How many MTB'ers are Asthmatic?? Or is it just me?!

KonaKurt

I thought just occured to me..!

I am Asthmatic, but still enjoy Mountain biking, and cycling generally, to the best of my ability (which I consider to me reasonable..!) and have done so for many years.

I'm just wondering how many other mountain bikers out there are also asthmatic? I suspect that alot of astmatics are put off enjoying the sport, when actually in moderation it is very good 'lung' exercise!

KK and his thought of the day.

Papa Smurf

Early last year when I first started proper XC riding I had asthma something chronic, you know, pills, 4 inhalers 4 times a day and all that jazz. I purposely got into an exercise routine, nothing heavy and done the kind of riding which I could feel stretching my lungs. By December I was miles better and on half my dosage, but still relatively uncontrolled.

Now I'm off all inhalers (except the blue one maybe once or twice a week max) and I feel great, riding up hills is easy (though due to injury I'm majorly unfit atm) I can still manage a 10 mile blast around the woods, in the freezing cold.. Which now doesn't seem to affect me too much.
For anyone struggling with it I would say get to know your limits. Do time trialed runs as it were and get comfortable with what you can do, pace etc without either collapsing during or as soon as you stop, abit of heavy panting is normal among every average bikers I've seen but while they could be doing that, you could be going blue in the face.. So learn how fast and for how long you can pump away without causing yourself an injury.

docker0141

i have asthma but it dosn't affect me too much mabey need the inhaler once ot twice but thats it

KonaKurt

" I thought just occurred...." I meant to say 'A thought just occurred..'! A!

Shows how tired I was last night...!

KonaKurt

Papa Smurf, yes wise words. That's the basic jist of it I think, just know your body and your limits. I am quite simular, each day is different but most of the time I can have a really good blast around before I start to feel wheezy, then it's just a case of calming down to within your limits. I ride nowhere without my blue inhaler, and it has been a life saver now and again.

Being asthmatic doesn't mean you have to sacrifice riding, common sense goes a long way, though one of the reasons I like to be a dry weather rider is that I find damp weather does weaken my lungs a little.

Anyway, taking a breather at a pub stop is one of the essentials of a good ride!

KK.

Mark_K

I gave up smoking just over 2 years ago at the age of 38 and never had asthma up till then or if i did i never knew ??? But started putting on weight and suffering really bad asthma attacts , so thought i get back into mountain biking like i used to years ago. The weight loss was not a problem but my asthma gave me hell just because it was somthing i had never had to deal with before, i had 2 stays in hospital each time for 4days after suffering bad attacts very scary
However i was determined not to give up 1. finding i realy enjoying the riding again after all these years and 2 wanting to make the most of the effort i had put into giving up smoking, so i stuck with it and 2 years on i now only need a couple off puffs on a inhaler once a day if i'm going out for a ride and i'm out 3-4 times a week and loving every moment of my good health and and my kids are happy aswell
Only time i somtimes find the asthma a problem now is cold damp night rides or dusty summer rides and that just may need a extra puff on a inhaler so no i dont worry about asthma anymore i'm more concerned about hitting a tree tbh

stubs

I usually know if I am going to be able to do a ride within about 2 miles. I always start out congested but my lungs usually free up after 2 miles .

If I am still gasping and struggling with the tight band around my chest I give up and go back a couple of nasty experiences have put me off trying to keep going on with ride. Its a bummer but thats life.

Dont give up riding just listen to what your body is telling you.

dsmiff

Suffered since a child am now on seretide, really makes a big difference, however I really notice if I miss a dose.

Since I started cycling (about 3 years ago) my asthma has improved ten fold (and my fitness!) - it was never really controlled when I was a child so I struggled at sports - especially the school cross country run!

My eldest son started showing similar symptoms (gasping for breath worse when cold) his doctor prescribed him becotide - he is unstoppable now, does cycling, athletics, football etc!!!

carbonfiend

I've been chronic asthmatic for years. I race enduro's and have raced GB long distance triathlon before that. I regularly push my body to its limits in training and racing and have researched and studied my asthma for years, been on medication for yrs as well. It very rarely bothers me but thats because of years of experience and knowing when to be pro active in terms of symptoms. There's something I was told that helped me manage me it to the point it is now and thats 'if you're managing your asmtha correctly you shouldn't know you've got it'

pdid

Had asthma since being about 2, now 28 so have lived with it a few years.

