How do I tell the difference between being overweight and impatient, and exercise-induced asthma?

September 14, 2009 2:56 PM

Joined a gym a few months ago. We often jog 400m as a warm-up. I say "we" but in actual fact I can't do it. About halfway through I lose all ability to breathe properly - I think I may be taking very shallow breaths, but it's hard for me to tell exactly what happens. I feel like I can't get enough air, there's a lot of breathy noises, and I get hot as blazes.

I ran pretty consistently a few years ago, but always indoors - the one time I tried running outdoors was a complete failure.

Did a little research on exercise-induced asthma today. Yes, I have pre-existing allergies and eczema, live in an urban area and workout outdoors, all of which fits for asthma. Oh, and my live-in boyfriend smokes, although only outside. But I'm also late 30s and probably 50 pounds over my ideal weight. (Not that I am completely out of shape, having taken 3 or 4 bellydance classes a week for a year or two.)

The trainers at the gym think I should just be patient, but they aren't outside with me to hear what I think of as wheezing (but which may only be loud breathing).

My question to you: I know YANMyD, but if you were, should I come see you? Or should I give it more time? And if it only happens when I run outside, how is a doctor going to diagnose it anyway?

posted by Jaie to health & fitness (16 comments total)

Any chance you're hyperventilating? This happens when you breathe TOO rapidly and your lungs do not have enough carbon dioxide to convey oxygen. Extreme symptoms might include tunnel vision and that's a problem I had for a while until I fixed the problem by breathing less often and actually holding my breath at times (but not when I was running).

Anyway, you might want to read up on hyperventilation and see if you might be experiencing this disorder.

Good luck!

Yours,

Kalepa
posted by Kalepa at 3:08 PM on September 14

Yes, you should go see a doctor. They can do a pulmonary function test while at rest, and some doctors may do another test after exercise.
posted by dilettante at 3:09 PM on September 14

Asthma used to hinder me when I was younger. For some reason it was always worse when the air outside is cool. Try putting a bandanna over your mouth and breathing through it, it will warm the air and might make it easier to breathe. If it has no effect, perhaps it's not asthma.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:15 PM on September 14

I'd definitely go to the doctor, but I also have another thought: one thing I realized pretty quickly, as I started jogging and running, is that there is a MASSIVE (emphasis emphasized) difference in my breathing depending on the speed I'm trying to maintain. Starting more slowly than I think I need to, and not pressuring myself to maintain an arbitrarily-decided "this seems like a running speed" speed, has allowed me a very noticeably higher degree of stamina/endurance.
posted by so_gracefully at 3:21 PM on September 14

Exercise induced asthma.
posted by dortmunder at 3:25 PM on September 14

Seconding exercise induced asthma. I was diagnosed with it a few months ago; I'm 38 and I've apparently had it all my life. I've never had an asthma attack (with the hippo sitting on your chest) but have the exact symptoms you describe.

For diagnosis, my doc sent me to a respiratory therapist for a methacholine challenge test. I failed it with flying colors, wheezing at very low doses. He has since put me on Symbicort (US site, Canadian pharmacy where I actually buy it) twice a day. The difference is astounding.

Go see your doctor and describe your symptoms. If you don't have asthma, you won't react to moderate doses of methacholine and you should just slow down.
posted by workerant at 4:06 PM on September 14

Well, a doctor would probably have you breathe into a flow meter before and after exercising. They probably have a treadmill at the hospital, or you could do a bunch of jumping jacks or something.

When I have wheezing from asthma I can feel it if I place my hand on my chest, and so can other people. The effort from forcing air into constricted and mucus-filled bronchi creates vibration.

If you want, you could find a friend who has an Albuterol inhaler and borrow it, and see if it makes a difference when you are wheezing. If it works, you will definitely be able to tell. As far as I know, Albuterol is perfectly safe for anyone to use. I don't know that for sure, though, and you should be careful anytime you use someone else's medication.
posted by twblalock at 4:55 PM on September 14

Like workerant, I was just recently diagnosed with asthma. It had been impacting my everyday life for the last several years in small ways that I didn't really notice - including an inability to exercise at all without gasping for air exactly like that. I've been on Advair since May, and the difference is beyond astounding - into miraculous territory for me.

