Things To Know About Albuterol
In serious cases, taking albuterol could cause your airways to tighten suddenly. This is called a bronchospasm and can make breathing difficult. This side effect happens immediately after using the inhaler. It can occur the first time you use a new canister. If this happens to you,call your doctor, and use a different asthma treatment.1-3
People withheart problemsshould be cautious about taking albuterol. Albuterol can cause changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and other heart disease symptoms. These effects are rare with the recommended dose of albuterol. Albuterol may also worsen conditions like thyroid problems, seizures, diabetes, or low potassium levels.1-3
Overusing your albuterol inhaler can worsen your asthma. Studies show that taking albuterol regularly can lead to worselung functionandasthma control. Albuterol is meant to provide occasional quick relief of symptoms, not long-term control. Using albuterol more than 2 days per week is a sign of poor asthma control. If you find yourself using albuterol often, consider discussing your asthma control options with your doctor.6
Before starting albuterol, tell your doctor about any prescription medicines, vitamins, supplements, or over-the-counter drugs you are taking. Certain medicines affect the way albuterol works, including other asthma drugs, other inhaled medicines,beta-blockers, diuretics, digoxin, monoamine oxidase inhibitors , and tricyclic antidepressants .1-3
How Is It Treated
If you have exercise-induced asthma, talk with your doctor about using medicine before exercise. It may help reduce symptoms. It will especially help in cold, dry weather.
Some doctors recommend that:
- You use a quick-relief medicine about 10 to 30 minutes before you exercise. The effect of this medicine lasts several hours. Examples include:
Here are some other steps you can take to reduce symptoms when you’re active:
- Avoid being exposed to air pollutants and allergens when you can. Exercise indoors when air pollution levels are high.
- Wear a mask or scarf wrapped around your nose and mouth if you exercise in cold weather. This may help warm and moisten the air you breathe in.
- Warm up before strenuous exercise. And slowly increase your activity.
Current as of: March 9, 2022
What Else Can I Do To Prevent Symptoms Or Attacks
Depending on your triggers, you can keep an eye on the levels of allergens in the air and levels of air pollution and ozone , which vary each day.
Choosing to exercise indoors on these high-allergen or high-pollution days could prevent asthma symptoms.
Cold air can provoke asthma symptoms, too. So if you need to be outside when its below freezing, wearing a mask or scarf can help cut down on the temperatures effects on your respiratory system.
Warming up well before competing in sports can also reduce the risk of asthma symptoms developing during competition, in addition to reducing your risk of injury.
Most important: If youre diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma and prescribed an inhaler, that inhaler should be with you at all times so that you have immediate access.
If you have an asthma attack and panic because you dont have your inhaler handy, the stress of the situation can make your breathing even worse.
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How To Manage Exercise
There are many steps you can take to manage exercise-induced asthma. Be sure to consult your doctor and discuss treatment options before you make any adjustments to your exercise regimen. According to the AAFA, one way to manage exercise-induced asthma is to do a proper warmup for six to 10 minutes before engaging in exercise or physical activity that will require considerable exertion. You should also do a cool down after your exercise to help your lungs get acclimated to the air.
Another way to manage exercise-induced asthma is to avoid working out in cold weather. If you are unable to avoid working out in cold weather, you can cover your nose and mouth with a mask or scarf to avoid breathing in cold air. During exercise, try to breathe through your nose, as this will help warm the air that goes into your lungs. If you have asthma and use an inhaler or medication to manage it, be sure to use that before you work out.
Although people with asthma often avoid exercise because it can trigger EIB, research from the American Lung Association has shown that exercise can actually improve lung function and reduce asthma symptoms over time. This is because exercise increases blood flow to the lungs and promotes blood flow to the heart, which then pumps oxygen throughout the body, decreasing the likelihood of an asthma incident.
What Are The Symptoms
Most people with exercise-induced asthma feel short of breath early in an exercise period. But some people get worse 5 to 10 minutes after exercise stops. Breathing usually gets better within 20 to 30 minutes after you stop the exercise.
If you notice the symptoms of asthma after activity, be sure to tell your doctor. But don’t let asthma discourage you from exercising.
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Out Of Shape Or Exercise
The shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness or coughing that some athletes experience during physical activity often turns out to be exercise-induced asthma.
An Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center study of Ohio State athletes found that about 40 percent of them had exercise-induced asthma. Most of them didnt know they had it or werent receiving treatment for it.
Studies of Olympic athletes found that between 20 and 50 percent of them had exercise-induced asthma. Many of these athletes also didnt know they had the condition.
The symptoms are easily mistaken for simply being out of shape. Some athletes may even think the symptoms are normal physical responses to exertion.
But exercise-induced asthma, or exercised-induced bronchospasm, is a condition for which treatment exists. Getting properly tested and diagnosed can improve your athletic performance and quality of life.
