Starting again after year long absence and new asthma

[AutumnFalls]

Hello, all, I'm looking for advice for going back to martial arts (karate) after a long absence and health issues. I'll give a short backstory. Last August I got a wicked case of bronchitis (combined with sinusitis). It took a long time to heal my lungs, and I discovered thereafter that my "so mild you don't need an inhaler" asthma had gotten a lot worse. I now need a maintenance inhaler and use a rescue one occasionally and always before exercising.

It took about six months for me to begin to exercise in any form and that was only with some gentle yoga. By this August (a year later), I was able to do more strenuous yoga, some indoor running/jogging and a little bit of muscle building. I figured I was as ready as ever. Unfortunately I had to move suddenly so my return to training was delayed. I also caught a badly timed cold so I've moved my start date from this week to the next couple weeks. I am gun shy about training though, mainly because of the asthma. I'm still not used to it I guess. My main questions/concerns are these.

1) Do I need to train differently with asthma?
2) Can I jump back into one hour training sessions at the dojo without adverse asthma effects?
3) What precautions should I take (keeping inhaler handy etc)
4) How can I prepare my lungs and body for a longer, more intense workout (especially when under the weather like now).

I'd love any and all tips and advice. Thanks in advance.

 

[crazydiamond]

I have asthma as does one person in our class.

General speaking I have a good maintenance set of drugs that mostly prevent flair ups - except when I am sick or have a low level bug of some kind. Then I take get on other temporary drugs or just my rescue inhaler before class.

I assume your taking something like Advair as a long term treatment ? Make sure your reviewing with an asthma specialist as you may need to take a combination of prevention drugs to keep it better controlled.

That said there is one guy in class who brings his rescue device into class and he sometimes stops and takes it. We all know about it and its fine with all of us that he manages his symptoms. You should have yours with you at all times.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Keep exercising and eat a good diet. Try to manage your colds by doing the common things that doctors suggests to lower the risk of catching a cold. I agree with crazydiamond about having the rescue inhaler with you at all times especially when you know you'll be doing activities that may cause your asthma to flair up. TRUST ME. Everyone would rather you take a puff than for them to call emergency because you can't breath. The puff comes with less stress.

 

[AutumnFalls]

I'm on Flovent not Advair but it works well. I'm thinking of having one inhaler that I keep at the dojo to take before class and in case of emergency. Stopping colds is tricky since I take public transit which is a haven for viruses, but I'll try to focus on doing all the common things a bit more.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Do you smoke? If so, you need to quit. Now. Without making any excuses about how difficult it is.

There are three basic types of asthma; intrinsic, extrinsic and mixed. The classifications are based on what triggers you're subject to.
Is exercise (an intrinsic triggers) one of your triggers? Getting short of breath when you exercise does not mean that it is. The only way to really know is to have exercise pulmonary function testing done. If you have not, and someone tries to tell that you have exercise induced asthma, thank them for their opinion and then go find someone else.
If you do have EIA, then you need to keep a rescue inhaler handy and build up your tolerance gradually.
If you do not have EIA, then exercise till you puke, if you want, and it won't affect your asthma in the slightest.

 

[Tames D]

I can't answer any questions regarding Asthma, but I will just say, make sure your instructors are aware of your situation.
And welcome to Martialtalk.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Hello, all, I'm looking for advice for going back to martial arts (karate) after a long absence and health issues. I'll give a short backstory. Last August I got a wicked case of bronchitis (combined with sinusitis). It took a long time to heal my lungs, and I discovered thereafter that my "so mild you don't need an inhaler" asthma had gotten a lot worse. I now need a maintenance inhaler and use a rescue one occasionally and always before exercising.

It took about six months for me to begin to exercise in any form and that was only with some gentle yoga. By this August (a year later), I was able to do more strenuous yoga, some indoor running/jogging and a little bit of muscle building. I figured I was as ready as ever. Unfortunately I had to move suddenly so my return to training was delayed. I also caught a badly timed cold so I've moved my start date from this week to the next couple weeks. I am gun shy about training though, mainly because of the asthma. I'm still not used to it I guess. My main questions/concerns are these.

1) Do I need to train differently with asthma?
2) Can I jump back into one hour training sessions at the dojo without adverse asthma effects?
3) What precautions should I take (keeping inhaler handy etc)
4) How can I prepare my lungs and body for a longer, more intense workout (especially when under the weather like now).

I'd love any and all tips and advice. Thanks in advance.

My best advice would be to be very clear on this with your instructor, let him/her know that you'll step off-mat if you need to during an exercise, and do every exercise very gently and with little exertion at first. You don't know how your training will affect your asthma, so enter it slowly. There's more than just activity involved here - there's also adrenaline and other stress hormones that will show up. Go slow, and only go faster after you have plenty of evidence that slow causes no issues.

 

[AutumnFalls]

Do you smoke? If so, you need to quit. Now. Without making any excuses about how difficult it is.

