General Cycling Discussion - Allergies, asthma and cycling

How do you cope?

rub my eyes and nose a lot

http://www.mfiap.com/gs/

Singulair works great for me. However, although I'm a lifelong asthma sufferer (65), and now have COPD, my main allergies are from cats and some other animals, not so much from pollen. However, I used to suffer exercise-induced attacks, but not since using Singulair. I also use a Serevent inhaler 2x/day.
I suggest you see an allergist, anyway.

As Artmo said, see an allergist if you haven't already. I prefer Allegra over the other anti-histamines, and I use Advair regularly, as well as Maxair sometimes before or during a ride.

I get the allergy shots. I've been getting them once a week for about three years now. It gives me a chance to get out the house for a ride once a week and flirt with the nurse at my doctor's office. The allergies seem to be going away....slowly but surely.

Allegra and Advair, occassionally Albuterol.

I try to cope with Albuterol, Zyrtec, Flonase, Opcon-A and monthly shots. (Boy, I'm a druggie). But if I ride hard, I have to pull off to the side. Next thing you know, I'm draped over my bike wheezing like my puppy's chewed up squeeky toy. If I have a good day, I could try to ride home. On a bad day, I slowly walk/ride home and it takes about 3 days to recover.

I take the normal run of allergy meds. However, biking in pollen season can quickly lead to an asthma shutdown regardlessw of the meds. If I want to ride between mid march and mid june, I wear a 3M HEPA mask. It has a Darth Vader look to it that scares the crap out of the stroller set on the local trail. What more could you want. bk

I use Claritin for my allergies ... it's GREAT!! Works like a charm!!

I use Serevent for my asthma, when I'm on long rides.

I use Ventolin for my asthma, when I'm on short rides or exercising for less than an hour.

I occasionally suppliment those with some sort of sinus medication.

With the combination of all of that ... I'm fine.

And I can tell you this ... before I was prescribed Serevent I struggled on rides!! I couldn't understand why I had so much trouble climbing hills or exerting myself on my rides, meanwhile other people seemed to be able to just fly with the greatest of ease. I also died in cooler to cold weather or damp weather. The Serevent has made a WORLD of difference!!! :) :) :)

Sucking all that exhaust, especially diesel, doesn't help any...

I moved to a house with hardwood floors and NO carpet. Made all the difference.

I moved to a house with hardwood floors and NO carpet. Made all the difference.


That's the type of place I'd love to live!! However, I am sharing accommodations now while I'm going to school, and unfortunately the place is thick with carpetting ... old stuff with probably years of dust and who knows what all tucked away in its fibers. It's not my place, so I can't rip it all out ... and I couldn't afford to lay down hardwood anyway. But since I've moved here, I spend my evenings sneezing and sneezing and sneezing ........... getting outside among the dust, winter mold, and pollen is almost a relief! :D

One thing I did that really helps in heavy pollen times. I had a new circuit board put in our forced air heater. It allows me to run fan only. During pollen time I can circulate and filter the air in the house. I also put pollen filters in the heater/air unit. Home is my refuge. bk

Normaly I don't have such problems, but right now I'm getting over a really bad cold. I'm so congested that yesterday when I went running, I had such a bad coughing fit that I barfed.

I had a friend in Denver with severe allergy problems. Aside from meds he wore a simple dust filter mask on good days. On bad days he had a battery powered airfilter on his rear rack and an air hose leading to a face mask.

That's the type of place I'd love to live!! However, I am sharing accommodations now while I'm going to school, and unfortunately the place is thick with carpetting ... old stuff with probably years of dust and who knows what all tucked away in its fibers. It's not my place, so I can't rip it all out ... and I couldn't afford to lay down hardwood anyway. But since I've moved here, I spend my evenings sneezing and sneezing and sneezing ........... getting outside among the dust, winter mold, and pollen is almost a relief! :D

Even more reason to get out and ride:

A Sharp Intake of Breath (http://www.guardian.co.uk/chemicalworld/story/0,,1219598,00.html)

Even more reason to get out and ride:

A Sharp Intake of Breath (http://www.guardian.co.uk/chemicalworld/story/0,,1219598,00.html)


Exactly!!

Where I lived before, I had an apartment with wall-to-wall carpeting in two rooms, and tile floors in the rest of the place. Because I grew up with carpeting, I was under the impression I had to have it, and so I had all sorts of rugs and mats and things in the other rooms. I had a bit of a flood in there one year which soaked most of those mats and rugs, so I threw them out ....... and what a difference!! Even though I still had the wall-to-wall in two rooms, getting rid of all the floor coverings in the rest of the rooms meant that I went from sneezing and sniffling all the time to only about half the time. I felt much better ... I felt like I could breathe!!

Of course now I've moved back into the world of carpetting again for a while, but hopefully it won't be for too much longer.

i've actually just started ignoring my allergies.... even when i was mowing i just ignored them. i would sneeze alot... i decided if breathing was that important to my body it'd learn how to deal with allergens. i think my allergies are slightly better than they used to be. i would get hives when i first started mowing. now i don't.


i'm not bothered that much by them anymore. i will have a fit of sneezing every now and then. but that's it.

i've actually just started ignoring my allergies.... even when i was mowing i just ignored them. i would sneeze alot... i decided if breathing was that important to my body it'd learn how to deal with allergens. i think my allergies are slightly better than they used to be. i would get hives when i first started mowing. now i don't.


i'm not bothered that much by them anymore (when not mowing or weedeating.). i will have a fit of sneezing every now and then. but that's it.

Yes. It's for each of us to decide how important breathing is to our bodies.

Not a "mask," but nevertheless the ultimate final solution ( for the condition)...