Asthma

[Timotheog]

Hi all, just wondering if any of you have asthma and enjoy cycling? Does it make your asthma worse? Have you found cycling helps overall?

I'm just getting into road cycling and have been asthmatic since a boy, generally I find myself able to cope more on the bike as apposed to running, etc.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Hi

I'm a severe asthmatic - 8 or 9 sets of meds to control my asthma plus a nebuliser, plus various other medical complications as a result of my asthma meds or damage to my lungs & throat from my asthma etc. I don't let it stop me and even cycle the 50 mile round trip to see my severe asthma consultant! He thinks this is great btw. Staying fit helps to keep my asthma under control and allows me to do more, but you have to get fit first which is always the difficult part. Just take it easy and don't worry too much about speed and be sensible about it and you will be fine. Just learn to listen to what your body is telling you.

How bad is your asthma if you don' mind me asking?

SNSSO

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

A lifelong asthmatic here who has been classed as severe in the past. Fortunately, in my case cycling has never induced an attack (unlike running) and as the rides have got more adventurous and my fitness has improved so has the asthma.

Last year my reliever inhaler time-expired before running out of doses for the first time ever and I couldn't honestly tell you when I last had to take a puff from from the current one (think it was probably about 4 months ago.)

I realise that everyone is different but for me the cycling really has made a massive difference.

 

[ColinJ]

Can I ask you asthmatics a question about asthma?

I have been wondering recently if the lung damage I suffered from DVT/PEs has left me with a mild case of asthma. My breathing has recovered very well from my illness, but I find myself very short of breath now until I have warmed up on a ride. After about 15 minutes of effort, I feel fine and have no further problems while riding.

What worries me most is that I get random bouts of shortness of breath when at rest. I don't think they are clotting related because an embolism is there all the time. When I had my PEs, I was short of breath for weeks, not minutes.

The thing is, I don't experience any wheeziness. One minute my lungs are working fine, the next, I feel as though I have been whisked up to high altitude without an oxygen mask!

As long as I avoid getting into a panic about it, the problem typically goes away after a few minutes.

I was wondering if any of you experience asthma in that way? I had thought that asthma always causes wheezing, but read recently that sometimes it does not.

I am seeing my consultant soon, so I will bring the subject up with him, but would like to know about other people's experiences.

Cheers!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Can I ask you asthmatics a question about asthma?

I have been wondering recently if the lung damage I suffered from DVT/PEs has left me with a mild case of asthma. My breathing has recovered very well from my illness, but I find myself very short of breath now until I have warmed up on a ride. After about 15 minutes of effort, I feel fine and have no further problems while riding.

What worries me most is that I get random bouts of shortness of breath when at rest. I don't think they are clotting related because an embolism is there all the time. When I had my PEs, I was short of breath for weeks, not minutes.

The thing is, I don't experience any wheeziness. One minute my lungs are working fine, the next, I feel as though I have been whisked up to high altitude without an oxygen mask!

As long as I avoid getting into a panic about it, the problem typically goes away after a few minutes.

I was wondering if any of you experience asthma in that way? I had thought that asthma always causes wheezing, but read recently that sometimes it does not.

I am seeing my consultant soon, so I will bring the subject up with him, but would like to know about other people's experiences.

Cheers!

you don't need to be wheezy to have asthma/asthma type symptoms. I don't often get wheezy to the audible stage at least not without a stethoscope. My asthma is not usually the wheezy type. I get very short of breath though and it can take between 30 mins and a hour before my lungs have warmed up enough for me to cycle 'hard'. It could also be that there is other damage to the lungs. My constant coughing from the issues I had last year with chest infections and my asthma and 3 months in bed as a result have damaged by lungs and my throat leaving me with bronchiectasis and tracheomalacia. Both are permanent damage and I have to learn to live with the implications and their affects and one of them also causes me to get really short of breath and cough a lot (usually at night). I think that is the tracheomalacia...

Edit: don't want to worry you, but have you read this http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bronchiectasis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

 

[byegad]

I use 1200mg of Budesonide a day and a Montelukast tablet as preventers, plus occasional use of Terbutaline if I feel tight.

If I haven't cycled for a few days I do tighten up so I try to get out at least three days a week on the trikes. No issues so long as I'm not already tightening up. In other words I feel my Asthma is better controlled when I'm riding.

IF I feel short of breathing capacity while riding I use my reliever and ease off the work load until I am breathing clear and easy. To do otherwise is likely to overload your heart.

 

[John the Canuck]

only slightly asthmatic - under control with inhalers morning and evening - so cannot really comment

but ''out of breathe stop periods for recovery'' on inclines/hills have decreased
... so i'm guessing the lung exercise on the bike is indeed helping

PS

also switched to goats milk....

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

only slightly asthmatic - under control with inhalers morning and evening - so cannot really comment

but ''out of breathe stop periods for recovery'' on inclines/hills have decreased
... so i'm guessing the lung exercise on the bike is indeed helping

PS

also switched to goats milk....

Sadly I have had to go completely dairy free now - but I am significantly better for it.

