Can't Breathe up Hills!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

ah ha! that is my overall problem - I never thought about it before.
I do have asthma and am trying a new inhaler that will hopefully help and may get a new preventative. But some of my lung problems may have came from the fact that I almost died of pneumonia when I was only 2 weeks old - who knows what damage was done to those tiny little lungs.

As I am gasping going up hills and the others are merrily chatting along - I just gasp out "Just you all wait until I can breathe again! ! ! "

But I must say, if I keep my weight down, strengthen my legs, and ride tons of hills I do see a lot of improvement.

Wow, that is a total description of me!
Even after riding 3500 hilly miles in 2007, I was still the only one gasping and breathing hard up hills while even people totally out of shape would be chatting and cruising up the hill! (But on the downhills I drop them like flies, and I can ride much longer distances than they can.) And yes I do improve with more walking and biking....but always lagging way behind others when it doesn't seem logical.
It's fascinating to me your story because when I was 6 months old I too almost died of pneumonia- in fact the doctors had already told my parents that they didn't expect me to live...it was that close. Now hearing your story I wonder about the longterm lung damage that may have caused. Pneumonia causes permanent scarring in the lungs, and scarred lung tissue just doesn't work as efficiently. Hmmmm....

[Flybye]

I have very mild asthma and allergies and have found especially in the spring that I feel like I am breathing through a straw and it is only when going up hill. An inhaler helps.

[jobob]

I had an asthma attack yesterday after completing a long climb. It was only the second one I've ever had, the first one was almost three years ago (SadieKate and aka_kim got to witness that spectacle back then). Happily, this one was nowhere near as bad, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to die this time but I still had that horrible feeling of my throat closing up for a few minutes.

Anyhow, I poked around w the search function and came across this thread. There's some good info in here, many thanks! It's making me realize that I do routinely get out of breath on long climbs or other long, strenuous activities. I didn't think too much of it, just assumed I was out of shape, but perhaps there's else something to it.

As luck would have it I'm going in for a physical exam this coming week. I'll be discussing this w my Dr.

Thanks again!