Foo - Asthma???

I underwent allergy testing today to try to find out what has been affecting me so much. There were a couple of unexpected allergies, but the real surprise was the possible diagnosis of mild asthma. As Matt and I sat and waited for the torture tests to ripen, we discussed how common mild, exercise induced asthma is. So, now I am curious.

How many foosters have asthma? What do you do to treat it? Will I always have to use an inhaler?

I know...a lot of questions for the doctor, but they don't come to you as you are sitting on the exam table with scratch tests and needle pokes ripening.

I have some seasonal allergies that trigger exercise induced asthma, albeit very mild.

Using a neti pot 2 - 3 times a week during allergy season is very helpful.
When riding, I carry an albuterol inhaler for really high allergen days and a Primatene inhaler for the not so bad days.

The odd thing is, I did not test positive for the environmental allergies (does not rule them out completely, though). I did, however, test positive to dust mites and mold. 2 things that are going to be nearly impossible to eliminate from my life. The allergy is fairly new, or I am just significantly more sensitive to it now compared to as a child. The mild asthma, I now realize, has been with me my entire life but has gotten worse now with the new allergy sensitivities. I have had that symptoms since I was very young, just didn't know it wasn't normal. *sigh*

I had it pretty bad once. Never before that and never since.

A week after it subsided, I asked the doctor if I could resume exercise. First ride after that, I had a widow maker. In the ER, the previous asthma diagnosis delayed the correct diagnosis.

I hope this becomes something that you can easily cope with.

Allergic to dust, grass, trees, and dander which has triggered an attack. But I do have exercise induced asthma.

I get 2 shots every month so I can keep them my pets.

Prescribed to me are inhalers, allergy pills, nasal spray and eye drops. The only thing I use/do are the shots. I have this thing about too many chemicals going into my body.

I carry the inhaler with me when I practice Martial Arts. Rarely do I need it. For riding, I try not to ride as hard, which is why I cut back on the mtb. :(. If and when I go into an attack, I have to use mind over matter, and 90% of the time I get myself out of it. Just have to remain calm, try not to think that you are dying (even though it feels like it) and breath shorter, slower breaths.

Keep in mind, this works for ME.

My two-year old has asthma, but it could be slightly unrelated to what you are asking as he is supposed to grow out of it by the time he is six.

His is sickness-induced. He has been in mold areas, he has seasonal allergies like I do, we have our smoking neighbor thread, etc, but none of that triggers his asthma. But, if he has a common cold, oh, boy, ER here we come (if we are not perfectly careful).

He gets an inhaler* of some F-name medicine twice a day, no matter what--that is his "controller". If he is sick and starts wheezing, he gets albuterol until the wheezing stops--that is his "rescue". If he still wheezes, ER here we come.

It's actually super easy to control once the doctor diagnosed him. Because he is so young, they hate to call it asthma, but once they called it asthma, we were provided with the tools and education to control it. Before they called it asthma, we were in the ER every two months for 6 months because we had nothing to control it since they didn't want to diagnose anything.

*Normally kids get a nebulizer, but he wasn't getting any of it, so we moved to an inhaler. He's one of the youngest kids on record around here to have an actual inhaler, but the little tot actually knows how to use it. Kids are totally smart until we adults mess them up. :)

I have exercise induced asthma and my only current trigger is ozone. When I lived in Denver, I used inhalers with every bit of exercise. When I lived in New Orleans, the same, and almost ended up in the ER with an asthma attack after a 30mile ride on a high ozone day.

I have been in rural OK now for 7 years and have never needed my inhaler.

The odd thing is, I did not test positive for the environmental allergies (does not rule them out completely, though). I did, however, test positive to dust mites and mold. 2 things that are going to be nearly impossible to eliminate from my life. The allergy is fairly new, or I am just significantly more sensitive to it now compared to as a child. The mild asthma, I now realize, has been with me my entire life but has gotten worse now with the new allergy sensitivities. I have had that symptoms since I was very young, just didn't know it wasn't normal. *sigh*

The biggest contributing factor for dust mites is usually your bed. Get a hypoallergenic mattress pad and change your bedsheets at least once a week. Wash them in hot water and dry on hottest setting. There's some kind of anti dust mite laundry soap, but just using regular soap and hot water will work fine. (I took this advice from my allergist, and many of my AM allergen post nasal drip problems subsided in a week.)

I had asthma all my life. As a kid, I always sat at a bench during gym class, with a medical waiver, because I could not run, jump, or perform any kind of intense physical activity. I used inhalers since elementary school, all the way to college.

At 25 years of age, I started smoking. I've been breathing beautifully since then. And on the last few years I picked up cycling. When I was in century training (for a real century, not the metric wanna-be's) I used to ride 20 and 30 miles daily, 60+ miles on weekend days. My longest ride was 80+ miles... no inhaler whatsoever. I did stop every 15 miles or so, got off the trail (to keep non-smoking cyclists happy) and had a Newport or two.

I know it doesn't make any sense but that's the way it is.

I know it doesn't make any sense but that's the way it is.
Sure, it does. My dad has been a chain smoker since he was 8 years old (no joke). He went to the doctor a few years ago and they said it was nice to see a non-smoker. My dad was like, "what?" The doctor said that my dad had the lungs of a non-smoker. My dad never told the doctor the truth. I just rolled my eyes.

I've had mild asthma since middle school, now in my mid 20s. Seems to have various triggers... cool, humid nights, exercise, ozone, high elevation. I ride very regularly and find that consistent exercise is best at keeping it away.

It's weird, sometimes I'll need the inhaler 2-3 times a week, other times I'll go 6 months without using it. When I lived in Michigan's UP I think I went 2 years without using it. Now that I'm out west, it seems the dry, dusty climate makes it worse. I always carry it but rarely use it.

I develop moderate to severe allergen caused asthma during spring. Hence the reason I now take a very strong shot to avoid a full allergy outbreak.
Plus, I have exercise induced asthma that is worse during cold days and hot high ozone days.
I expect that anything that causes lung issues with me would also cause asthma.
My inhaler is one of the required items on reasonably long rides. I read once that quite a few olympic athletes have EIA.