Been out on my bike twice this weekend & I always get much wheezier when it’s pretty cold, anyone have the same experience or advice on how to minimise the effects of the cold?

I’m the same when I first go out in the cold, but it settles down once I have been going for a bit.
I use my inhaler just before I go out to try to ease it a bit and start off slow

I Use a buff at first to warm the air up as it’s the cold that sets me off. Once the lungs are working i stick it in the bag as buffs make me bloody hot

I was the same; it appears I’m not asthmatic any more, though. I’m not going to claim anything here, but have you considered tai-chi?

Same here. Although I tend to find the change in temp affects me more than the actual cold. Blue inhaler before I start really helps, and when the weather is on the change I tend to increase my preventer inhalers too for a day or two

I’m exactly the same, winter riding is totally miserable for me, not because of the wet and mud but because the cold air triggers my asthma worse than any other tine. I found it especially frustrating this year as had built up a reasonable level of fitness (for me) only to struggle on pretty much every cold ride. I also find if I have to use my blue inhaler too much it gives me the jitters and makes me feel a bit crap.

Went to the docs just after Xmas when it got really cold and he was great. As a fellow sportsman he understood my obvious frustration and put me on a steroid preventer inhaler (the brown one) to try for a month.

Effects were almost immediate and basically haven’t had to use the blue one at all even on long hilly rides. It got to the point half way through the trial month where I would see how well it worked by going out from cold straight up a big climb and putting in a lot of effort, something that would usually see me wheezing and giving up. Not only do I feel good on the rides now, I can always take a full breath in the cold and have been thoroughly enjoying riding.

I’m not a doctor but it sounds like this may also work for you. Beauty is when it warms up and I don’t need it I can just stop using it.

Always worth checking that your asthma is as well controlled as it could be. I’ve been given various new medications over the past few years, a couple of which have made a staggering difference to how much I need the blue inhaler.

Cold air is fairly well known for making asthma worse. Hayfever gets me too 🙁 While it has been settled for a few years, there were a couple of times my steroid dose was higher in winter and spring to help.

The buff trick mentioned above is the one I use.

I have asthma induced more so during exercise and especially in cold weather. I have to breath through a buff if I don’t then I have issues that basically mean I wouldn’t be able to ride or jog in the cold!!

Agree with martinhutch – I have been through many preventer meds and am now on a brilliant new one which means I haven’t taken ventolin for months now – it’s a powder called budesonide. Def worth talking to your asthma nurse to try something different

From my understanding you’re in good company, over 50% of Tour de France riders and even more cross country skiers suffer from Exercise Induced Asthma in cold weather as they train outside for long periods of time.
Part of the function of the lungs is too warm the air as it enters allowing more oxygen to be taken from the air, when it is cold and you start to breathe deep from exercise, essentially the lungs get to a point where they are struggling to warm the air and dry out, and the cells lining airways become inflammed it usually peaks about 5-20 minutes into exercise.
I suffered badly for years and found breathing through a Buff really helped as it becomes moist and keeps air warmer.
Also one of the Powerbreathe almost as a warm up tool getting the lungs going before you launch into exercise.
Hope that helps, i’m no doctor, it is just the way it was explained to me

I find a good smear of Vicks rub on my chest helps. Have a couple of puffs of blue inhalor before setting off, and keep it handy to use whenever you get short of breath.

cheers all, I forgot my blue inhaler yesterday & really struggled, seemed harder than usual today as well. I’m on a brown beclomethasone inhaler as well, in summer never need the blue one.

I’m on a brown beclomethasone inhaler as well,

If the beclomethasone is working for you and you’re happy with you, that’s great, but swapping from that to Seretide (flucticasone and salmeterol) transformed my asthma in a matter of weeks.

You might find a bit of lung capacity you never even knew was there!

I struggle in the cold badly, have tried the brown & pink inhalers but neither seem to help control things. The only one that works is a few goes on the blue before I start and maybe the odd other puff, especially when racing.

Settles down when it warms up, but it then get the joy of exercise induced asthma, which is actually quite unpleasant. Again, the only thing that seems to help is the blue.

Kind iPod used to it now, so I just get on with it.

Go and have a chat with the local asthma nurse (in my experience often more clued up than the GP). The pink Fostair inhalers have been great for me.

I’ve been seeing a lung consultant because my asthma doesn’t seem to improve no matter what the treatment is.

He said that there is a much higher instance of asthma in ‘athletes’ than there is in the normal population. This is due to the higher volume of air that is constantly passing into the lungs which irritates the tubes and causes them to become inflamed.

