Originally Posted by
KraneXL
Coughing can definitely be psychosomatically induced, but I've never heard of anyone that can produce phlegm mentally. That's typically produce by infection. The condition sounds congenital but OP did not provide enough information to make that assumption.
I've seen similar to this in friends and others all my life but never understood it. In those case, it had nothing to do with activity, and occurred at all different times and under different conditions. I always thought it was a genetic condition.
Growing up my eldest sister had post-nasal drip and I remember her going through this daily ritual of throaty sound-effects -- especially in the morning. She was the only one in the family that had this.
On my last 600K, I think I might have had a touch of a bug. It was a year end type deal, where fitness was compromised after spending several days in a combine (I farm for a living). So it was a mixed bag of not so ideal items. But bottomline, after most rides, I do have a cough of some sort. Probably proportional to the length/conditions of the ride. I have had a couple of full blown episodes of exercise induced asthma, hence the inhaler. It was easy to self diagnose these times, but challenging to find some way to manage the times when the respiratory episodes are not so debilitating, but still a big problem.
I will be seeing my Dr. with my bronchial concerns in the next month or so. But I'm wanting to get as much info as possible before. I don't know how all of you look at your doctor's visits, but I feel I need to have my ducks in a row, as I'm talking to a man that has limited time and limited knowledge of our sport. Luckily, I have cycled with his assistant and that is who I run much of my correspondence through. Even then, the assistant is a 20-30 mile a ride guy, so some of the challenges we face, he has not encountered.
I lost a sister a couple years ago (75yo) to COPD. So I wonder about genetics. She practiced a pretty sedentary lifestyle however. I remember my Mom coughing a lot. Probably mostly when she was older, as she was over 40 when I was born.