Go to a respiratory therapist and get tested. Even if it's just to rule it out, that would at least help you focus on being patient.
posted by gemmy at 5:02 PM on September 14

And here's another person with an experience just like gemmy's and workerant's. Being diagnosed was great for my self-esteem -- it turns out I haven't been lazy all this time, it really was something I needed help with. My regular doc figured out what it was and prescribed an inhaler to use before going for a run. I didn't have to do any tests or see specialists, as it's easy enough for a doctor to recognize what's going on.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:13 PM on September 14

Nthing a visit to a respiratory therapist. However dehydration can add to the intensity of an attack, so drinking more water may make running a little more bearable for the time being.
posted by bluestocking at 6:06 PM on September 14

How quickly does it stop after you stop running?

I'm a lard-ass, and I'm familiar with both what my breathing feels and sounds like when I'm just working too hard and kind of out of breath, and what my breathing feels and sounds like when I've induced an asthma attack, and they are not at all the same. The asthma attacks involve more wheezing and coughing for starters, but the main difference is, if I'm just out of breath and I stop exercising, thirty seconds or a minute or sometimes a few minutes later, I'm fine. If I'm having an asthma attack, I'm sometimes still breathing rockily the next day -- not all coughy and wheezy, but my chest and lungs will still feel tight and achey as I breathe.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:55 PM on September 14

Well one issue might be the heat and humidity. Contrary to popular belief exercise induced asthma is more likely to strike in hot humid conditions. (I am referencing the same article as bluestocking.) And I know this form personal experience. When I was younger and ran, I used to take the summers off because I just couldn't do it in the heat and humidity. I'd overheat, get tired and feel asthmatic in five minutes. Judging by your profile - if it is correct, I'd say it is a lot worse in North Carolina than it is in Manhattan. Perhaps you just need to go slow until autumn. Or warm up in the gym - provided they have the a/c cranking.

There's a reason why the New York marathon is in November.
posted by xetere at 7:16 PM on September 14

I had exercise induced asthma as a kid, it still flares from time to time, usually as it gets cold in the fall. It is very controllable with conditioning, and more importantly conscious regulation of your breathing.

Short shallow breaths taken through the mouth are a sure way to set off an attack for me. It is all about starting off your run with slower, complete lung filling breathes through the nose, and exhaling through the mouth. Run at a pace where you can take relaxed, full breathes without wheezing, you'll progress quickly.

As an aside, white/hispanic women with BMI > 30 seem to have roughly twice the incidence of asthma.
posted by zentrification at 10:02 PM on September 14

You say "we" are running - are you running with your boyfriend and trying to keep pace? You may be wheezing because you are sprinting instead of running, and forgetting to breathe. Try running 100m walking 25-50 and repeating to try and build up your stamina.
posted by fermezporte at 5:05 AM on September 15

Thanks all. I'm going to go ahead and make the doctor's appointment as I think it at least bears checking out.

Just to tie up loose ends and answer a few questions:

• @Kalepa, there's a pretty good chance that I am hyperventilating. If this isn't EIA, that's my second guess.
• Honestly, if I "run" any slower I'll be walking. No, I think I can already walk faster than I can run, so ... strolling.
• Whatever this thing is, it's better on cooler days, but then in Charlotte it's been in the 90s a good bit this summer, and is still in the mid to upper 80s, so cooler is a relative thing. Air quality pretty low, pollen count pretty high.
• The "we" that is running is my Crossfit class. I don't try to keep up with the group, but on the other hand I have been beaten at about the 400m distance by a 5-year-old-sized 8-year-old in flip-flops who was eating a hot dog at the time.
• Crossfit means there's no AC in the gym & it's therefore open to the elements, and the only cardio alternative to running is the rowing machine. This breathing thing doesn't happen on the rower. It does happen, although not to the same degree, if I run inside the gym.

posted by Jaie at 9:40 AM on September 15

Update from the doctor's appt. Not exercise-induced asthma. Just plain old asthma that I wasn't really noticing except when I'm at the gym, but which is apparently also the cause of the dry, gagging cough I had all summer.
posted by Jaie at 2:21 PM on September 22