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A Chick’s Guide to living with Exercise-Induced Asthma

posted by ChickSpeak
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 6:52pm CST

I was ten years old when it first happened.

One afternoon, my family decided to tackle the biggest, baddest hills in our town by way of bicycle. Halfway up Brams Hill, the most unforgiving of the gnarly ascents, my breathing became so labored that I had to lie down on the side of the road in a fatigued stupor. It took a full twenty minutes to recover. However, I mistakenly wrote off this behavior as just being out of shape.

Bad move.

A few years later, on an extraordinarily humid spring afternoon, I was running a 800-meter dash. The horror-filled, downright scary wheezing incident that occurred afterwards took almost two weeks of bed rest to recover from. After a series of seemingly endless doctor’s visits and tests, the news became clear: I suffered from exercise-induced asthma.

Exercise-induced asthma is a type of asthma caused by exercise. Regular asthma is a chronic inflammation of the bronchi, which are the breathing passages of the lungs. An asthma attack occurs when patients endure worsened inflammation from exposure to certain irritating factors, such as smoke or pet dander. These situations that provoke an attack are called triggers. The trigger of exercise-induced asthma can be any form of exercise, from running to swimming to playing football.

In otherwise healthy people who do not experience asthma any other way, exercise can still cause an asthma attack. This is because the contrast of warm and cool air while exercising can be a shock to one’s lungs. When at rest, one breathes through his or her nose. The nose warms and humidifies the air before it goes to the lungs, making the person more comfortable. However, when exercising, people typically breathe through their mouth, which does not warm or humidify the air.

This quick movement of cool, dry air can trigger an attack. Playing sports or working out in cold air is exceptionally difficult for those living with EIA. Additionally, some with this condition may experience an attack when faced with other changes in the temperature or humidity of air, such as exiting a warm car during the wintertime.

During an asthma attack, the bronchi become inflamed and secrete mucus, which obstructs the airway. This causes the common wheezing sound.

While normal breathlessness traditionally fades after one completes his or her athletic endeavor, those with EIA endure continued wheezing for anywhere from fifteen minutes to a half hour. Symptoms may include coughing, fatigue, poor athletic performance or uncomfortable chest pain or tightness.

The reason EIA is an issue is that oftentimes people do not realize they have a problem. Instead, they assume that their body’s normal response to exercise is to wheeze or that they are simply out of shape. Because of this, an exercise-induced asthma attack has the potential to escalate into a threatening situation. Speak with your doctor if you experience one or more of the above symptoms.

It may be a sign of something else besides being athletically challenged. Your physician can recommend you to an asthma specialist, who will test your lung capacity through breathing exercises. Sometimes, he or she will test your breathing after exercise, like running on an in-office treadmill, and determine a course of action.

A diagnosis of exercise-induced asthma isn’t a death sentence. Many famous athletes have accomplished their dreams with EIA. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, it is estimated that twenty percent of all highly competitive athletes and one in every six Olympic athletes has exercise-induced asthma. For example, Peter Vanderkaay, the anchor in Micheal Phelps’ gold-medal winning 4 x 200 relay team, is living with EIA.

EIA can be controlled through the use of an inhaler, such as Xopenex or Albuterol, prior to exercise. If Olympic gold-medalists have accomplished their goals while living with this condition, Chicks everywhere can, too!

Maxine Frendel is a New Jersey-based freelance writer and student living with exercise-induced asthma. She is also a competitive freestyle skier with a passion for moguls. Every time she hits the slopes, she has to remember to bring her inhaler.

Sources: WebMd, EMedicineHealth, MedicialNewsToday