Hay fever and impact on cycling performance

parajba

I was wondering if there is a link between hay fever and cycling performance. I live in London, I race and train hard, I eat and rest well, but for whatever reason I'm always feeling tired and lack the "kick".
Excluding training, resting, food and any other underlying conditions, how much does hay fever affect hard training and racing? I almost cannot breathe through my nose but I'm not sneezing much. Bit of a bizarre one really.

edenchristopher

Any condition (inflammation is one of them) that triggers a (physical) stress response in your body has the potential to alter the way in which your body works through the mediators of the stress response: steroids, catecholamines, growth hormone, etc http://www.huc.min-saude.pt/anestesiolo ... s/rne2.pdf. Added to that is the psychological effect of not feeling great when your nose is running and your sinuses are inflamed. To answer your question directly, the effect is variable but it's there. Better to prevent the problem by using an antihistamine, which you can buy without a prescription at most supermarkets, during hay fever months.

parajba

Thanks, I'll start taking Claritin, I read it takes a few hours to be effective but best to be taken daily to ensure constant protection.

Muffintop

Have you been checked for Anaemia? I have shocking hayfever - to the point it renders me choking - but your symptoms sound more like something underlying than Hayfever itself (keeping in mind it won't help). Also the antihistamines (despite saying they're not drowsy) will have a detrimental effect on your performance.

Further to this are you particularly blocked up in the morning? Is it consistent/particularly bad when you're out on the road - or certain parts of London/the road?

Mx

manxshred

I was having major problems with colds and being generally ill for long periods. A cold would last about 2.5 weeks rather than a few days. I eventually went for an independent assessment and he found I have a mild hayfever causing my sinuses to be inflamed, but not enough for full on symptoms.
This meant when I got a cold, it was much worse than normal as my sinuses would be badly affected. The Dr recomended Beconase as it is a nasal spray.
I've been using this for 1.5 years now and things are better overall.

Muffintop

ManxShred wrote:

I was having major problems with colds and being generally ill for long periods. A cold would last about 2.5 weeks rather than a few days. I eventually went for an independent assessment and he found I have a mild hayfever causing my sinuses to be inflamed, but not enough for full on symptoms.
This meant when I got a cold, it was much worse than normal as my sinuses would be badly affected. The Dr recomended Beconase as it is a nasal spray.
I've been using this for 1.5 years now and things are better overall.

+1 for Beconase too.

FransJacques

I've been having mad hayfever symptoms since July and Doc put me on a perscription of Cetirizine Hydrochloride for 3 weeks.

It's really knocked me out at work, I'm quite tired, and my cycling power/performance has noticeably suffered.

Does anyone else have experience with it? Did you feel stronger when you stopped? Any other stories?

Cheers in advance...

ianspeare

I get it bad in summer, but I've never thought about how it may effect performance at other times of the year. It's horrible and knocks you for 6 some days to the point I just want to sleep. I'd say try Vicks or something similar to keep your nasal passage unblocked. You could also try those nasal strips that seem to ope your nose. I've remember David Millar using them on the Tour one year.

I'd say make sure you get non-drowsy tablets. Unless you live in Wales, you can probably get tablets cheaper than you pay for prescriptions. I always think it takes a few days to get in your system, so you need to think about it in advance.

Other home remedies such as eating local honey can be beneficial.

Velonutter

I get hayfever bad and was sick of running noises and itching eyes.

My docs had given me nasal drops, tablets and eye drops and they never really worked brilliantly until I went to visit my doctor this year for an injection as I was desperate.

My Doc said "When do you take the nasal spray and eye drops", I told him when things got bad and the tablets alone couldn't cope, he then told me that they are a preventative treatment and taking them when things got bad would not make a blind bit of difference!

I changed to his suggested times and haven't had a bad day since and this was back in June. 8)

Mikey23

The guy I support only takes his preventative meds when his hay fever is bad ... Extremely frustrating when activity is planned and has to be postponed