He also said that everyone’s asthma is different but that only around 70% of people with asthma can be controlled through normal methods (inhalers etc) and the other 30% are a different kind of asthma which needs different treatment and that most of the ‘athlete’ asthma falls into the 30% category.

Upshot for me is a lot of tests including a VO2max style test where they’re apparently going to “up the watts on me to really make me work”!?!

Serotide (Purple) works for me too but I usually only get affected when it’s damp and warmish (sept/Oct). Even then, the more exercise I do the less I get affected

Cold has the same impact on my asthma, I now start all exercise with a Vicks inhaler as well as my prescription inhalers and that helps

Same issues here – as soon as it gets really cold I start coughing/wheezing.
However, I find it is worse when it is damp + cold, than just cold.

I normally take a couple of hits of blue inhaler before I start, then take it with me and use when required.

Hay fever gets me in the summer, but only certain weeks (I’m sure it is tree pollen)

I used to suffer very mildly at all times of the year – but yes cold and pollen made it worse. However a few years ago when ‘that diet’ was popular on here and I followed it to lose some weight my asthma has almost completely gone (I do still get it after a cold/virus) Once I’d lost the weight I wanted I continued to eat using the guidelines of that diet and I really feel much better – in retrospect I think it’s down to the reduced quantity of dairy I’m eating on a long-term basis, even though I’ve never been identified as being lactose intolerant I think it has really helped my overall health and wellbeing.

He said that there is a much higher instance of asthma in ‘athletes’ than there is in the normal population. This is due to the higher volume of air that is constantly passing into the lungs which irritates the tubes and causes them to become inflamed.

My asthma is entirely exercise induced which is annoying. It came on as an adult (diagnosed age 21) and would fit with the description above.

<cynic> For high level athletes being diagnosed as asthmatic lets them use bronchodilators legally. WADA clearly think there is a problem because the ATUE requirements have been tightened several times in the last 10 years, now requiring a reversible methacholine challenge whereas it once required only a GP’s opinion.

Powerbreathe was mentioned above which is another good call. Using it regularly and for warm up really helps me. I still need my steroid and reliever, but between the powerbreathe and the buff my drug doses are much lower than they would otherwise need to be.

I’ve often been tempted with a powerbreathe but always been a little skeptical. You know like holographic wrist bands.

Asthmatic from 7 years old. Exercise induced mainly now, but had some really nasty – hospital visit required – incidents when I was younger. Cold definitely is something i ‘blue-up’ for. And if it’s moist but warm as well, like sucking air through a paper bag. Just got used to it but…

… when I moved here (Malverns) and was really struggling on steeper hills, a doc I rode with recommended symbicort which was properly life changing. Only use the blue when I know lungs need a kick-start (like cold) and down to one dose a day of symb..

Not heard of Serotide before,just looked it up. Might talk to my Asthma nurse about that… definitely worth getting to know your local nurse, they’ve been great with me.

Oh and I have a power breathe.. don’t use it now. I did get myself a peak flow meter to see if my capacity is holding up as I get older. And it is, so far.

This may be of use to some:

Asthma UK website

I cured my long term asthma tendencies with breathing exercises – technique can play a huge factor – often the suffer is hyper oxiginating their lungs – Effectively inhaling more than exhaling – hence the old brown paper bag trick – One is expending the oxygen – Try to think of your Asthma as a behavioral condition .. Posture and diet hugely important also .. Try for starters inhaling for say 3 seconds and exhaling for 5 ..

I cured my long term asthma tendencies with breathing exercises – technique can play a huge factor – often the suffer is hyper oxiginating their lungs – Effectively inhaling more than exhaling – hence the old brown paper bag trick – One is expending the oxygen –

This is interesting. I’ve found varying my breathing technique when climbing can really make a difference to breathlessness. I try to purse the lips and blow out rather than just exhale, at least on every third breath or so. Seems to allow me to breathe slower.

Oh, yes, and inhaling through the nose every few breaths (if possible) may help alleviate the cold air issue a little. The nasal passages are rich with blood vessels close to the surface and may ‘pre-warm’ the air a bit as it passes through.

Symbicort is really good, should work as a preventer and reliever. Although I still prefer the old blue one as a reliever.

Most people can’t breathe properly, so it’ always looking at whether you breath using your diaphragm as you should.

The other thing to remember is to take the blue one a fair amount of time before you ride. None of this puff and go. Ventolin takes an hour before it reaches it maximum effect. In reality this is impractical, but I would have thought most of us suffers could look to take it 20 mins before we start a ride?

PS I do not practice what I preach and the first 20 or so mins of a winter ride can be tough for me.