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How To Treat Exercise Induced Asthma

What Exams And Tests Diagnose Exercise

How Do Doctors Treat Exercise-Induced Asthma?

If you are having an asthma attack, your health-care professional will ask you questions about your symptoms, medical history, and medications. Answer as completely as you can. He or she will also examine you and observe you as you breathe.

He or she will assess the severity of the attack. Attacks are usually classified as mild, moderately severe, or severe. This assessment is based on several factors.

  • Symptom severity and duration
  • Degree of airway obstruction
  • Extent to which the attack is interfering with regular activities

If you have had symptoms and are seeking medical care afterward, the health-care professional will ask questions and perform tests to search for and rule out or exclude other causes of the symptoms. The evaluation will almost certainly include tests of how well you can breathe at rest and may include tests during exertion. These tests are done at rest, after six to eight minutes of exercise, and then at regular intervals until at least 30 minutes after you have stopped exercising. Proper diagnosis is essential to ensure that the most appropriate treatment is given.

Measurements of how well you are breathing can be assessed using the following methods:

No blood test can pinpoint the cause of asthma.

  • Your blood may be checked for signs of an infection that might be contributing to the symptoms.
  • In severe attacks, it may be necessary to sample blood from an artery to determine exactly how much oxygen and carbon dioxide are present in your bloodstream.

What Types Of Sports Are Best For People With Eib

Activities most likely to trigger EIB:

  • Sports or activities in cold/dry weather
  • Sports or activities that need constant activity

Activities least likely to trigger EIB:

  • Sports or activities that use short bursts of exercise
  • Walking or leisure biking
  • Swimming in a warm, humid environment

It is important to consult with your health care provider before beginning any exercise program. Pace yourself. With effective management, people with EIB can perform and excel in a variety of sports. Many Olympic athletes and professional athletes with EIB excel in their sports.

Is It Safe To Participate

Whether your child wants to participate in gym class, or your older athlete is participating in high school or collegiate athletics, it is absolutely safe to participate with exercise-induced asthma if you have consulted with a physician and have a treatment plan in place. These often include:

  • Acute relief medicine: commonly a short-acting bronchodilator such as an albuterol inhaler taken 15-20 minutes prior to activity. It is very important to use the medicine correctly, ideally with a spacer or holding chamber.
  • Preventative measures, such as a proper warm-up and/or using a scarf to cover your mouth in cold/dry conditions.
  • Good communication with your physician, athletic trainer, teachers and/or school nurse regarding your athletes needs.
  • Educating your child about monitoring his or her symptoms and what to do during a flare-up.

With proper diagnosis and management plans in place, exercise-induced asthma should not keep your child from participation!

If your child is in immediate respiratory distress and having trouble breathing, seek emergency care at the nearest hospital emergency room. If you are uncertain about this condition, please contact your primary care provider to determine the best treatment plan.

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Your Strategy For Staying Active With Eib

  • Get a treatment plan. For most people who have EIB, the right medication can make it possible for you to do the activities you want to do. We dont want people to stop exercising if they have asthma, because exercise is so important and can improve your lung function. We just want to make sure that youre treated when you do it, says Anessa Alappatt, MD, Fairborn Medical Center.
  • View this video from Dr. Alappatt on how medication can help you do the things you love.

    Click play to watch the video or read video transcript.

    Is it safe to exercise with asthma?

  • Keep a good routine. Be kind to your body! Instead of going straight into that sprint, make sure to warm up for a full 15 minutes first. This gives your heart, lungs and muscles more time to prepare for a fast-paced workout, and it might reduce your chance of having symptoms.
  • Be mindful of the triggers. When you exercise hard, you automatically take deeper and faster breaths. Quick deep breaths, combined with dry, cold air can sometimes trigger symptoms. So, as much as possible, try to breathe through your nose , and use a scarf to cover your mouth when you exercise in cold or dry air.
  • We dont want people to stop exercising if they have asthma, because exercise is so important and can improve your lung function.”

    Are Sports Good Or Bad For People Who Have Asthma

    How To Exercise With Asthma %sep% %sitename%

    Physical exercise also has important health benefits for people with . People with asthma who know how to deal with asthma attacks â and how to use medication in order to prevent their symptoms from getting worse â can still do sports. You have to know your own limits, though.

    Research suggests that sports and exercise reduce symptoms in the long term. But it’s important to choose activities that match your level of fitness. This may mean, for example, taking a break or doing something less strenuous if you notice signs of breathing difficulties. Warming up before doing sports, and gradually increasing the intensity of physical exertion, can help too. Studies also suggest that interval training can prevent exercise-induced asthma. In interval training, high-energy exercise is alternated with periods of rest.

    It’s important to keep a reliever medication on hand so you can react quickly if you have an attack. Sometimes it may help to use reliever medication before doing exercise. You can ask your doctor for more information and advice.