Played lots of footy throughout my youth, so was always quite fit so it didn`t really bother me. Having grown up footy has taken a backseat to biking although i do both, on average, once or twice per week.

I find i sometimes struggle at changes of seasons/weather, but generally if i have a puff of my Ventolin before setting off i very rarely need it again.

Phil

BlackSpur

I have mild asthma and I don't really think it effects my cycling noticeable. Much like pdid, I tend to have a dose of Ventolin before any physical activity and I rearly need it again when cycling.

The HutcH

I also have asthma but yeah i take a puff of both inhalers before a ride and i am usualy ok. I sometimes have to take another puff on a ride but yeah i always take my puffers with me on a ride, I believe thats very important.

The HutcH

I also have asthma but yeah i take a puff of both inhalers before a ride and i am usualy ok. I sometimes have to take another puff on a ride but yeah i always take my puffers with me on a ride, I believe thats very important.

gcwebbyuk

I "developed" asthma earlier this year - until then I always thougt it was something u have from birth.

Am on a steroid inhaler 2*2 puffs a day and have the ventolin with me just in case.

I usually take a couple of puffs of ventolin before going out on a ride, and touch wood, have never had an issue.

I know when I am struggling, and get off the bike and walk if the hill is too steep etc, or just have a couple of minute breather.

To be honest, its the asthma that got me back into cycling again after a couple of years away, it keeps me out in the fresh air and excersisng which can only be a good thing!

littleandy0410

Another minor asthma sufferer here. Had it in my early teens, but it went away for years. Has recently come back, but I've never had an attack as such. I take my brown inhaler 2x2 puffs a day, blue one as and when.

I take the blue one at the start of any ride, and again as needed. One of the reasons I bought the road bike is to help me increase my overall fitness, which then reduces my need for inhalers.

As said before, know your limits, and ride with understanding mates who aren't going to push you past your limits or take the mickey if you're having an off day.

toasty

My asthma is on and off, as a kid it was far worse but I did no exercise and used it as a way of avoiding exercise if anything. I do a lot more and it's definitely better. Bizarrely I find winter quite hard, exercise is a gamble, sometimes I'll come back from a ride with a totally clear chest, sometimes it'll work down my immune system and make it worse. No exercise at all is usually bad though and after about 1-2 weeks of doing nothing the asthma will really set in.

In the summer I'll normally have my 10 minute warmup, at the end of this I'll get hideously wheezy, if i can clear this I'll be 100% fine for the rest of the day, sometimes it won't clear though and the day is a write off.

I've pushed my self quite a lot over the last 3 years though, the vast majority of days it'll clear and be fantastic. Asthma definitely isn't a reason not to exercise, if anything it's a reason for me to keep exercising in the winter. You get to understand what has an effect on it as well and judge how it's going to go a lot better. I don't think it cripples your top end capacity either, at the end of the season i could bolt up hills and around the woods as fast as anyone I met, my lungs were way above normal size (going by the docs peak flow).

KonaKurt

Well I guess that answers my initial question there ARE alot of other ashtmatic bikers out there, and I'm pleased to see that nobody here feels that they have to sacrifice their sport because of a health disability... just keep your inhalers on you at all times, and enjoy the ride!

...And to think that at one point I was being told to 'give up cycling' because of my condition! Utter cow fodder!

KK.

toasty

I've moved around quite a bit and noticed that each Doctor will tell you something different, asthma is something that you get to understand very well since you live with it day day in, day out. This may sound like stupid advice but don't always take what a doctor says at face value, most seem very ignorant to the fact that it's an alergy and can be triggered by many different things.

I doubt he'd advise bike rides in the rain as a way to prevent asthma at night for me, still, it works \o/

GrantyBoy

I've had asthma all my life, 28 years old.

I pleased to say that it doesn’t really affect my riding, I may get a tight chest in the first 20mins of cycling when a toot on the old blue salbutamol inhaler will sort out, thankfully the guys I ride with know this so give me a chance to recover before we push on.
My asthma is getting better with the more cycling I do.

wheezee

I developed asthma in my late thirties, and I would guess it's a pretty mild in my case. I use the Salbutamol daily inhaler + the brown steroid one. I only get wheezy when I'm cycling up hill in Bath's traffic fumes. Off-road any attacks are extremely rare.

