Hello all,

I am new to the forum and am seeking advice. Essentially, I am wondering if any of you have found any hints/non-traditional medicine/traditional medicine that has helped you with your asthma in hill situations. A bit of history:

I have been commuting 10 miles/day for the past 6 years

I have increased my mileage in the past two months, and have actually started riding just for the sake of riding.

I have been riding around 100-150 miles/week.

I was dx'ed with asthma in high school when I started playing competitive sports, but it still was never that much of a problem. I puffed albuterol pre-game, and I was good to go.

Seasonally, about once a year when my allergies were bad, I ended up in an urgent care setting getting nebulized etc. etc., but otherwise my asthma isn't too much of a problem.

I have taken intal, advair, and flovent seasonally, and albuterol prn for years.

However, as I have increased my mileage, I have found myself completely shut down (asthmatically speaking) by hills in a way that is disproportionate to my level of fitness. My commute didn't have as many hills, or as many steep hills, so yes this is mostly new....but, I am still a bit perplexed.

I find myself extremely frustrated when I can pace for a ride group, but get left in the dust on hills. (or I can pump up them, but when I get to the top I have nothing left and I can't catch my breath or put out energy to keep up. Often, if I pull over and stop a few minutes, I can bring my breath back and resume riding, but this is obviously far from ideal for racing/group rides etc. Albuterol in times like this does not seem to greatly relieve my symptoms.

Yes, I need to go back to my doctor. But, I just went two weeks ago for this. He gave me advair to use daily, and told me to continue albuterol prn before/during rides.

I have never had this much trouble with my asthma in an active setting.

So, thank you if you have actually gotten this far. Does anyone have any advice here? Tricks? Medicines that they have found helpful? This same problem? How do you handle/deal? Did your asthma get worse with age? Thank you for any advice!


PS. I am 23, athletically trim, in shape, been active my whole life