Asthma Athletes....how do you manage?

How soon before allergy season do you take advair?  Advair has two components to it:  1) an inhaled steroid which can take up to 1-2 months before an appreciable benefit is noted and 2) a long acting bronchodilator (servent) which can be used no more than twice daily.

For those who take inhaled steroids prior to allergy season, you should be starting this at least 4 weeks prior to allow the anti-inflammatory benefit to take effect.  Less inflammation, hopefully leads to less bronchospasm, less symptoms, hence less need for rescue inhaler (er. proventil).  Advair tastes bad, and needs religious use of it to maximize benefit. 

Please check with your doctor if your symptoms are not currently being controlled on your current advair dose.

Daily: Allegra, Flonase + Metatoprol to control high BP (from wheezing and gasping for air when I'm running).  Plus: Xopenax inhaler on occasion. 

I have to be really patient with it.  If the air quality is really bad and I'm gasping for air some days, I try to find something else to do - weights, power yoga, cycling indoors, etc.

I had a combination of breathing problems: a lot of allergies (dust, nature, cigarettes) and also asthma. Though I'm not totally cured yet from my allergies it's not that serious anymore that it diminishes my capacity to function normally. I do still notice it when I breath in the tiniest amount of smoke even before I can detect he smell (slight feeling of burning in my eys and more slime in my nose), last weekend I discoverd I still can't tolerate some trees but the difference is I can always breath in sufficient oxygen, even when I have a nasty cold and the effects don't last that long anymore. The most nasty effect of my allergy right now is the airco in an auditorium, it hurts my eyes somehow comparable to when you have dust in your eyes.

I still have a mild form of asthma.
My symptoms:

• I can't breath out as hard as normal people. I have a normal lungcapacity of 6,75 liters (my heigth is 1m98) but when I breath out with a maximal effort for 1 second throug a spirometer the graph shows a collapsing of my airways.
• When I breath out forcefully or when I laugh hard I wheeze.
  
• When I have done an exercise with a high intensity I often have to cough a lot

Luckily I don't need any medicine right now. The astma does hinder me a bit but it doesn't compromise my ability to sport a lot. Only with swimming I notice that I need more time to recuperate after having hold my breath because I can't get rid of the CO2 as fast as other people can. I can very easily swim a lap under water, even without jumping or pushing at the start. I can hold my breath for 140-150 seconds. Only, after I have done something like that I need more time to recover then most people.
That doesn't realy bother me. I enjoy the fact that nowadays I can breath in enough oxygen to feel comfortable, so I have no reason to complain. Because of my experience with a shortage of oxygen I have a strong tendency to keep a window open as much as possible, which sometimes causes difficulty when underdressed girls complain that they find it too cold.
Like many kids I grew over it. Good luck iwth it.

I am a sports medicine physical therapist and an asthmatic.  From my experience,  I would also suggest going through some breathing exercises called pursed lipped breathing. It is a technique that is used with any person with chronic pulmonary issues.   To start, work on taking deep breathes in through the nose and with your lips in the shape as if you were going to whistle blow out slowly and lightly (not hard enought to blow out a candle) for a count of 20 to 30 seconds. This gives the lunges more time to absorb oxygen before it is abrubtyl exhaled. Over time this will improve you breath quality and you can use this technique during you training and events.  I find this very helpful and so do many of my clients.

The albuterol binds shortly to the β₂ receptor and stimulates it (agonist).
Here you can start reading about the effects of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-2_adrenergic_receptor
I haven't verified the sources but if they are right that albuterol should only slightly increase your heartrate (when you take a normal dose anyway) so if your heartrate increases a lot then I supect another cause.

The β₂ receptor is one of the receptors which is being activate by hormones like adrenalin. See for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenergic_receptor#.CE.B22_receptor
 

As a kid I breathed in a lot like hubcitytriguy describes, it helps in my experience.

I take Advair (250/50) twice per day all year round.  I only use albuterol in emergencies.  I always carry it while I'm exercising.  As long as my asthma is under control, I don't have to use albuterol before exercise.  Part of keeping it under control is also keeping allergy symptoms under control through the spring and summer because allergies are a big trigger for me.

If you have problems with albuterol, you can investigate other emergency inhalers.  My sister has had really good luck with xoponex as an alternate emergency inhaler. 

Are you certain about your diagnosis? I know from my study that COPD is often misdiagnoses, especially when you don't go to a lung-specialist. The different diseases give very similar symptoms which make it difficult to diagnose.

Asmanex 1-2x per day (depends on if I want sooper clear lungs and  headache or just pretty clear lungs and no headache) and Albuterol before exercise.

during high allergy seasons I also do nasonex and singulair. 

Some people have very adverse reactions to albuterol including an elevated heart rate, so it's entirely likely that you can experience that symptom from it.

I'll make this short and sweet.  I have environmental asthma also.  Three years ago I started on Singulair.   WOW. . .    I have decreased my Actifed usage by 95% and my Albuterol inhailer by 60%.   Get your doctor to prescribe Singular. 

Oh, and by the way.  You need to use it for at least a month before you realize that it is actually working, and you're not just having a few good days.

Thanks for all your input and experiences. It seems I need to visit my doctor again and talk about some other meds.  I appreciate you sharing your experiences with me.

 I am also going to start working on the pursed lip breathing. I already do something like it, with a forced, sharp exhale when I'm feeling winded.

Mel 

During allergy season I take Asmanex and Veramyst 1x daily.  Albuterol prn.  Outside of allergy season I only take the albuterol.  I'd tried Allegra (AllerClear is the generic form, both are OTC) to treat both with pretty good results the first season, but virtually zero results the next year.  I've been doing the Asmanex/Veramyst combo for two seasons now.

Since I started training for tris, my use of the albuterol has decreased significantly and my lung capacity feels much greater.  I should bust out my peak flow meter to quantify that assumption. 

Wow! Looks like you are in good company OP! And oh yeah, I have EIA and use pretty much what has already been said. I also find that like someone else said...I am better if I ease into it vs trying too fast too soon...and if my sinuses are acting up, I am better off taking an antihistamine as well to keep the juices at bay. And let your doc know if something ain't working.... if like mine, will tweak the meds to suit your symptoms.

Good luck and happy training!