Hi all... I am new to this forum and seeking information that I haven't been able to find elsewhere. But surely someone knows.... anyway...
I have mild asthma, but it is induced by heavy exercise, and seems the worst when we do sprints without much rest, especially with zoomers.
My question is, how can I train the hardest without kicking off my asthma? What are the best sorts of sets or training practices? (And how can I modify existing sets without messing up my lanemates?). Sometimes our coach will ask us to do sets where we severely limit our breathing. Are these good for me or bad??
I do have an inhaler, but it doesn't seem to help with the exercise-induced asthma (only the cat-induced type). And I am always careful to warm up and cool down.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Roberta
I can only answer generally about exercise induced asthma (EIA) -- and my information might not address your specific situation.
In general -- with EIA when we find the right approach specific for the individual athlete, the asthma is no longer a problem. If you are having problems with your current plan you should consider consulting a pulmonologist with a strong interest in exercise induced asthma and exercise testing.
Some basic info:
Warm up is important. During warm up you drain a lot of the cells in the airway that contain the asthma triggering factors (this is called degranulation), then they are less likely cause you problems during actual exercise.
Pre-treatment with short acting beta agonist (such as albuterol or xopenex) is usually the next most important step. This helps most people. If your inhaler is not working for you then it is either the wrong inhaler or you have inadequate medication delivery. It is actually very hard to get medicine into the lungs and inhalers used by themselves are terribly inefficient. When people put an inhaler in their mouth and puff, most of it winds up on their tongue and in their stomach. The right kind of valved holding chamber, used correctly, will increase medication deposition more than 3X.
Some people need more prophylaxis than just one beta agonist right before work-out. There are a lot of options that can be added on top of that. This is where I think you would need consultation with an expert and lung function testing. Sometimes, after basic treatments have been initiated, we add exercise testing with pulmonary function to help isolate the problem.
The most important thing I could say is: There is no need for any person to tolerate asthma symptoms limiting his/her activity -- we need to modify the asthma and not modify the activity. With the right personalized asthma plan, I believe that anyone can reach his or her athletic potential. It just make take a few steps to find that plan.
I can only answer generally about exercise induced asthma (EIA) -- and my information might not address your specific situation.
In general -- with EIA when we find the right approach specific for the individual athlete, the asthma is no longer a problem. If you are having problems with your current plan you should consider consulting a pulmonologist with a strong interest in exercise induced asthma and exercise testing.
Some basic info:
Warm up is important. During warm up you drain a lot of the cells in the airway that contain the asthma triggering factors (this is called degranulation), then they are less likely cause you problems during actual exercise.
Pre-treatment with short acting beta agonist (such as albuterol or xopenex) is usually the next most important step. This helps most people. If your inhaler is not working for you then it is either the wrong inhaler or you have inadequate medication delivery. It is actually very hard to get medicine into the lungs and inhalers used by themselves are terribly inefficient. When people put an inhaler in their mouth and puff, most of it winds up on their tongue and in their stomach. The right kind of valved holding chamber, used correctly, will increase medication deposition more than 3X.
Some people need more prophylaxis than just one beta agonist right before work-out. There are a lot of options that can be added on top of that. This is where I think you would need consultation with an expert and lung function testing. Sometimes, after basic treatments have been initiated, we add exercise testing with pulmonary function to help isolate the problem.
The most important thing I could say is: There is no need for any person to tolerate asthma symptoms limiting his/her activity -- we need to modify the asthma and not modify the activity. With the right personalized asthma plan, I believe that anyone can reach his or her athletic potential. It just make take a few steps to find that plan.
