Asthma Takes Your Breath Away
by Joy Koenig, M.D., M.S.
Board Certified in Preventive Medicine
Originally published on www.ourmaine.com (1999 - 2000)
© Joy Koenig 1999-2008 All Rights Reserved
(Internet links may no longer be operational)
The air was searingly hot, and damp with humidity. It felt like a substantive wall that I would have to physically push through as I ran. I chided myself for having fallen out of my workout routine yet again, and walked toward the just-mowed field next to the University of Sydney science building.
Waiting another day to start running again would only make things more difficult. At least I knew my knees and hips would thank me for the extra cushioning, as I plopped down on top of the foot-long hay, laying in soft, flat piles like giant-sized games of pick-up-sticks.
After a few easy stretches, accompanied by self-motivating mind chatter, I picked myself up, brushed the drying grass from my shorts, and started around the perimeter of the field with a slow, loping gait. The ground was squishy yet stable under my new shoes. Now that I was moving, the air felt a little more like a balmy breeze than a sauna. Maybe this wouldn't be as difficult as I feared. Ten minutes down, and ten minutes to go. My breathing was labored, but it was even. I could do this.
It was almost deathly quiet -- the Australian birds and animals are bright enough to sit still and stay quiet when it's this hot and humid. I guess that's why I noticed the soft and regular, high-pitched squeaky noise that sounded like it was right over my shoulder, or right under my feet, or both. I couldn't quite place it. It seemed to surround me, yet almost vibrate within me.
I studied the piles of hay, wondering if they were wet -- was the noise simply my shoes on damp grass? No, the grass looked dry. I glanced over my shoulder to see if someone had joined me on the field. I was alone. It was becoming more difficult for me to breathe, and I cursed myself again for having let myself get out of shape. Gosh, this was bad -- like trying to breathe through a straw.
My ribs felt like they were moving inward instead of outward, as I tried to catch my breath by inhaling even more deeply. Somehow, this seemed to make it even harder to breathe.
The noise was even louder now, and seemed to match my breathing. I decided to stop running to catch my breath, and the noise stayed exactly where it was.
It was then I finally got it. The noise was coming from inside me. I was wheezing. "Oh, please don't let me suffocate out here," I thought. "There's not a soul around to find me and help me."
I managed to walk sedately away from the hay-strewn field, consciously breathing slowly and through my nose. Within 15 minutes of reaching the cooler hallways of the science building I was breathing normally again. I said a quick and silent "thank you."
Asthma can be a frightening disease. As the American Lung Association says, "If you can't breathe, nothing else matters."
About 20 million Americans (15 percent of the U.S. population) have exercise-induced asthma. This includes those diagnosed as asthmatic for whom exercise triggers an episode (over 90 percent), and a small group of people (3 to 5 percent of the general U.S. population) for whom exercise is the only trigger for an asthmatic episode. Depending on whose statistics you trust, an estimated 5,000 Maine residents have been diagnosed with asthma, including Deering High School's basketball athlete Jamaal Caterina http://www.portland.com/sports/highschool/basketball/010608caterina.shtml).
The occurrence of exercise-induced asthma is a little higher in children than in adults. Symptoms include chest tightness, shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, fatigue and prolonged recovery times after exercise.
My isolated episode of EIA was classic in its symptoms, and classic in what triggered it -- poor physical conditioning and exposure to fresh-cut grass, which is a mild allergen for me.
Here are the major risk factors for triggering an EIA episode:
- Cold air, low humidity
- Irritants such as ozone, smog and pollutants
- Longer, more intense exercise such as running
- Exposure to allergens while exercising
- Poor physical conditioning
- Respiratory infection, such as colds or influenza
The best way to control asthma is to avoid the things that trigger your episodes. That doesn't mean giving up on exercise, it means changing where and how you exercise. Indoor swimming is especially good for asthmatics because of the warm air and high humidity. Many Olympic athletes, including Jackie Joyner Kersee, have spent their lives coping with asthma since early childhood.
Check out this article for teenagers: Being a Sport with Exercise-Induced Asthma (http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/ots_asth.html)
There are more than 100 asthma summer camps in the U.S. Call 1-800-LUNG-USA for information about a camp near you, or visit this site: http://www.lungusa.org/asthmacamps/index.html
Here are some other famous people living with asthma: http://www.clearbreathing.com/living/famous_people.asp?nav=2.38
Many people suffer with their asthma because it is not adequately controlled. According to the American Lung Association, breathing problems wake 30 percent of sufferers at least one night a week. Nearly half of all children with asthma missed school in the last year because of their disease. Nearly a third of of children with asthma went to the emergency room because of an asthma attack in the last year.
Forty-eight percent of asthmatics are limited in what they can pursue in sports. Thirty-six percent are limited to less-than-normal physical exertion. Twenty-five percent are limited in social activities.
This site (http://www.asthmainamerica.com/diagnosis.htm) includes some guidelines for treating asthma.
For exercise-induced asthmatic attacks, drug therapy is most helpful for people whose physical activity is brief and predictable, and who can use a metered-dose inhaler correctly. For those who exercise longer than 2-3 hours, marathon runners or hikers, for instance, talk with your health care provider about being put on a type of oral medication.
This site offers some alternative medicine approaches to asthma: http://www-camra.ucdavis.edu/currstudies.html
I was always aware that I had a mild allergy to grass, I'd get itchy but not get hives, my nose would tickle and run, but not to the point of needing a tissue, and my contact lenses would become uncomfortable. It wasn't until I combined a particularly high exposure to grass antigens with my out-of-shape running legs, that I came to appreciate the horrid feeling of suffocating that so many Maine residents have to deal with on a daily basis, even when just sitting still.
Asthma doesn't have to limit what you do, if you understand the disease, and your particular version of it. Spend a little time online, and in your doctor's office, and it will pay off considerably in the quality of your life.
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