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    Why Exercise Can Be A Trigger

    Breathing through the nose warms up the air we breathe in. But when we exercise, particularly exercise that is more strenuous like running, we usually breathe through the mouth instead of the nose. This means were breathing in air thats colder and drier than normal.

    If you have asthma, breathing in this cold, dry air causes your airways to tighten and get narrower. This can trigger your asthma symptoms like coughing, wheezing, and breathlessness.

    You may come across other triggers when you exercise too, like pollution or pollen if you exercise outside, or dust if you exercise indoors. Chlorine in swimming pools can also trigger symptoms for some people.

    Youre more likely to get asthma symptoms when you exercise if:

    • you dont take your preventer inhaler every day as prescribed
    • your airways are already tight and inflamed because of allergies or other triggers like cigarette smoke

    Exercise-induced asthma

    Rarely, someone not diagnosed with asthma might get asthma-like symptoms from exercising.

    This is often called exercise-induced asthma, but a better term is exercise-induced bronchoconstriction because it is not caused by having asthma. However, its important to be assessed for asthma if you have symptoms of EIB.

    Bronchoconstriction is when the airways get tighter and narrower as a result of strenuous exercise, particularly if someone is also breathing in cold air.

    Find out more about exercise-induced asthma/bronchoconstriction.

    How Do I Manage Exercise

    There is no cure for asthma triggered by exercising or sports. Treatment focuses on preventing and relieving symptoms.

    To avoid an episode, you should warm up for at least six minutes before starting exercise. Ask your provider to recommend the best warmup routine for your age and fitness level.

    Your provider may recommend one medication or a combination of several medications. Some drugs open your airways while youre experiencing exercise-induced asthma. Other medications prevent an episode. These medications include:

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    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.

    What Is Exercised Induced Bronchoconstriction

    About the Treatment for Exercise-Induced Asthma

    Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction , is a temporary narrowing of the lower airways, occurring after vigorous exercise. It may occur in people with asthma or in people without asthma.

    In people with asthma who experience EIB, exercise is an asthma trigger. This means that for some people during vigorous exercise the small airways in the lungs become red, swollen, and may become blocked with mucus. This narrows the airways and makes it more difficult to breathe.

    Not everybody that has asthma has EIB and some people with EIB may not have asthma

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    What Medications Can Prevent Exercise

    If your medication has been adapted to your specific situation and you can effectively control your asthma, you are far less likely to have sudden breathing difficulties when you do sports. Your doctor can help you find the type of medication that best suits your physical activities.

    There are two main groups of medications, known as controllers and relievers. Controller medication is used as a long-term treatment to keep the asthma under control. The effect of this medication is felt slowly over time. Reliever medication has a quick and short-term effect. It can be used before doing strenuous physical activities, as well as to relieve acute asthma attacks. It’s important to talk to your doctor about how often you can safely use reliever medication per day.

    The following medications can be used before strenuous activities to prevent exercise-induced :

    It’s often not easy to know which medications will best prevent exercise-induced . You may have to try out different medications to find out which medication works best for you.

    How To Relax The Airways

    Dr. Thiruchelvam says the primary goal is to ensure that you dont avoid exercise. Here are some practical things you can do if you have exercise-induced asthma:

    Gaining and maintaining good control over exercise-induced asthma often requires teamwork. A primary care sports medicine physician can help you keep your asthma well-controlled, so that exercise is less likely to trigger symptoms.

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    How Is Eia Treated

    If you have exercise-induced asthma, your doctor might want you to take asthma medicine before being really active. This is often the same quick-relief medicine used for flare-ups. You breathe the medicine directly into your lungs before exercising and it works immediately to open up the airways. Doctors sometimes call this pretreatment.

    If pretreatment isn’t enough, your doctor may recommend that you also take daily long-term control medicine. This works over time to help keep the airways open. You need to take it every day, even when you feel well.

    Many people find that if they take medicine as prescribed by their doctors, they can work out with few or no problems.

    Tips To Manage And Keep Asthma Under Control

    How Do You Test For Exercise Induced Asthma

    You can reduce or prevent exercise-induced asthma symptoms in you or your child by following the advice below:

    • Warm up gently for about 15 minutes before starting intense physical exercise and always cool down after
    • In cold weather, cover your nose and mouth with a scarf or facemask to protect your lungs from the cold air
    • Breathe in through your nose to warm and moisten the cold air before it hits your lungs
    • If you have underlying asthma keep it well-controlled at all times and ensure you have an up to date asthma action plan
    • Avoid triggers that you or your doctor have identified you may need to change your sport or where you exercise
    • Keep a record of how often you use your SABA inhaler and review this with your doctor or asthma nurse regularly
    • If your child has EIB, tell PE teachers and carers about the importance of warm-ups, the signs of EIB and how/when your child should use their inhaler

    Some people also recommend taking vitamin C and vitamin E dietary supplements. However theres not enough evidence that these have any beneficial effect on asthma or exercise-induced bronchoconstriction.