Mr Wu

I have asthma too,

Two things I find help, I take my brown one first thing in the morning like 6am, but have quite a few extra puffs so i get the trembles. (not something i would reccommend anyone else doing, but it feels nice!) ;-)

Also, ask your doctor about being put on the GREEN inhalor, not sure what its called off the top of my head, but its a combination of both the blue and brown inhalor, I take that in the morning before a long ride and never have to use my blue inhalor. Ill have a look what its called tonight when i get home. From memory its called serovent or something like that. It works wonders, bloody annoyed me that my doctors didnt put me on it before.

Wu.

Papa Smurf

Mr Wu wrote:

ask your doctor about being put on the GREEN inhalor, not sure what its called off the top of my head,

Seretide.. If I remember rightly.
You can either get it in an Inhaler, or a circular powder thingy with 60 metered doses inside.. As far as I know you can still get them anyway, for the people who simply cant get the action right on the normal inhalers.

mygiantmtb

i don't have asthma but i know some one who has got it , he likes mtbing . he coped really well with it and acts like he hasn't got it!

wheezee

The Green one is Salmeterol. I said Salbutamol before, which was rubbish. Salbutamol is the blue one which I rarely need anymore.

wheezee

mygiantmtb wrote:

he coped really well with it and acts like he hasn't got it!

That's no good! The only benefit, as far as I can see, is to be able use it as an explanation for why you're not in front of everyone else.

sbsmac

I have mild asthma - normally only shows up as wheeziness at the onset of a cold although I had some nasty episodes after we adopted a couple of kittens for the children (reluctantly given back to the Cats Protection people) and when rebuilding the bathroom (lots of plaster dust). Since they banned smoking in pubs, life has been a lot more pleasant as well! ;-)

I wholeheartedly recommend the purple inhaler (Seretide) which is intended to act as a combination of the longer-acting brown and immediate-relief blue inhalers. If you are on either of these and your doctor hasn't tried you out on Seretide, you should definitely ask about it.

carbonfiend

Just been reading all the stuff and its interesting that a lot of people say they are on the 'brown' inhaler. Without trying to turn this into a purely asthma conversation I thought I would quickly add to something that was mentioned about doctors. I have had a number of bad episodes due to astham one in particular when I was living a completely opposite lifestyle to what I do know and after being hospitalised I was seen by a asthma specialist. She looked at my medication (brown inhaler its called becotide) and told me this was quite a redundant drug in the world of asthma treatment and put me on a more updated and better working drug called flixotide. She mentioed that doctors in most cases will prescribe the cheapest drug available and also unless they specialise will not keep up to date with the changes and progressions in medicines and treatments. I since moved on to an even better medicine which is a combination similar to what is mentioned its called symbicort and is a mix of a long lasting beta 2 agonists (ventolin is one of these drugs) and a corticosteriod. I am also on a another drug called Montelukast which is a tablet I take each day. Anyway my point being it has taken me nearly 10yrs to get this medication right and I am virtually at the point where I don't have to take any of the blue inhaler even when I have a chest infection/cold which was one of my main triggers in fact I virtually live 'asthma free' now and its been diagnosed as chronic and moderate but the point being keep pushing your doctors all the time and never settle for anything less than what u feel is 100% in your treatment.

dsmiff

The only problem I find with seritide if that if I miss a doss my asthma is terrible ( feels worse than before I started with it).

My peak flow is somewhere between 450-500 (about 420 today - cold air don't help) which is a bit crap - 6ft 39 years old.

Papa Smurf

dsmiff wrote:

The only problem I find with seritide if that if I miss a doss my asthma is terrible ( feels worse than before I started with it).

My peak flow is somewhere between 450-500 (about 420 today - cold air don't help) which is a bit crap - 6ft 39 years old.

Apparently if you miss a dose you set yourself back 3-4 days. I used to get it too. Once I missed 4 doses over 2 days because the chemist wouldn't give me anything although I was almost passed out on their floor, so by the time I had recovered, turned back to normal colour and got the docs etc...

My peak flow was about the same as yours, but after learning a way to measure what I can and cant do while biking (see page 1) and a certain amount of lung stretching I soon got myself off all inhalers (except the blue one as and when it's needed) and my peak flow is now 620-650

wheezee

Ooh. Peak flow measuring. Are you doing this at home? I've only ever done it at the surgery, and I can't remember what I scored. I'm starting to feel competitive.

dsmiff

Got a peak flow meter a few years back - never got much over 500 always seems to hover just under 500 and often drops to low 400's.

Reading Papa Smurf's quote I think I'll try to get on-top of the seritide - often miss the second dose that I should take in the afternoon, maybe that's why it never improves much??