Asthma sufferers

mingmong

Have any of you tried Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA)? Found in Cod Liver Oil.

I suffer from Asthma and whilst on the w/e's ride, a cycling buddy saw me coughing after a big climb. He asked me if I'd tried Cod Liver Oil for it, more importantly CLO with a high EPA concentrate. Apparently, this if used regularly, can reduce bronchial (sp) inflammation?

If you have used EPA (Cod Liver Oil) for asthma, where do you buy from / what brand do you recommend?

Lard Armstrong

Are you sure that wasn't EPO they were advising?

woody-som

most omega 3 capsules contain EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid), some brands don't conatin very much, while others have a high amount. It's all down to how the manufacturing process handles it.

As an asthma suffer myself I use Simply Supplements Omega 3 1000mg, and you may also find benefit from a strong multivitamin, and also look for codliver oil capsules as they contain EPA as well. Recent research has shown vitamins A C and D to help asthma so make sure you get at least the RDA of these, and if you're highly active then consider moving towards double that, plenty of asthma research suggesting that the levels are to low for asthma suffers.

DaSy

There seems to be quite a lot of supporting articles on the web regarding fish oil as supplement to help alleviate exercise induced asthma.

I just use the Seven Sea's one a day CLO capsules from any supermarket or health food shop. I don't use them specifically for asthma though, as my asthma has been under control without drugs for quite a few years now.

woody-som

one thing i would add is, you have to still use conventional medication to keep your asthma under control, but the addition of vitamins etc can only be regarded as an additional aid.

I don't know what asthma medication you're on, but ventolin before exercise is a must for exercise induced broncoconstriction, and if you are already on seretide or similar (inhaled steroids and long acting beta-agonist) then you may benefit from singulair. I've had that for 6 months now, as I had the cough from exercise, and that has cleared that up.

Chris James

My understanding is that asthma seems to be so individual that it is unlikely that anyone else's experiences would be much use to you.

Why don't you try EPA and see if it works for you? I wouldn't drop off your other meds though!

Do you suffer from exercised induced asthma? Is your asthma controlled the rest of the time? Are you on a steroid inhaler or just ventolin?

Cold air, viruses and hay fever seem to be triggers for me, but as long as I keep up with my flixotide then I virtually never need ventolin.

binlinus

woody-som wrote:

ventolin before exercise is a must for exercise induced broncoconstriction, .

Not necessarily so. However, this is often the advice given by doctors.

A proper warm-up before moderate or hard exercise can help. Often this can take 30 minutes of easy cycling with some short moderate hard efforts thrown in to get your lungs used to breathing hard.

The problem many asthmatic cyclists face particularly as the days get colder is joining a club run and setting off at too fast a pace without warming up properly. A lot of club runs start with a group of cyclist standing around in the cold and for minutes on end and then suddenly take off at training pace. At the first hill an asthma sufferer will be getting a tight chest and coughing.

The best thing to do is to warm up before meeting the club and then keep cycling back and fore while the others are standing around getting cold.

Some of my friends think that standing in the warm sun is fine as they are not getting cold. But the lungs -- and the muscles -- of an asthma sufferer need to be working to keep them warm. It's a different sort of warm.

Warm up by breathing through your nose only for the first 15 minutes and then do some moderate efforts and maybe a couple of short sprints to test yourself for another 15 minutes, then ride easy again.

Bin