How Is It Diagnosed
Often, doctors can make a preliminary diagnosis of exercise-induced asthma based on what you tell them.
To confirm the diagnosis, you might be asked to run on a treadmill or exercise in the doctors office. Or you might be asked to breathe a medication designed to irritate the inflammatory cells in your lungs to simulate asthma.
Either way, your lung function will be measured before and after the test. This is usually done by having you breathe into a plastic tube. Your lung function might also be measured before and after using albuterol, which is a prescription medication that opens up the airways.
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Breathe Through Your Nose
- It is important to breathe through your nose as this warms, filters and moistens the air that enters your lungs.
- It also helps to regulate your breathing.
- Nose breathing may take practice, especially if you aren’t used to it.
- If your nose is blocked by hay fever, dust mite allergy or sinusitis, ask your doctor about nasal treatments.
- Controlling any allergies and clearing your nose can make a big difference to your daily life and to your asthma.
Tips For Kids With Exercise
For the most part, kids with exercise-induced asthma can do anything their peers can do. But be sure to follow the suggestions given by your child’s doctor.
Here are some tips for kids and teens:
- If symptoms start, don’t exercise until they stop.
- Warm up before exercise to prevent chest tightening.
- Take quick-relief medicine as close to the start of exercise as possible.
- Breathe through the nose during exercise.
- Take brief rests during exercise and use quick-relief medicine, as prescribed, if symptoms start.
- Cool down after exercise to help slow the change of air temperature in the lungs.
It’s also best not to exercise outside during very cold weather. If your child plays outside when it’s cold, wearing a ski mask or a scarf over the mouth and nose should help.
If air pollution or pollen are triggers, your child may want to exercise indoors when air quality is poor or pollen counts are high. And kids shouldn’t exercise when they have a cold or other upper respiratory infection.
Kids should always have access to their quick-relief medicine. Keep extras on hand and be sure to check all supplies so your child isn’t carrying an empty inhaler.
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Which Activities Are Less Likely To Cause Sports
Indoor sports and those with short bursts of activity are less likely to trigger an asthma episode. But any activity can cause symptoms. Be sure to talk to your provider before starting any exercise program.
To avoid symptoms, you may want participate in sports or exercises that are best for asthma including:
- Activities with short bursts of energy: Asthma symptoms appear less often during sports that involve quick, short sprints with periods of rest. These sports include volleyball and baseball.
- Less-rigorous activities: Golf, biking and walking are often good choices for people with asthma.
- Indoor sports: Some indoor activities are less likely to trigger sports-induced asthma symptoms.
- Warm or humid environment: Swimming, diving and water polo have a lower risk of triggering sports-induced asthma symptoms. Moist pool air makes an EIB episode less likely. But some people find chlorine in a pool to be irritating. A saltwater pool can be a better choice, if you have one available.
How To Tell If You Have Sports Induced Asthma
- A long recovery time can be an indicator of sports induced asthma. A normal recovery time following a workout is just a few minutes. If it is taking you 30 minutes to an hour, it could be due to asthma.
- A constricted chest and throat while exercising is caused by a struggle to receive oxygen. If you feel this tightening, you should stop your activity.
- Coughing while doing any sort of cardio is the most common symptom of sports induced asthma. If you are short of breath and coughing while exercising and it occurs regularly, the cause could be asthma.
- Exercise should energize your body. If you are feeling drained, sluggish or fatigued following your workouts, it might be wise to see a physician regarding the possibility of sports induced asthma.
- Your environment can affect how you breathe. Pollen, chlorine and dry air can trigger allergies and agitate your respiratory tract.
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Use Your Reliever Inhaler Before Activity
Take 1 or 2 puffs of reliever medicine just before you start physical activity. If you need to take reliever medicine more than once after your initial puff, stop your activity session for that day. Using a spacer increases the effectiveness of metered dose inhalers .
If you exercise often and you need a dose of reliever before and during your session, ask your doctor to reassess your preventer medication. You might also like to discuss with your doctor whether long-acting inhaler relievers may be an option for you, as they often help people with EIA. You need to be taking regular preventer medication to be prescribed these.
What You Need To Know About Sports Induced Asthma
Sports induced asthma is also known as exercise induced asthma. It is a form of asthma that manifests during sports, exercise or any other strenuous physical activity. Since sports induced asthma only manifests itself after a strenuous physical exertion, it can surprise the sufferer due to its sudden and unprecedented attack.
There are various causes that can lead to the increase of sports induced asthma. One is being exposed to a very polluted environment. Air pollution is most common factor that can be attributed that leads to asthma. Regular exposure to pollution both at work and at home can severely damage a person´s immune system. After which if that person engages in physical activities such as heavy exercises and sports, then asthma attacks could follow. If not immediately, then soon enough it will occur.
