Exercise and allergic asthma
Is it a struggle to breathe when you exercise? Do you find that exercise exacerbates your allergic asthma? Me too!
In fact, exercise-induced asthma was what officially sent me into the doctor’s office. I was training for a marathon, and was out with a friend one day when I had an asthma attack. Though it wasn’t my first, I’m embarrassed to say I actually hadn’t realized they were asthma attacks before then–I’d thought they were panic attacks and was too ashamed to admit that I was having them so I’d just ignored them completely. Prior to that exercise-induced asthma attack, I’d always had the attacks when I was under a tremendous amount of stress, and they always left me feeling panicky, so I self-diagnosed them all wrong. (By the way, if you haven’t been to a doctor about breathing troubles, hyperventilating, or panic attacks, go! You may be misdiagnosing yourself like I was.)
So, on this particular day (a gorgeous, Spring morning), I could feel the panic rising in my chest, and could feel myself start to hyperventilate. I was mortified that it was happening in front of a friend, and was furious with my body–I wasn’t under any particular stress! How could it betray me like this…
I sat on the curb to try and catch my breath, and my friend sat beside me, concerned. When it was all over, and I was breathing almost normally again, I appologized like crazy and she said something that stopped me in my tracks:
“Don’t worry about it. I have asthma too, so I can completely relate.”
Asthma?! These things I’d deemed panic attacks were actually *asthma attacks*? I wasn’t really sure which was worse, but went to my doctor with the new information and he confirmed what my friend had said–allergic asthma, in my case.
It had been brought on by the combination of exercise and pollen, not by stress or panic. And with that new diagnosis came some relief, but also some cause for concern–I *love* running, so how could I continue to exercise now that I had been diagnosed with allergic asthma. Fortunately, my doctor’s awesome and spent a lot of time talking with me about the challenges of exercising with allergic asthma. We discussed safe guards, and proactive strategies to keep me running, safely.
Here’s what my doctor recommended:
1) Exercise indoors as needed. First, and foremost, during the spring, I exercise almost exclusively indoors. I have a treadmill and a rowing machine and alternate between the two. I also do yoga and Pilates which are both indoor exercises anyway. Yes, I’d rather be running outside in the gorgeous spring weather, seeing all the beautiful flowers… But, my allergic asthma makes that too challenging, so I stay inside and prevent my symptoms. I do find that after a day of rain, I can exercise outdoors safely and not have to worry about an exercise-induced asthma attack.
2) Always exercise with a friend. Ever since that fateful asthma attack while running, I’ve realized that it’s far better to exercise with someone else when I’m running outdoors. Not only is it safer in general, and a heck of a lot more fun, but this way if I were to have an asthma attack, I’d have someone there with me. I have a couple great friends who love to run, so there’s always someone available, and it’s a wonderful way to catch up and enjoy the outdoors.
3) Be gentle with my body. Okay, so this one’s still a major challenge for me, but the fact is, my body is pretty darn wonderful and healthy and if I have to make minor concessions with it on the subject of exercise-induced asthma, so be it. It’s not thrilling, but it is what it is, and refusing to accept it doesn’t change anything, so I might as well not fight it.
4) Along those same lines, I also just accept that some days aren’t good days for running. I do worry sometimes that I’ll lose fitness if I take too many days off in a row, so I try to find that balance between keeping my body challenged and avoiding asthma attacks out of fear–I bet you’ve had that experience of making your life smaller and smaller (and your lung capacity smaller and smaller, too) because you’re trying to avoid an asthma attack, and for me, that’s not healthy either. So, I make sure my lungs are getting a good, doctor-approved workout at least twice a week, and the rest of the week, I let my body determine the intensity level.
How do you exercise without exercise-induced asthma attacks? I’d love to hear anything you’ve learned about your body!