Asthma Inhalers and Performance

You must be thinking of one of the other two Smiths on this forum.... I've seen at least 3 articles with slight variations on those stats, here's just one: www.pullbuoy.co.uk/asthma.html I also just saw another in either USA Today or the Arizona Republic after the Harding fiasco. Face it, there are people who genuinely need this medication...and I'll assume that possibly a larger percentage of the population who are athletes suffer from it...and I'll even go so far as to say that at the highest elite level of sport those athletes suffer an even higher percentage per capita then either of the other groups listed....but I will also say the medication is a well known PED and that if there is a way to use it legally by getting an exemption than there are a fair amount who are "cheating" as well. One reason why so many asthmatics swim is because we are told it is good for our lungs. It might be. Inhalers are designed to calm tightened lung airways. If the airway isn't tight the inhaler isn't going to do much. There are far more over the counter products being used that change once the structure once they enter the body to help develop muscles that are far more abused. The little effect a nonasthmatic is going to get from a few puffs from an inhaler is nothing compared to the the benefits received with muscle growth using many over the counter product. This argument is really off of the wall. You are helping to promote a myth that at its base is hateful. The hatefulness is so nicely hidden because people argue that there just might be. the argument must not be listened to because it is on very silly ground. I get so mad listening to so many blah blah blah about the only way to really promote improvement is through practice, practice, practice. Then to hear people Blah blah blah about asthma drugs helping people. Stop this absolute silliness. If you are feeling any 'buzz" after you take a puff of an inhaler, you are feeling your heart beat irregularly. How is that to help your swimming? In reality, your heart is no longer pumping blood effectively nor efficiently.

You must be thinking of one of the other two Smiths on this forum.... I've seen at least 3 articles with slight variations on those stats, here's just one: www.pullbuoy.co.uk/asthma.html I also just saw another in either USA Today or the Arizona Republic after the Harding fiasco. Face it, there are people who genuinely need this medication...and I'll assume that possibly a larger percentage of the population who are athletes suffer from it...and I'll even go so far as to say that at the highest elite level of sport those athletes suffer an even higher percentage per capita then either of the other groups listed....but I will also say the medication is a well known PED and that if there is a way to use it legally by getting an exemption than there are a fair amount who are "cheating" as well. One reason why so many asthmatics swim is because we are told it is good for our lungs. It might be. Inhalers are designed to calm tightened lung airways. If the airway isn't tight the inhaler isn't going to do much. There are far more over the counter products being used that change once the structure once they enter the body to help develop muscles that are far more abused. The little effect a nonasthmatic is going to get from a few puffs from an inhaler is nothing compared to the the benefits received with muscle growth using many over the counter product. This argument is really off of the wall. You are helping to promote a myth that at its base is hateful. The hatefulness is so nicely hidden because people argue that there just might be. the argument must not be listened to because it is on very silly ground. I get so mad listening to so many blah blah blah about the only way to really promote improvement is through practice, practice, practice. Then to hear people Blah blah blah about asthma drugs helping people. Stop this absolute silliness. If you are feeling any 'buzz" after you take a puff of an inhaler, you are feeling your heart beat irregularly. How is that to help your swimming? In reality, your heart is no longer pumping blood effectively nor efficiently.