I suffer a little from "Effort Asthma". After my ride in to work, I may cough and sputter a little, or breathe wheezily.
My doctors keep insisting that I need to use one of those sprays, currently one called Ventoline, at least 15 minutes before setting out. They say it will improve performance.
However, I have never found this to be true in any way. When exercizing on my stationary bike, taking the spray and then waiting 15 mins before beginning would delay my startup and dampen my motivation. I never noticed better scores with the spray.
My father, whose allergic history is very similar to my own, is freaked out that I am taking these medicines because he himself had such a dramatic allergic attack from one of them, Fluxotide, that it nearly killed him.
In short, I don't like taking the medicines. I worry about side effects, the nasty taste in my mouth, etc.
Any one else have a history with these? Noticed any improvement from taking them?
On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 07:46:52 -0500, Neil Cherry <njc@wolfgang.uucp> wrote:
I have asthma, since I was a child, it's mostly allergic asthma (dust>and cats) but it also seems to be weather related and possibly>exercise induced. For the first 45 minutes of my rides I have a little>trouble breathing (I'm sore) but then I get my 'second wind' and I'm>fine. I won't ride during ozone alert days (usually during August in>NJ).>
I work with my doctor on my treatment and currently I use nothing>other than exercise on a regular basis. Sometimes I have problems>(usually allergic reactions) and I have to use a pill (I can't>remember which one) and a purple disk that I have to inhale. I hate>them both but they work.>
Work with your doctor to see if you can do something with exercise. It>doesn't get rid of the asthma but more likely it allows you to use>what air you can get more efficiently. What works for me may be>extremely dangerous for you.
I don't have asthma, but I when I do my 2 mile hill repeats (a fairly steady 5% grade) about 5 minutes after I get back to the parking lot (I have to drive across the interstate to get there) I end up coughing quite a bit for about 10-15 minutes.
There's about 15minutes of fairly heavy, constant breathing on this ride, then a 5 minute downhill, which I repeat two or three times and during this time the breathing is just fine.
It never happens -on- the bike (fortunately) and is similar to what happens when I have to cut the grass and there's a -lot- of dust and pollen, or when you inhale wrong and fluid goes 'down the wrong pipe'. Very similar to choking than actually coughing, per se.
It stops as suddenly as it begins and then I'm fine.
I suffer a little from "Effort Asthma". After my ride in to work, I may >cough and sputter a little, or breathe wheezily.
Ditto. Or rather, I do if I fail to take some salbutamol beforehand. Which I usually remember to do...
My doctors keep insisting that I need to use one of those sprays, >currently one called Ventoline, at least 15 minutes before setting out. >They say it will improve performance.
In my experience it will. Forget the timing, just take it "a while" beforehand. It's better to prevent an asthma attack than to manage it.
The main effect of taking a reliever (in my case salbutamol) before riding is that it keeps me from having any symptoms at all. My lung capacity is pretty good, I can get the peak flow meter up to around 800, which is the top of its scale, and if I take the salbutamol I maintain this through the ride. If I forget then I lose lung capacity, down to maybe 750 or 720 on the peak flow meter. That's only noticeable in your performance if you ride hard, but it does mean that breathing at all speeds is harder work and it also means I feel tighht about the chest when I stop, which I don't like.
However, I have never found this to be true in any way. When exercizing >on my stationary bike, taking the spray and then waiting 15 mins before >beginning would delay my startup and dampen my motivation. I never >noticed better scores with the spray.
You won't, necessarily, but you will probably notice that your lungs feel less tired - and in my experience exercise-induced asthma is much less common in indoor exercise than when riding outside, especially when the air is cold and damp. Riding hard in cold air is a certain recipe for an attack, for me anyway.
I have tried the preventers, but they made no real difference. Given that salbutamol (of which Allen & Hanbury's Ventolin is the best-known variant) is pretty benign, I don't feel too bad about using that instead of beclamethasone or whatever. My younger son Peter has much worse asthma than I do, he needs the preventers, but I don't because I only really suffer when I have a virus (in whihc case I use the preventers) or when I exercise outside in the cold (in which case I use salbutamol beforehand).
My father, whose allergic history is very similar to my own, is freaked >out that I am taking these medicines because he himself had such a >dramatic allergic attack from one of them, Fluxotide, that it nearly >killed him.
I don't know for sure but I think fluxotide might be a preventer rather than a reliever.
In short, I don't like taking the medicines. I worry about side effects, >the nasty taste in my mouth, etc.
