Asthma Inhalers and Performance

Cat...just be glad your not a race horse, with all those ailments they'd take you behind the barn and shoot you!! :) Oh wait...I'm sending a hidden/veiled message of hate in that post so let me be clear: YOUR A WEAK/BROKEN DOWN DRUGGIE AND I WANT TO SHOOT YOU AND ANONE ELSE LIKE YOU...ESPECIALLY JOHN SMITH![/ hisssssssssssss. first, at the moment, i am just on singulair, albuterol and advair. for the record,.. when i snow ski, i rarely use an inhaler. depends on the altitude. when i ocean swim also it is different. in my case, it is a case of the chlorination/mold factor and indoor pools. i swam in outdoor pools until i moved to ga. ok. you may be faster than me in the pool but anytime you want to take me on the slopes in a slalom. yea come on. ps. to further incense you , i have my own entourage like dara. my own masseuse and personal strength trainer. :D

Cat...just be glad your not a race horse, with all those ailments they'd take you behind the barn and shoot you!! :) Oh wait...I'm sending a hidden/veiled message of hate in that post so let me be clear: YOUR A WEAK/BROKEN DOWN DRUGGIE AND I WANT TO SHOOT YOU AND ANONE ELSE LIKE YOU...ESPECIALLY JOHN SMITH! Can I come live with you and share your masseuse, trainer and drugs? Careful what you ask for on that skiing bet...lived 22 years in Vail before I got back to my roots in the swimming gig!

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.

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. Damn! I thought I was being subtle enough to not get "called out" but Craig caught it. So let me be perfectly clear. I HATE ALL WIMPY, WHINY, WEAK, CHEATING, LOSER ASTHMATICS because they can legally use banned substances and beat me in the 50 free at a masters meet. Your a bright guy Craig...thanks for spotting this and holding me accountable for being so HATEFUL.

granted, i am no where near your level of swimming. i was on prednisone, advair, albuterol, singulair (gee, anything else) oh yeah, i got a cortisone shot after my 400 im at Y nats. point being, it didn't make me fly through the water, with all those meds. maybe because i have a legit condition. i also swam the meet with a slap tear and a tear in the superspinatus. (didn't know about the tears yet). so add in nsaids too.

More on the abuse of inhalers: www.newsobserver.com/.../1153999.html from the article" "Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator that creates an increase in aerobic capacity, oxygen transporation, blood pressure and Central Nervous System stimulation. It is frequently used on racehorses. Clenbuterol is also commonly prescribed as a decongestant and bronchodilator for people with with breathing disorders like asthma. Athletes with asthma can use approved decongestants and bronchodilators after receiving therapeutic use exemptions or TUEs from USADA. In recent years it has become common for Olympic-caliber athletes to receive TUEs and has prompted criticism from longtime observers of the anti-doping movement." Haters!

granted, i am no where near your level of swimming. i was on prednisone, advair, albuterol, singulair (gee, anything else) oh yeah, i got a cortisone shot after my 400 im at Y nats. point being, it didn't make me fly through the water, with all those meds. maybe because i have a legit condition. i also swam the meet with a slap tear and a tear in the superspinatus. (didn't know about the tears yet). so add in nsaids too. Cat...just be glad your not a race horse, with all those ailments they'd take you behind the barn and shoot you!! :) Oh wait...I'm sending a hidden/veiled message of hate in that post so let me be clear: YOUR A WEAK/BROKEN DOWN DRUGGIE AND I WANT TO SHOOT YOU AND ANYONE ELSE LIKE YOU...ESPECIALLY JOHN SMITH!

This thread/discussion in my mind never had anything to do with asthmatics...this is a discussion about people who are abusing a banned substance. How many are doing it is debatable...but the fact is we just lost the #1 female breaststroker/#2 spring freestyler on our Olympic team because she was using clen....and the stats about 60% of Olympic athletes getting waivers to use inhalers when the comparable population of non-athletes is far less is disturbing as well.

First Clenbuterol is not commonly prescribed. It does a lot of bad things to the airbags if used for any time to be effective. That's why other drugs have been created. Generally people who use Clenbuterol are knowingly trying to cheat. It is neither a good asthma drug nor a good decongestant. There are several drugs more efficient and less damaging. Second At least 30 % of asthmatics are allergic to Singulair. It is hell to be allergic to the best drug created for the treatment of allergies and asthma. I get this really intense red rash all over my body. There have been deaths but not enough to get it off of the market. Once you know you are allergic, stop taking it. There is supposed to be a whole new group of luekotrines(sp) coming out that don't have one of the components of Singulair that are less likely to cause a reaction. They are designed fro asthmatics who naturally have very high eosinophile(sp) counts. While some will always try to cheat, there are several studies that show the overall ineffectiveness of using asthma bronciodialators(sp) if you are not asthmatic. I wish the weird and, as I have said before, silly comments would stop. If you had to rush to an ER at least once a month at 3:00am unable to breath, bright red with a rash, your blood pressure either 67/47 or 289/225 an unable to hear because you just blew out your eardrum, you wouldn't dare be so persistent. Cheaters must be stooped but just because some one uses asthma drugs, they are not cheating.

I get so mad listening to so many blah blah blah about the only way to really promote improvement is through practice, practice, practice. You've come to the right board. Many people here subscribe to "practice as little as possible." I'm glad I don't have asthma. I feel bad for those who really have it. My brother does and it was awful for him especially when he was young. It was life threatening for him on numerous occasions.