Originally Posted by The_Convert
Ya I was wondering about taking an OTC to just curb the allergie reception, rather than trying to curb the asthma specifically. Maybe I should check at the pharmacy to see if there is anything else out there. I also think it may go down with exposure, but for me a cat 3 cross race is a friggen painful way to get used to my allergies, not to mention the $20.
Don't make the extremely common error of thinking that fixing your allergies will decrease your risk of an asthma attack. While asthma might be triggered by your allergies, fixing your allergies WILL NOT fix your asthma. Asthma is an inflammatory illness. Treating the inflammation is ESSENTIAL to reducing your risk of an asthma attack. If you have asthma, it will likely be triggered by several different things: allergies, viral illnesses, exercise, cold, or just a random strike from the asthma demons. Taking something over the counter will give you a very false sense of security. Moreover, your next asthma attack could be life threatening (as the severity of your
usual asthma attack does not predict the severity of your
worst asthma attack). MANY athletes who have thought they had "mild" or "intermittant" asthma and have played around with OTC meds have ended up DEAD DEAD DEAD. So, ignore anthing you might read on this forum or anything you might hear from anyone else (even yourself). Go see a competent internist NOW and get this taken care of. Untreated or improperly treated asthma is a fatal disease -- even more fatal than some forms of cancer. Properly treated asthma is barely a nuisance.