I only get 30 min lunches at work, but stick my ear pods in, set a timer for 12 mins and go for a walk, when my alarm goes off, I know I have 12 mins to turn around and get back. I do this everyday. I aim for 7-10k steps a day.
Despite this, I only have to walk from one end of the office to the other and I'm out of breath and colleagues have started to comment that I'm out of breath and must be unfit.
Im on symbicort for my asthma, and i often use it while out on my lunch walk because i get a cough and tight burning feeling inside my lungs. (On SMART)
Is that it, am I just still unfit?
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Is something in the office causing your asthma. So while you sit down your lungs are getting inflamed, so short walks in the office make you out of breath
If you're just unfit, you should see gradual improvement as you continue to exercise (e.g. being able to further in the same time, or not getting out of breath so quickly) If you are not seeing any improvement, then it's likely to be asthma. Especially if you are doing 7-10k steps a day but getting breathless walking from one end of a room to the other - that sounds much more like asthma than lack of fitness to me.
I know it sounds obvious, but it's amazing how easy it is to be fooled. Before I was diagnosed with asthma, I did the same walk every day for months and couldn't work out why I wasn't getting any fitter! And even now, I often assume that breathlessness is due to lack of fitness, but when I spend time in a location that doesn't trigger my asthma, I magically get 'more fit' overnight!
Hello Butterfly, I got asthma post pneumonia, never been the same fit as before ever. It is taking me longer to walk, impossible to run and hard to climb. If lungs don't work properly, the heart tends to overcompensate. After you eat the circulation system gets busy with handling digestion and you give extra work to your body trying to squeeze the workout in. Maybe switch, first workout, than food. Also Symbicort takes arround 30 minutes to settle and Ventolyn 15 minutes, if you take when the break starts, you will feel the benefits when the break is over. Often people get short moments of fast heart beats after inhalers, it takes a little toll on our hearts being asthmatic. So my totally not medical advice would be, take any inhaler 45 minutes before break, start break with walking, continue with food, let the body digest. We have a saying in my country"The dogs bark and the carriage continues its passing". The colleagues will always have some "smart" things to say...you do you. All of the above is human experience, not medical advice, I would totally suggest a lung CT and an effort test. Stay healthy!
I had the same problem. I go for walks after I get home from work (sometime for over an hour), but still am very short of breath. I also take classes at our local gym ( which are hard because I can' t breathe, but I stay in the back and jump right in when I catch my breath). Just walking around my department, getting dressed, leaves me gasping for air. I now have high blood pressure, and recent blood tests show that I am not getting enough oxygen. Something with my hemoglobin shows like I live in high altitudes where there is low oxygen, but I don't. I live in Canada. My co workers are very negative towards me, and will comment I must be very out of shape. They love to point out how they compare to me - which is much better. I never know how to respond. It makes me angry.
Just recently I was given another puffer to try, and it did help quite a bit. My pulmonologist now thinks I have an asthma/COPD going on. I just figure I should be getting better if I go to the gym and walk like I do, but my coughing and shortness of breath is staying the same.
I hope you find out what is happening - either something in the office is setting off your asthma, or something outside on your walks might be aggravating it.
Me neither! I live in the East coast by the sea. It was explained that I. Not getting the oxygen I need so my hemoglobin is showing it. I was doing my food preparation for the work week today and just cutting up my veggies and mixing a few things I had to stop and catch my breath. It is very odd. Felt as though I ran a half marathon or something. I catch myself thinking the same as you - am I THAT out of shape. It can't be. I never stop.
who know what the definition of fit really means… I would track how far you can go each day and as you get fitter you will go further in the same time. During Covid my husband walked me every day in a 7.5km loop around our area - I couldn’t walk the uphill section at all at first but by the end of 2020 is was super quick and no ventolin inhaler required..!!! These days I don’t walk as often or as far so not as fit but happy I know I can do better if I want!!
I would say it seems like asthma as you get tightness in chest with it. Also because shortness of breath requires symbicort and if you improve with that then you definitely need to get seen by medical team to make sure your asthma isn’t causing the hindrance in your quality of life. Do you feel the same when going up the stairs or is it worse? If climbing up and running isn’t possible then definitely it seems like asthma breathlessness. One major difference is if you cough whilst breathless then again it’s indication of asthma. Also if you require inhaler after a while aswell that means it’s exercise induce bronchoconstriction.
It’s just my experiences whilst dealing with my daughters asthma as she’s high eosinophils that often gives you more breathlessness so please get full review done to rule out asthma breathlessness as it’s a sigh your mediation needs to go up.
For those who are getting fed up of being labelled 'unfit' when they are breathless due to asthma, if you have the energy (and patience!!!) it might be worth challenging people. I had one man who used to talk about me being unfit every single day, and I just kept responding with "it's not lack of fitness, it's asthma, and even top athletes can get it" It took a few weeks, but he's now tending to ask "is your asthma bad?" when he sees me puffing. People need to shift the mindset that asthma is caused by lack of fitness.
Agree with most comments here - if nothing is improving, you can sometimes do a lot more, but you're now struggling with just walking around the office then it's probably not just you being unfit.
I get extremely fed up with the 'it's just unfitness/deconditioning' from people (including medical professionals) who haven't bothered to ask how it actually happens for me. I'm no Olympic athlete but some days I can do loads no problem, other days I'm very restricted and get short of breath with very little movement. Oddly enough those are usually days my asthma is playing up. Last I heard, no one dramatically loses fitness one day and then regains it the next, nor do they suddenly become incredibly 'unfit' walking past a trigger. If you're able to walk better at the weekend or outside work then as Homely says it could be something in the office that's a trigger? Or a general asthma flare if it's happening everywhere.
I wouldn't say I have 'exercise induced asthma', more that if I'm already struggling then I'll also find it hard to walk around. The worse my asthma is at the time, the more I'll struggle. I remember the first time I had a nebuliser, in hospital for tests. I'd been dragging myself around, feeling so tired and slow. Suddenly I could walk at a normal pace for a bit! Magic fitness potion! (yes, I feel sarcastic given I'm beyond fed up with being blamed for having severe asthma and told I'm not trying hard enough).
I did have a colleague who put two and two together and would ask me if I was ok if I walked past her desk to the kitchen more slowly than usual.
Thank you, yes exactly this, you're not fit one day and not the next! Somedays two flights of stairs, two at a time are fine, other days, a walk to the toilet aren't.
Perhaps slow down to a speed that accommodates Yr breathing.on aluk website,read upon ' controlled breathing technique- pursed lips'.its really useful + gets u breathing deep& slow,which may help.take Yr time walking up n down the office controlling Yr breathing.ignore Yr colleagues, or tell thm u have asthma.yr doing great walking every lunchtime x
Hi have u tried taking your ventolin or salbutermol before exersises. I've been told I'm unfit do alot steps a day with work , just now year later I'm finding walking hills are bit easier
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