavy exertion, etc. And like Pavlov's dogs, my body was now conditioned to respond by my voacl chords collapsing resulting in that terrible whooping/wheezing sound.

Now here is the part that is truly NUTS!

He told me that the good news was that I could recondition my body --- retrain it. He said it would take some time and effort but to stick with it. Then he taught me this technique: When I start to wheeze or feel the onset of the throat constriction, I do three inhalations through my nose like this: Sniff......sniff, sniff. One long sniff,then two rapid sniffs. (No exhalation between sniffs) This forces the vocal chords to open (instead of collapsing).

I went off every inhaler, all meds that day like he said. The next day I tried it at the pool and it was like a lightwitch had been turned on in my body. It was freaking instant for me. I have had zero problems since then. No wheezing at all -- unfreaking-believable. I also visualize my throat being wide open (huge like an empty freeway.)

I know I am soooo lucky -- I know some people have had to go to a speech therapist to learn new skills, but for me, the symptoms only occurred during specific instances and they never progressed --- which is why I think I was so lucky to be able to control my breathing instantly.

The BEST thing is that I do not need to take any meds!! YAY!!

Hope this might help anyone out there! :) :)

http://www.runningwithdoggies.blogspot.com
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Teags] [ In reply to ]
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My coach just sent me this - http://www.sirc.ca/...d-april10/Index.html

I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it looks like it has some good information.

Hope it's helpful.
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [Alibabwa] [ In reply to ]
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That has some good info, thanks!

Followmybliss, I'm not sure WHEN I was wheezing. I will look at my breathing.

I do know I've done harder efforts in terms of HR, since, and didn't wheeze. A combo of factors probably, but I am wondering if wasn't the effort AND being next to the 401 (it's 18 lanes wide at that point).
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Re: Exercise-induced asthma or working hard? [determination] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:

During the test is when I found out that my 'asthma' symptoms were really me just hyperventilating because I was deep in the 'red' zone - I was totally anaerobic.

I've done the same thing on a few occasions. It's irritating because it means I have to take it easy the first 100 of the swim to prevent the wheeze, and consequently I get caught up in excess traffic.
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