Originally Posted by well biked
Yep, it's frustrating. I first realized I had this problem when I was around eight, and I remember when I was in junior high I was on the cross country track team, and a few days before our biggest meet it got cold and wet, which put me in distress and I couldn't run in the meet. Back then I didn't have the sense to take many preventative measures, and I'm sure I was out running in the cold leading up to the big meet...........I'm forty-four now, and there was a time a few years ago that I rode with a doctor quite quite a bit, and she had severe asthma. When she found out about my problem, she encouraged me to go to my doctor and ask about Advair, which is basically a preventative maintenance medicine for asthmatics. I did, and the doc put me through a bunch of respiratory tests, gave me "breathing treatments," etc. And I was put on Advair and took it for about three months during the winter. It did me no good, unfortunately. I've known my doctor since we were both about two, and once I said to him, "look, you know how much I love to ride a bicycle. Is there anything I can do so that I can keep riding through the winter without this bronchial problem flaring up?" Actually, I think that's when he put me through the breathing treatments, prescribed Advair, etc. I've pretty much resigned myself to having this problem (believe me, it could be worse), and I've learned how to control it pretty well with limiting my exposure in the worst conditions. During normal activity (walking around, not excercising hard) I'm rarely affected by the cold, it's only if I do vigorous exercise in cold weather that I'm seriously affected, and I'm never affected in warm weather. A cold wind in the face, though, is pretty tough on me, and unfortunately that's pretty hard to avoid on a bicycle during cold weather.
One more thing: is anyone else who has a similar problem very prone to bronchitis? I've had bronchitis more times than I can count, and it usually ends up with an antibiotic prescription being the only thing that will knock it out.
Sorry to threadjack-
In my case I had bad problems with asthma/bronchitis as a kid. It was so bad the doctors told my mom I'd have to wear a sweater or something to keep my chest warm year round. To some extent, that's true. For bike riding I pretty much keep my chest covered year round (usually with a wind vest), except in the hottest of summer days and I keep myself covered up whenever I'm in an air conditioned environment.
My asthma/bronchitis problems died down for many years and in my teenage years it flared up pretty bad again. I'm 24 years old now and the only time I feel the asthma bother me is during exercise in the cold...actually just with bike riding because of the increased wind, during heavy pollen times (pine tree pollen is the #1 culprit), when I work in dusty environments, and during heavy santa ana winds when it is dry as a bone and very dusty. My asthma has never been so bad that I have needed an inhaler...I've only needed an inhaler a few times when I got very sick with bronchitis. Cycling has been a godsend for me. It is much more comfortable than running and it has strengthened my lungs. I do pilates and yoga regularly which has also helped strengthen my lungs.
I'll avoid riding in the rain as for me that's bronchitis waiting to happen and I avoid dry, dusty, windy conditions. Once I get warmed up the cold isn't so bad, but the killer for me is that within the first 2 minutes of leaving the driveway I encounter a hill where I easily reach 25-26 mph just coasting. During the warm months, I love it, but when it is 40 degrees out and I've just left a relatively warm house going down that hill chills every bone in my body. A few minutes later I encounter another hill where I can reach similar speeds just coasting. It was after going down the first hill today when I began to feel nauseous because of how badly my chest hurt. I've never had lung burn that bad and I hope I never do again. I definantly need to find some sort of face mask to use at least during those two descents and when I encounter a cold headwind.
And as far as bronchitis is concerned, everytime I get sick there is a chance I'll develop bronchitis so I'm extra careful when I'm sick to give myself plenty of recovery time. Eating a healthier diet, drinking herbal teas, and eating foods that help strengthen the bronchiols (radishes for example) have helped cut down on me getting bronchitis.