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Thread: Asthma

  1. #1
    Senior Member William Clough's Avatar
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    Asthma

    Apologies if there is already a thread about this, I can't find it. I've just been diagnosed with late onset Asthma and was wondering if anyone else suffers with this condition and if it affects their running. I've been given a brown preventer and a blue Ventolin inhaler. Although I finish towards the back of a race, I'd really like to carry on running for another 40 odd years. Cheers.

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    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by William Clough View Post
    Apologies if there is already a thread about this, I can't find it. I've just been diagnosed with late onset Asthma and was wondering if anyone else suffers with this condition and if it affects their running. I've been given a brown preventer and a blue Ventolin inhaler. Although I finish towards the back of a race, I'd really like to carry on running for another 40 odd years. Cheers.
    Having had 2 very enjoyable years of fell racing in 1983 & 4 ( by no means a front runner but better results than I'd ever hoped for - always well within +50% of the winners' times) my performance nose-dived in '85 and whilst undergoing an occupational health check in the summer of '86, the company doctor was incredulous that I ran on the fells whilst only drawing 50% of expected VO2.
    That August I was diagnosed with "Exercise Induced" Asthma. I kept on fell running, just reduced my racing. Still thoroughly enjoy long days on the fells, generally exploring more than I could by walking plus supporting; the Bowland Vets teams in the champs, also BG's, CR's, PB's and Joss's. Now that I am 65, I'm having a tilt at a 24 hour Joss this May. Just off to bag 2,500+ feet of ascent with reps on Nicky Nook.


    Ian Roberts, Bowland Fell Runners.
    Last edited by wheezing donkey; 07-03-2016 at 03:35 PM.
    I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!

  3. #3
    I’ve had exercise induced asthma for about as long as I remember. I saw a nurse about it as a teenager and got given the brown and blue inhaler but stopped using the brown and used the blue before exercise. My justification was that I didn’t want to become reliant on any medication and it kind of felt like cheating. Long story short: that was a stupid idea!

    I was able to cope up until last year when I started to race. As I was always used to being out of breath I thought it was just a case of adapting but I didn’t. I found I could run fine but anything longer than a 7 minute effort or a tough hill had me wheezing and struggling to get my breath back for the rest of the race. After a year of struggling, I went to see someone about it, got the brown and blue inhalers back and it has totally changed my running. I am far more comfortable during races and I can also push my body more as my lungs use to give out before my legs got a good work out. On top of that I can finally appreciate views during races, think about tactics and where I want to position myself, look at the best lines on descents, etc. All those things I never had time for because I was fighting with my breath.

    The only difficulty I have found is judging my pace because I am so used to being out of breath all the time, it’s now hard to decide what is too fast, and what is too easy. I am also having to learn to breath again because my default is short shallow breaths and I quickly return to that when I don’t concentrate.
    So my lesson, learnt the hard way, is that the medication works. The brown one really makes a difference. I still get wheezy, so maybe it will never go away, but it’s no reason to stop going in to the hills or racing.

  4. #4
    Senior Member William Clough's Avatar
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    Thanks for some great replies. Corredor, it sounds like it might take a few weeks / months to get the right combination of inhalers and doses. Good luck with your Joss Naylor Ian.

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    Senior Member Sasquatch's Avatar
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    Hi WC sorry to hear you've been having asthma trouble. I've had asthma since young age and am on the blue and red inhalers. I find that as long as I'm regularly using my preventer (your brown one/my red one)things are OK. I take a while to get breathing warmed up and have to use my blue one before and several times during the start of a run, but then don't generally have to use it much after that once warmed up.
    Will Meredith - Pennine

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    Senior Member William Clough's Avatar
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    Cheers Will. It seems to be a reoccurring theme that a preventer inhaler can make all the difference. My asthma is triggered by colds or chest infections,so as soon as the current infection has cleared up I can get back on the hills especially on Thursday nights! Mark F.

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    Master wheezing donkey's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sasquatch View Post
    Hi WC sorry to hear you've been having asthma trouble. I've had asthma since young age and am on the blue and red inhalers. I find that as long as I'm regularly using my preventer (your brown one/my red one)things are OK. I take a while to get breathing warmed up and have to use my blue one before and several times during the start of a run, but then don't generally have to use it much after that once warmed up.
    My asthma clinic has warned me against over use of the blue inhaler. I used to use it as you suggest; BUT a very well known lady fell runner (senior medical consultant) once spotted me indulging after every rep at our interval session and reprimanded me for over use.
    On inquiring at my GP's asthma review clinic, the suggestion was a double inhalation immediately before commencing any effort then repeat every four hours during an extended effort.
    I was a bit of an oddball until I was abducted by aliens; but I'm perfectly OK now!

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    Master
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    The biggest obstruction to air flow - the bit that causes the most resistance - in normal lungs, is the larynx. By the time you are breathless/wheezy from asthma - or from airways obstruction from smoking for that matter - considerable small airways narrowing is present. Fortunately in asthma this is promptly reversible with the "treater" inhaler - but if you are using it many times a day then the dose of the "preventer" may need increasing.

    This laryngeal resistance is what catches many smokers out - it masks the damage they are doing - they have been smoking 20 a day for say 20 years but are not breathless - but they are doing considerable irreversible damage to their small airways, without realising it. Stopping smoking will slow down the process, but it will continue - even non-smokers' small airways resistance increases with age; this increase is worse in smokers, and in ex-smokers somewhere in between.

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    Quote Originally Posted by wheezing donkey View Post
    My asthma clinic has warned me against over use of the blue inhaler. I used to use it as you suggest; BUT a very well known lady fell runner (senior medical consultant) once spotted me indulging after every rep at our interval session and reprimanded me for over use.
    On inquiring at my GP's asthma review clinic, the suggestion was a double inhalation immediately before commencing any effort then repeat every four hours during an extended effort.

    as far as I'm aware you can't actually overdose on the blue (typically salbutamol) inhalers


    My asthma improved with running but it isn't exercise induced. I don't use beclamethasone (brown inhaler) and I only use blue one when it's cold outside or I'm doing a particularly hard run. For me, the worst onset of wheezing is usually from (some) dogs

  10. #10
    Master
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    It is possible to overdose with a salbutamol - blue - inhaler, but it would take many many inhalations. Eventually you would get the shakes, a racing heart, and even a change in heart rhythm. But if you find you are taking multiple inhalations then you almost certainly need different treatment, not simply more of the same - you probably need a higher dose of the steroid inhaler.

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