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    How Do You Treat Exercise

    • Is struggling to breathe
    • Canââ¬â¢t walk or talk
    • Shows other signs of a severe attack

    1. Stop the activity.

    • Have the person sit down and rest.

    2. Follow the personââ¬â¢s asthma plan, if possible.

    • Find out if the person has an individualized asthma action plan from a doctor.
    • If so, follow its directions.

    3. Give asthma first aid.

    4. Resume activity when itââ¬â¢s safe.

    • Wait until the person can breathe easily and is symptom-free before resuming exercise.
    • If symptoms return when person starts exercise again, repeat treatment and stop exercise for rest of day.

    5. Follow up.

    Side Effects Of Exercise

    Episodes of EIB can cause temporary inflammation and damage to lungs, but its reversible with proper treatment. The biggest complication associated with exercise-induced breathing difficulty is GIVING UP ON EXERCISE!

    Some people with EIB feel anxiety, fear, and embarrassment about exercising. Rightfully so! Whats not scary about feeling like you cant breathe?

    The truth is avoiding exercise is counterproductive. Its totally possible to have an active life while managing EIB. In fact, exercise improves quality of life.

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    How To Lower Your Risk Of Asthma Symptoms When Exercising

    If exercise triggers your asthma symptoms, its usually a sign that your asthma is not as well controlled as it could be. You can lower your risk of symptoms when you exercise by:

    • Using your preventer inhaler every day as prescribed
    • Seeing your GP or asthma nurse to review your asthma.

    Get more advice on exercising safely and motivation to stay active.

    Using your preventer inhalerevery day

    Using your preventer inhaler every day can lower your risk of asthma symptoms triggered by exercise.

    Your preventer inhaler works in the background to prevent your airways from getting too inflamed. This means your airways are less likely to react when you exercise.

    A good preventer inhaler routine can also lower your risk of symptoms triggered by pollen, pollution, or dust when youre exercising.

    Seeing your GP or asthma nurse

    Your GP or asthma nurse can support you to manage your asthma well so you can feel confident about exercising.

    They can check your inhaler technique and update your asthma action plan. They may test your peak flow or suggest different asthma medicines.

    A few people whose asthma is triggered by exercise may be told to use their reliever inhaler before they start exercising. For some people, this can help stop symptoms from coming on.

    More Tricks For Preventing The Wheeze

    inducing exercise induced asthma and how to cure it

    Try these recommendations to reduce your risk of EIB while exercising:

    • Cover your mouth and nose with a scarf or mask during exercise so the air entering your lungs is warmer and more humid.
    • Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes before the main workout.
    • Try to breathe through your nose. Your nose is great at converting air to the best temp and moisture for your lungs.
    • In a study of 64 asthmatic children, positive pressure treatment reduced EIB and lung inflammation.

    You dont want to mess around when it comes to breathing. Follow your doctors recommended treatment for EIB, but you may find some of these alternative therapies are helpful too.

    • Caffeine before exercise may help prevent airway constriction.

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    What Are Symptoms Of Exercise

    If you have EIB, youll likely experience one or a combination of four symptoms: shortness of breath, a dry, non-productive cough, chest tightness, or wheezing .

    Some of these symptomssay, trouble catching your breathcan be easy to confuse with the effects of just pushing yourself too hard, or being a little out of shape. So how can you tell if its EIB?

    Typically, symptoms of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction are pretty precisely-timed. They tend to begin during the first six to eight minutes of exercise, and peak five to 10 minutes post-workout, says Wang. Thats because, initially, exercise expands the airways. But as you continue to move with EIB, or when you stop, your airways can constrict more than usual.

    If you have EIB, symptoms usually subside within 30 to 60 minutes, he adds. Thats different than a short-term exertion, like if youre pushing yourself really hard in a sprint. In that case, youll regain your breath much faster than this, Wang notes.

    If youve done your run and shortly following your run, your chest is tight, maybe youre coughing a little bit, that should go away, notes Taliercio.

    If those symptoms persist after that time frame, or get worseespecially if you have a history or asthma and have used a quick-acting inhalerthey may be signs of an asthma attack. In that case, you should seek immediate medical attention, as it can be life-threatening if not treated, notes Wang.

    Are Sports Dangerous For Children With Asthma

    The parents and teachers of children who have are sometimes very cautious. Some even hesitate to let their children participate in sports at school because they’re scared it might trigger an asthma attack. This caution is usually exaggerated, though, and can even have negative consequences.

    On the other hand, there is of course a risk that a child who has might have an asthma attack while doing sports. So it’s important to adapt the childâs physical activities to his or her situation. People such as sports teachers should also be told that the child has asthma â and know what to do in an emergency. Parents can help their children to take their medication properly and make sure that they always have their reliever medication with them. You can talk to your child and a doctor to find out which types of sports may be more suitable than others. But it’s important to choose a sport that your child enjoys.

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