All winter i’ve been trying to shift the remnants of (man)-flu from my lungs. After trying all the usual options, including not riding (which interestingly made it worse), i went to the doctors. A dose of anti-biotics made no difference. Chest X-ray and blood tests showed there’s nothing untoward there.

Today the doctor reckons that it’s exercise induced asthma. All the symptoms i have seem to match it. I’m 48 years old, and i’ve had no history of asthma.

So i now have a ventolin inhaler to try before each ride. If this works he’s recommending continuing with lung capacity tests. I’ll be giving this a go at the weekend.

Does anyone else on here suffer from this ?.

Loads of us.

Mine’s also induced by loads of other things, like illness, cold air, feather pillows, hayfever…

I have both allergy and exercise induced. You probably have a blue inhaler – the reliever kind. I woudl suggest if it works but you find you need to use it too much (like every ride) then you should switch to the brown preventer inhaler, I did this about a year ago and it has made a huge difference to my general asthma issues.

I do a lot of exercise and where before I used the blue inhaler every day, now I hardly ever use it, just a quick puff on the brown morning and night (no comments needed!)…

yes, very mildly (also cat / hayfever induced). have a blue inhaler, use it about every 6 weeks I reckon, maybe not even that.

PS mine started at about aged 30

GB,

I would not worry at all about using ventolin before every ride if that is only when you need it and it works. However, if you find you also need it fairly regularly at other times and more days than not then you may benefit from a preventor inhaler (sometimes brown but there are lots of different types)

My asthma also came on suddenly and late in life albeit not quite as late as yours.

I use Seretide which is a combinatation inhaler ie. a preventor cortico-steroid and a long lasting reliever (referred to as protectors)- but I still use ventolin before exercise. I probably don’t need to but I doubt it is doing me any harm.

Best to take ventolin a while, say 20 mins or so, before exercise – rather than take it with one leg already over the bike. Reaches is peak effectiveness in about an hour from what I have read.

me too, however i dont bother with the inhaler, went the docs did a quick blow test and i have about 70% lung function, never smoked but my mum was a 40 a day when i was growing up, i found its best to ride not race and get the widest bars you can, as it opens the chest i find and helps with breathing

I think I have developed it after years of occasioanlly feeling a bit wheezy, and a really bad,m lingering bronchial chest infection this winter (for which I took no time off work and didn’t go to the doc because it was non-productive).

If I exercise hard my breathing becomes realy restricted (in and out), I sound like a sealion. After most rides I continue coughing once I have stopped, and if it’s cold I often find myself coughing as I ride….

Thanks for the replies all of you, that’s exactly the sort of info i was looking for 🙂

I’ve been given the blue inhaler. The doctor didn’t mention different types.

OMITN, that sounds much like the symptoms i’ve had this winter, possibly a bit worse. Mine were better some days than others.

It took me 2 months to finally get around to going to the docs to get it checked.

Get yourself to the docs & have it checked out ! 😉

I have had this for 30+ years and it became much better when on.
Symbicort – A combination of Budesonide and formoterol.
The good news is that regular cycling will increase your lung capacity and help a lot. Very wise to suggest taking the inhailer a good 1/2 hour before meeting up for the ride and taking with you.
Another advantage is that the unit is really compact and durable.

I can second “Symbicort..” 🙂

I have had asthma since I was 8 and it plagued my life, rugby career and general exercising until I started using Symbicort 3 years ago, at the age of 29..

Since starting to use this drug I’ve only used my Salbutamol inhaler (reliever) twice. Both of these occassions were when I had a really bad cold / chest infection.

OMITN, that sounds much like the symptoms i’ve had this winter, possibly a bit worse. Mine were better some days than others.

It took me 2 months to finally get around to going to the docs to get it checked.

Get yourself to the docs & have it checked out !

I was in the docs for something else (signing Étape entry form) and asked him what he thought. He couoldn’t hear any wheezing (hey, I was in a nice warm surgery not doing any exercise) and told me there was nothing wrong with me….

(Mind you, he is the same doc who admitted to not understanding the report from an echocardiogram…. Just as well I went and saw a cardiologist privately..!)

I’ve had it from the age of 3, hospitalised many time as a kid and young teenager. Took up running in my late teens and although still suffer it has improved a lot.

Need to take medication twice daily before training sessions but largely manageable.

Really common
It’s funny how nearly all pro cyclists have it as ventolin is a stimulant!

It’s funny how nearly all pro cyclists have it as ventolin is a stimulant!

Maybe cos they use their lungs more than a regular Joe and are at risk of damaging the bronchial tubes, as far as I know ventolin does not give any advantage to a person who doesn’t have asthma.

I too have exercise induced asthma, taking symbicort twice a day and ventolin half an hour before a ride and maybe during the ride if the ride is long and hard. I first noticed the problem during races when I had finished and my lungs were goosed but my legs felt the same as at the start.

Strangely when I do the breath test, I tend to blow it higher than the expected level!!

Nothing to worry about too much, find a doctor who is sympathetic to atheletes and knows a bit about asthma too.

God luck and keep riding…

Hand up – I’ve been on the blue for years (20+) but had a couple of bad bronchial infections / mild pneumonia back in 06 and 07 which got me back to a proper asthma clinic for the first time in years. Once the infections were cleared they changed my regime to a different medication to be used once daily (Clenil Modulite) and the blue when needed. Which is now hardly ever.

One thing I find – particularly in cold / damp weather – I just don’t start rides well, which I put down to that sudden need to access the deeper parts of the lungs as your heart rate rises, the impact of the cold / damp air initially causes a reaction akin to a mild asthma attack. So for 20 mins I can be wheezing like a 40 a day man while others think that we’re just warming up. But once things settle, the lungs relax and I can start to breathe properly again – after that I’m good and touch wood haven’t really needed to use the blue on a ride since I started this Clenil regime.