exercise induced asthma

[cornishgirl54]

I wonder if anyone else finds this also happens to them and whether they have any advice if so. When I've been running for about 10 minutes I start to have to clear my throat often and then I begin to cough every so often. It's not a proper coughing fit but frequent little coughs. When I stop running, the coughing stops after a few minutes. I think I've always had it if I run, I don't really notice it much but my son commented about it when I got back from running today so I thought I would see if I can find anything out about it. I suspect it's low level exercise induced asthma, which I think is reasonably common, and I wondered if anyone else had it and had any words of advice about it?

[Irish-John Graduate]

I was diagnosed with it, and also Cold Induced, asthma many many years ago.

So, I really believed I could never run. However, I started the C25K programme in a fit of desperation to try and do "something" that would take my mind off a lot of problems I was having, but never expected to get past week three or four let alone actually complete it. I very nearly passed out the very first day when my lungs rebeled - I certainly do not recommend pushing yourself at all like that, I was just suicidally stubborn - and never in a million years would I have thought that, very slowly, I am now able to run Half Marathons (very slowly compared to most, very quickly compared to some, but "comparison is the Thief of joy" as they say

About 7 or 8 months into this running lark I realised I hadn't used either of my Nebulizers in "a while", after a year or so I had forgotten where I'd put them. I still breathe heavily when I run, it took a long while before my lungs reconditioned themselves to where I can say short sentences as I run, and because I was a decades long heavy smoker on top of asthma I will never be able to "have a conversation" while running.

But I have great fun so that's all that matters

Have your GP check you over for running, take it slow - really slow, I was running slower than I could walk when I began - and follow the programme at your own pace, in your own time. Less than ten percent graduate on time/with 5k. The programme will build up your stamina to where you can run non stop for thirty minutes and then the rest is built on that

Wishing you many happy miles in your future

[cornishgirl54 Graduate in reply to Irish-John]

Thank you for such a very helpful reply. I don't reallyl find I have a huge problem with breathing when I'm running but the coughing is annoying. I will see if I can book a GP appointment but I don't want to take an appointment that someone more ill might need, particularly at the moment. I think running slowly is good advice, thank you.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

At the moment the pollen count is high and that has an affect on a very large proportion of the population, even though many have never been diagnosed with hay fever.

Keeping your pace slow will nearly always get you through.

[cornishgirl54 Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

I did wonder if the pollen might be making it worse at the moment, thank you. I'm running along the hedgerows as well, they're lovely but they're laden with flowering trees, which I'm sure is not helping.

[Irish-John Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

A darn good point!

I did have a little bit more trouble running a couple of weeks ago when the pollen count was significantly higher than normal here. I just didn't make the connection

[IannodaTruffe Mentor in reply to Irish-John]

I have been a hay fever sufferer since I was a child, so am acutely aware of it and always find it mildly amusing that so many people refer to their allergic symptoms as summer colds, or in my wife's case her Wimbledon cold.

[Irish-John Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

"Wimbledon cold" - love it! 😂😂😂

I never really think much about 'health' because it wasn't really a concept in the culture I was raised in. "Strength" was, and in retrospect a "grim Stoicism". You were either on your feet or half dead or further in your own bed or a hospital. It's why I grew up never realising that I actually had a few options when it came to my physical problems, and maybe explains why one could cheerfully smoke a cigarette pack or two a day while having very active asthma etc.

It wasn't a case of the banal "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" but more a "life is hard, no point in whining about it, don't get too attached to it either".

Thank God those days and that mindset are fast disappearing