I have also noticed that if I do get tight or wheezy when I am cycling, the worst thing I can do (for my asthma and me) is to actually stop! I loose my breathing pattern and will then have an asthma attack. If I can carry on cycling, just ease off and take my inhaler whilst cycling, I can clear the problems without an attack. I can also walk & swim to my heart's content (or at least could until a dog redesigned my leg) but I can not for the life of me, and have never been able to, run and control my asthma!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Can I ask you asthmatics a question about asthma?

I have been wondering recently if the lung damage I suffered from DVT/PEs has left me with a mild case of asthma. My breathing has recovered very well from my illness, but I find myself very short of breath now until I have warmed up on a ride. After about 15 minutes of effort, I feel fine and have no further problems while riding.

What worries me most is that I get random bouts of shortness of breath when at rest. I don't think they are clotting related because an embolism is there all the time. When I had my PEs, I was short of breath for weeks, not minutes.

The thing is, I don't experience any wheeziness. One minute my lungs are working fine, the next, I feel as though I have been whisked up to high altitude without an oxygen mask!

As long as I avoid getting into a panic about it, the problem typically goes away after a few minutes.

I was wondering if any of you experience asthma in that way? I had thought that asthma always causes wheezing, but read recently that sometimes it does not.

I am seeing my consultant soon, so I will bring the subject up with him, but would like to know about other people's experiences.

Cheers!

Tricky one to answer properly so I hope this makes sense. What asthma does is to make the airways constrict so that the air simply can't flow in or out of the lungs properly. For me this is often associated with wheeziness but not always in the case of a milder attack.

Chlorine at the swimming baths used to affect me in the way you describe - not a full blown asthma attack but a feeling like there is no air to breathe in, which clears after a few minutes.

Definitely worth bringing up with your consultant as it is quite possible to develop asthma later in life, particularly if there have been other problems.

 

[ColinJ]

you don't need to be wheezy to have asthma/asthma type symptoms. I don't often get wheezy to the audible stage at least not without a stethoscope. My asthma is not usually the wheezy type. I get very short of breath though and it can take between 30 mins and a hour before my lungs have warmed up enough for me to cycle 'hard' ...

Hmm, that does sound like what I experience.

I always liked to get a decent warm-up in before riding but post-PE, I struggle a bit without one. Two of the three routes that I normally do from home involve me going straight up long hills. The third is to ride only two miles to the foot of the 5.5 mile Cragg Vale climb and then do that. Unless I warm up on my gym bike at home first, I am always climbing from cold.

Oh, talking of 'cold' - cold air irritates my lungs more than it used to, and a recent cold knocked the stuffing out of me and affected my breathing for over three weeks. Both of those seem to indicate sensitive lungs.

Edit: don't want to worry you, but have you read this http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bronchiectasis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

I don't like the sound of that! I am not coughing though ... When I got my first PE, I had the cough from hell - I sprained my back muscles or cracked a rib from endless violent coughing (whatever it was - it hurt!). I am now very wary about coughs - anything more than the odd cough now and then and I would be back down to the local Health Centre.

Tricky one to answer properly so I hope this makes sense. What asthma does is to make the airways constrict so that the air simply can't flow in or out of the lungs properly. For me this is often associated with wheeziness but not always in the case of a milder attack.

Chlorine at the swimming baths used to affect me in the way you describe - not a full blown asthma attack but a feeling like there is no air to breathe in, which clears after a few minutes.

Definitely worth bringing up with your consultant as it is quite possible to develop asthma later in life, particularly if there have been other problems.

Yes, I'll see what he has to say.

I only see the consultant once a year so I need to discuss whether it might make more sense to stick to seeing my GP unless there are complications. I'm not clear what the protocol is as things stand now. It is hard to get hold of the consultant at short notice, but the GP might refer me back to him.

Generally, I am pleased with my progress. These bouts of breathlessness are not severe enough to cause me major problems, but they unnerve me because they remind me of the trauma that I suffered with the PEs.

 

[idlecyclist]

I have mild asthma also. Its kept under control with inhalers , have not had a serious attack for about 10 years now. (with serious meaning I've ended up in Hospital)
Cycling certainly does help.

The best way for me to describe what an asthma attack feels like is to say, Its like trying to breath through a small straw.
Not necessery weezey, you just cant get enough air in.

 

[byegad]

I think the thing we need to remember, asthmatics and others is that it can and does kill and must be treated seriously.

 

[ColinJ]

The best way for me to describe what an asthma attack feels like is to say, Its like trying to breath through a small straw.

Not necessery weezey, you just cant get enough air in.

Hmm ... I can actually get air into my lungs, but it sometimes feels like the oxygen isn't getting into my blood, which is the problem I had with my PEs.

I will ask the consultant later in the week.

 

[albion]

I get exercise induced asthma. My granny gear is useful to stop the airways shrinking, especially on hillier sections when starting off.

I'd say there are two things Colin. That being oxygen blood transport efficiency and oxygen supply efficiency.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I think the thing we need to remember, asthmatics and others is that it can and does kill and must be treated seriously.

it kills approximately 3 people every day in the UK alone.

It has killed me twice now, leaving me being resuscitated. the last time I have no memory of what happened for around 6 hours and to be honest, I don't expect to survive my next major asthma attack, nor do my doctors or my consultant expect me to survive it. that's not a pessimistic view, it is a realistic view.