Fair enough, I have had a reaction to the propellant used in some generic salbutamol inhalers, specifically the 3M version. The most common side-effects of salbutamol are slightly faster heartbeat and a general "jittery" feeling, which I only experience if I take the meds after exercise when the symptoms are already abating.
The trainers at the gym I used to frequent were somewhat perturbed when I achieved a heart rate of 220+ during circuit trainig, but since I could happily duplicate that without the meds, and could sustain 185 for an hour on the crosstrainer also without the meds, they decided it was no big deal Some hearts beat faster than others. My resting rate is a bit under 60, which is faster than I would expect for someone reaosnably fit (which I am).
Zog The Undeniable 4 April 2005 21:17:26 [ permanent link ]
Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
I suffer a little from "Effort Asthma". After my ride in to work, I may > cough and sputter a little, or breathe wheezily.>
My doctors keep insisting that I need to use one of those sprays, > currently one called Ventoline, at least 15 minutes before setting out. > They say it will improve performance.>
However, I have never found this to be true in any way. When exercizing > on my stationary bike, taking the spray and then waiting 15 mins before > beginning would delay my startup and dampen my motivation. I never > noticed better scores with the spray.>
My father, whose allergic history is very similar to my own, is freaked > out that I am taking these medicines because he himself had such a > dramatic allergic attack from one of them, Fluxotide, that it nearly > killed him.>
In short, I don't like taking the medicines. I worry about side effects, > the nasty taste in my mouth, etc.>
Any one else have a history with these? Noticed any improvement from > taking them?
I couldn't ride properly if I didn't take Ventolin first.
When I was at secondary school we had to do cross-country running. I came last every week, just after the obese kid. After a few years, a new GP suggested I take the inhaler *before* exercise rather than as a cure afterwards. The next week I came second in cross-country.
My asthma is pretty mild - I can play badminton without the inhaler, but running or cycling require it.
If you only take it for exercise you should be OK. If you're taking it many times a day you should be on a different inhaler - salbutamol can be dangerous as it raises blood pressure.
I suffer a little from "Effort Asthma". After my ride in to work, I may >cough and sputter a little, or breathe wheezily.>
My doctors keep insisting that I need to use one of those sprays, >currently one called Ventoline, at least 15 minutes before setting out. >They say it will improve performance.
Ventolin is a reliever and, I would have thought, the wrong med for you.
I have used Becotide - a preventer - for many years and have just changed to another drug that comes in an inhaler that fires as you breathe in. Sorry, can't remember the name & the inhaler is upstairs.
Since using the preventer more religiously, I haven't had to use Ventolin for months.
For the past year, I have cycled 11 miles each way between home and the railway station in all weathers without ill effects. Just changed job - now cycling 7 or 8 miles to work - still OK.
On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:17:15 +0100, "Just zis Guy, you know?" <norfolk.inspam@dev.null> wrote:
I have tried the preventers, but they made no real difference. Given>that salbutamol (of which Allen & Hanbury's Ventolin is the best-known>variant) is pretty benign, I don't feel too bad about using that>instead of beclamethasone or whatever.
Interesting. Asthma nurse reckoned that there were long term side effects from Ventolin that I was less likely to suffer if I prevented the symptoms with becotide or similar. I wonder what they were...
Zog The Undeniable 5 April 2005 20:58:43 [ permanent link ]
Al C-F wrote:
Interesting. Asthma nurse reckoned that there were long term side> effects from Ventolin that I was less likely to suffer if I prevented> the symptoms with becotide or similar. I wonder what they were...
Elisa Francesca Roselli 6 April 2005 11:13:54 [ permanent link ]
Thanks for all the responses from everyone. I tried the Ventolin again today and you guys are right, I'm not sputtering now, and usually I do sputter a little in the morning after a ride in. I guess the symptoms were just not severe enough for me to want to intervene every day.
I still have my HRM on and I'll see what happens to the heartbeat. Over the last two days, cycling without Ventolin, the rate would go down to 59 resting by mid-morning. At the moment it's 69. I know bpm is not the same as blood-pressure, but I do have a collateral blood-pressure problem for which I am also under medication.
On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 17:58:43 +0100, Zog The Undeniable <hrothgar19@yahoo.com> wrote:
Al C-F wrote:>
Interesting. Asthma nurse reckoned that there were long term side>> effects from Ventolin that I was less likely to suffer if I prevented>> the symptoms with becotide or similar. I wonder what they were...>
High blood pressure.
Is that all? I thought she was implying long term lung damage.