Another factor that can cause sports induced asthma is constant temperature ad environmental changes. Athletes that train in a particular temperature or climate exposes them selves to different situations which can trigger an allergic response from the body that can lead to sports induced and its complications.
There is no permanent or even long term treatment for asthma, in whatever form it takes, but there a lot of preventive steps you can take to ensure that you are not constantly exposed to the dangers presented by sports induced asthma. Like any other asthma, sports induced asthma can be managed through lifestyle and medication.
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Take These Before Hitting The Gym
- Short acting beta agonist or bronchodilator: Using this inhaler 10 to 15 minutes before exercise can prevent symptoms. It can also be used to treat symptoms after they occur.
- Long-acting bronchodilator: Inhaled 30 to 60 minutes before exercise, it prevents symptoms for 10 to 12 hours but offers no rescue benefit once symptoms occur.
- Mast cell stabilizers: Taken 15 to 20 minutes before exercise to prevent EIB.
When To See Your Doctor
Visit your doctor if you experience symptoms of EIB for the first time.
If youve already been diagnosed with asthma or EIB, see your doctor for regular checkups. This will help your doctor track your progress and adjust your medications as necessary.
Follow up with your doctor if you have EIB and symptoms such as:
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Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Seasonal colds and cases of the flu may increase your risk of developing a URTI. People with asthma are also more prone to these types of infections.
But having a URTI doesnt automatically mean you have asthma. While both conditions may lead to coughing, a URTI can also result in the following symptoms:
How To Get In Shape With Exercise
December 22, 2016 by Elise Morgan
People who suffer from exercise-induced asthma often have an aversion to any type of exercise. But, as we all know, having no physical activity whatsoever is really damaging to ones health. Therefore, its important to clear the misunderstanding. Even though you suffer from asthma, you can and you should stay physically active. If you take your medicine regularly and follow a specific workout plan, theres no end to benefits that you can get from exercising. So, dont treat your asthma as an excuse to never get in shape. Where theres a will, theres a way.
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What Are The Causes Or Risk Factors
People with chronic asthma and those who suffer from allergies are most at risk for EIB. Beyond that, we don’t have a super solid understanding of why some people have EIB while others don’t, says Dr. Parikh. It may be partly genetic, she adds.
For people who do have EIB, various factors can trigger it. Any type of exercise can do this, but in general, cardio-centric activities and other intense workouts are more likely to induce EIB than gentler forms of exercise, says Dr. Parikh.
Also, endurance sports that involve consistent effort seem to more commonly spark EIB than activities that involve bursts of hard work followed by lots of recoveries , Brian A. Smart, MD, allergist, and immunologist in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, tells Health.
The weather may also play a role. For some people, exercising in cold weatherthink: cross-country skiing, ice skating, or winter running can prompt EIB. That’s because cold, dry air can irritate the airways and cause the surrounding muscles to constrict, Miriam Anand, MD, allergist, and immunologist in Tempe, Arizona, and advisor to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, tells Health. For other people, however, exercising in hot, humid weather can trigger EIB, says Dr. Parikh. Other triggers include pollution, allergies, and irritants like chlorine.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
As with asthma, people with COPD may experience coughing and shortness of breath.
But morning coughing with phlegm is more characteristic of COPD. In contrast, asthma tends to cause worsening symptoms at night, and may be accompanied by wheezing and tightness in your chest.
Its also possible to have both asthma and COPD. Contact a doctor if youre experiencing symptoms of either condition.
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Childrens Allergies: 5 Ways You Can Keep Your Child From Becoming Allergic
As many as 40 percent of children in the United States are allergic to something. While most allergies are mild, some can be severe and may prove to be life-threatening. Typically, children develop allergies within their first two years of life. What you do during those vital first few months plays a huge role in allergy development.
Exposing your children to certain substances may even help your child avoid allergic reactions later in life. Following are five ways you can keep your child from developing allergies.
How Do Healthcare Providers Diagnose Exercise
Your provider will ask about your symptoms, including when you have them and how long they last. After listening to your lungs, your provider will ask you to perform an activity that usually triggers your symptoms . Then your provider will measure your lung function with a spirometry test.
During spirometry, you exhale as much air as you can as fast as possible. You breathe into a tube attached to a machine called a spirometer. The machine measures how well your lungs work after exercise.
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It Takes You A While To Recover From A Workout
If you have exercise-induced asthma, recovery times after exercise can range from 30 minutes to a full hour, depending on the severity of the condition, advises Dr. Ogden. Ask your doctor about getting a short-acting inhaler to use 15 minutes before exercising. If this doesnt help, you may have regular asthma and need daily medication. Try these foods that can prevent asthma symptoms.