There are three basic types of asthma; intrinsic, extrinsic and mixed. The classifications are based on what triggers you're subject to.
Is exercise (an intrinsic triggers) one of your triggers? Getting short of breath when you exercise does not mean that it is. The only way to really know is to have exercise pulmonary function testing done. If you have not, and someone tries to tell that you have exercise induced asthma, thank them for their opinion and then go find someone else.
If you do have EIA, then you need to keep a rescue inhaler handy and build up your tolerance gradually.
If you do not have EIA, then exercise till you puke, if you want, and it won't affect your asthma in the slightest.

Thankfully, it is not exercise induced. My main triggers are smoke and mold. And I definitely don't smoke. Never have, never will.

gpseymour, I will have to talk to them when I get back. That's good advice.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I was recently diagnosed with asthma, but apparently I've had it for quite some time and just thought that I had developed terrible cardio and a tendency to catch respiratory infections easily. Now I'm using a daily inhaler (Breo) in addition to a rescue inhaler which I use before heading to class and keep on hand in case I need it in the middle of a hard workout.

So far, no problems. I had developed very good breath control and efficient technique during the time I was diagnosed. Now I am able to push myself harder to build up my cardio. I haven't yet tested myself with high-intensity interval training, but that's because the temperature has been in the 90s for the last few months and I wasn't ready yet to push myself that hard on days when it's that hot and humid. We're finally getting some Fall weather, so I may give it a try this week.

I'd recommend just using your meds consistently, listening to your body, and gradually pushing yourself to see what you can handle.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Thankfully, it is not exercise induced. My main triggers are smoke and mold. And I definitely don't smoke. Never have, never will.

gpseymour, I will have to talk to them when I get back. That's good advice.

Just as a point of reference, mine was exercise-induced, but my understanding is that any asthma can be exacerbated by unusual exercise and moreso by stress (like the stress hormones I mentioned). If smoke and mold are issues, be particularly wary during rainy times, as small pockets of mold and mildew will pop up then, and some folks will even have slightly "sour" (mildewy) uniforms because they didn't dry fast enough.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I was recently diagnosed with asthma, but apparently I've had it for quite some time and just thought that I had developed terrible cardio and a tendency to catch respiratory infections easily. Now I'm using a daily inhaler (Breo) in addition to a rescue inhaler which I use before heading to class and keep on hand in case I need it in the middle of a hard workout.

So far, no problems. I had developed very good breath control and efficient technique during the time I was diagnosed. Now I am able to push myself harder to build up my cardio. I haven't yet tested myself with high-intensity interval training, but that's because the temperature has been in the 90s for the last few months and I wasn't ready yet to push myself that hard on days when it's that hot and humid. We're finally getting some Fall weather, so I may give it a try this week.

I'd recommend just using your meds consistently, listening to your body, and gradually pushing yourself to see what you can handle.

Tony, before I was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma, I had played sports (including competitively in high school) for many years. I always thought I was just bad at endurance. When I found out what I thought was just normal "out of breath" was asthma, and got an inhaler, a whole new world opened up. Mine mostly went away by my 30's, but I can still experience it when my allergies have been acting up and I go for a run in the cold.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Thankfully, it is not exercise induced. My main triggers are smoke and mold. And I definitely don't smoke. Never have, never will.

gpseymour, I will have to talk to them when I get back. That's good advice.

If it's not exercise induced, then stop worrying about it.

 

[AutumnFalls]

If it's not exercise induced, then stop worrying about it.

Isn't that a little simplistic? Like others have mentioned the stress, adrenaline rush and even the potential dust/dirt etc in the dojo can negatively impact my lungs so I do need to think about it.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Isn't that a little simplistic? Like others have mentioned the stress, adrenaline rush and even the potential dust/dirt etc in the dojo can negatively impact my lungs so I do need to think about it.

No, it really isn't. You just said that your triggers are smoke and mold. If your dojang has smoke or mold, I'd go elsewhere. Otherwise, the absence of triggers means... you guessed it... there's nothing to worry about.
Adrenalin, incidentally, makes asthma BETTER, not worse.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

No, it really isn't. You just said that your triggers are smoke and mold. If your dojang has smoke or mold, I'd go elsewhere. Otherwise, the absence of triggers means... you guessed it... there's nothing to worry about.
Adrenalin, incidentally, makes asthma BETTER, not worse.

I think I'm the one who originally referred to adrenaline - clearly I wasn't drinking my coffee at the time. It's the stress hormones that typically accompany adrenaline that are a problem. Adrenaline, itself, should actually dilate open the airways, while most of the other stress chemicals are inflammatory. I'm not sure, but I suspect there's some improper release of or reaction to these chemicals that leads to the exercise-induced variety. That said, my understanding is that these stress chemicals will exacerbate anyone's asthma.

 

[frank raud]

Isn't that a little simplistic? Like others have mentioned the stress, adrenaline rush and even the potential dust/dirt etc in the dojo can negatively impact my lungs so I do need to think about it.

Mats in dojos are probably cleaned more often than the average floor in a home. Same if it is a hardwood floor. If there is a serious concern for dust and dirt, you definitely need to find a new dojang.