Helpful asthma hints?

[Miranda]

This is VERY important regarding medicine...

OK, for your albuterol... are you taking your medicine at least 15 minutes *prior* to your exercise?

If you do not, trying to take it after you are already in a full blown attack will do little, to no, good. Unfortunately ...as you have already figured out.

I have asthma /allergies, and live with a house full of people who do as well. We've had some literally near death ICU experiences with the disease. Our monthly meds also literally total more than my house mortgage payment. However... those same meds, and bills for a specialist doc I *love*, are way cheaper that the hospital. Or priceless alternative.

With the right asthma action plan, you should be albe to climb all the hills you want. Or as my doc told me once, "the disease should not 'define you'... or your life's desires, etc.". Did I mention I love him? Oh yea, sorry, already been over that one already lol.

OK... I just stupidly did myself in asthma-wise on my vacation by thinking I could get away without pre-medicating. It was only a short hill / ride to run an errand. Tried it without the RXs. Wrong. Thought I'd nearly die.

At home... I remember to take my meds pre-ride by doing it as "step #1" in my gear prep ride routine etc. I find it takes about that long anyways to eat /drink a last minute snack, check bike tire pressure, get dressed, chamois lube etc. Viola... by the time I'm ready to saddle up... the meds are kicking in.

On the "no place to warm up"... can you spin easy in the sub for laps before heading out? Or even a parking lot when the club ride meets? Just an idea.

I have a hill that comes up pretty quick on my usual leave from home route too. Not super steep. But, the pre-meds are the total key. Plus, I have other ones also as part of the maintenance.

I also check the humidity hour by hour on weather dot com in my riding area before I go out. And from one of our drug companies, get auto-emails on the pollen levels and type in our area. Wind speed and recent wet and/or dry conditions are also a factor in traveling vectors.

It's really become part of a "science" of my riding. I even type it in my Garmin TrainingCenter notes section... "meds were this, felt this asthma-wise on X % grade hill with said drug regiem, percepitation etc.". I know that sounds OTT. But it really helps you nail down what you need. And helps to communicate more effectively with your docs.

Lastly... if you are fully "drugged up well"... and you are sure this is enough... it might just be the need for more hill training to increase your aerobic capacity / fitness level in that situation. Just be safe and smart in doing it.

I wear a HR. If my "wind-less-ness" is due to my HR reaching it's max... and when my HR recovers, and I can breath again... I know it was not the asthma. Hope that makes sense. If it was the asthma... you would not be able to recover when your HR came down... you would still be constricted... and could not suck wind in to breath... that would be the asthma.

Everyone has a VO2 max as you may already know. I think being an asthmatic gives us a slight disadvantage to that. But, other factors apply. I posted some thread about it that a while back. The vo2 max part. Some of it's train-able. Some of it's genetic.

For training... if fully drugged etc... Spinning class is good for hill / wind intervals... a cpr instructor is right there. Indoor trainer... don't have to get back home. Or, outside, as least a ride partner for some SAG support. Let someone else in the group know about this etc.

The performance with the allergies /asthma is accumulative too. If EVERYTHING is working against me... I will modify my ride performance. Finding where your own personal limit is a balance of trial and error.

Good Luck!