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Cold Weather Asthma?
01/01/15 at 10:02pm
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I have seasonal allergies in the spring, and occasionally in the fall, but aside from that I don't have a hard time breathing. I treat them with Zyrtec and all is well. However, I notice that whenever I ride past late October / early November, I get seriously winded. I breathe a lot heavier and my lungs start to hurt, my saliva gets thick and I feel like I can't get all my air in when I am riding. 

Part of it is being out of shape in terms of mountain biking in the winter months, but I do spend time in the gym every other day and where I also run maybe 10 miles (in 2 mile intervals) a week at a fast pace on the treadmill with no problems. 

Today at SWDP (an easy trail) I had to hang it up after a single lap and my legs were burning and cramping (presumably because the muscles, though recently exercised in the gym, weren't being oxygenated properly). I was hanging over the bars and couldn't keep up even a social pace. This isn't the first time this has happened to me in the winter. 

So what gives? Is there such a thing as "Winter Asthma?" Does anyone else have these issues and how do you deal with them? Is it a conditioning issue?
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #1 - 01/01/15 at 10:30pm
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I grew up with asthma and allergies. As I got in my 30s and 40s the frequency of attacks lessened, however cold weather can trigger tightness in my chest and difficultly breathing. There is also exercise induced asthma which varies with each individual. I don't recieve shots anymore but still have to use an inhaler and carry one when I ride. My advice is talk to your Doc and see if an inhaler can work for you. Theres been times riding that the inhaler got me back to the car. In my experience conditioning can lessen the frequency or severity of the attacks but at least in my case it happens regardless of what kind of shape I'm in. Hope this helps.
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #2 - 01/01/15 at 10:59pm
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I get the same stuff Trekker. This past winter was the worst. I take allegra (generic) daily. Saw my doc last March and he prescribed an inhaler, and I got the allergy shot. The inhaler was destroyed when my sons lab was visiting and snatched it off a table. Anyway the allergy shot seemed to clear up the symptoms after about a week. I'll get another this spring. (Fewer bronchitis issues too)
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #3 - 01/02/15 at 1:20am
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I have had asthma since I was about 11-12 years old. I have it year round but mine definitely gets worse in the winter. Right about now I can feel it getting worse and it will continue to be a problem until the warmer weather returns. Last year was bad because winter kind of continued for longer than usual with some pretty cold temps through march or so. It makes training for early Spring races like in April something of a challenge. What triggers it is really a combination of breathing in the cold air of winter but also the "forced heat" that you get inside is very dry and irritating to your bronchial system. So anyway I just try to limit exerting real hard when the temps are very low and basically just kind of suck it up and wait till it gets warmer and my symptoms lessen again. I avoid racing in the winter- last year I did the winter short track and that was kind of a bad idea. Each week my breathing got worse and worse. Definitely get to a good doctor. I take two separate inhalers daily to be able to function and then I have a third rescue inhaler that I have with me when I ride. I will not ride without it. Like someone else said conditioning doss help as does getting on a good regular regimen that will stop the inflammation from building up in the first place.
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #4 - 01/02/15 at 4:12am
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Breathing cold air during the winter is harder for me also (not as bad as it sounds for you though).  Especially if it gets into the 20's it gets pretty rough. I have found that attempting to warm the air as much as possible before it hits my lungs helps the most.  Either wearing additional layers around my neck or wearing something over the mouth/face like a backlava helps when it gets so cold the air hurts my lungs.
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #5 - 01/02/15 at 1:14pm
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Good information at WebMD

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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #6 - 01/02/15 at 6:19pm
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Great information from all and thanks for the feedback and suggestions.  Good to know this isn't necessarily "abnormal." Here's what I'm going to do: 1. Make sure to take Zyrtec before I ride in the winter, even though I don't "feel" my allergies 2. Buy a neckwarmer (snood) and breathe through it to warm the air and my throat in cold weather and 3. Do a real slow warm up lap (or mile or whatever) when it's cold, allowing myself to go nice and slow in the cold air.

If that doesn't help,  it's off to the doctor for a checkup and inhaler for cold weather exercise. 
  
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Re: Cold Weather Asthma?
Reply #7 - 01/02/15 at 9:54pm
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You might want to hold on the Zertec in the winter if there are no triggers for your allergies.  Antihistamines dry you out, and are not a brochodilator.    This could cause and increase in wheezing.   I had cold induced brochospasm when I lived up north (temperatures much colder than here).  I would just take a couple hits of my inhalator pre-ride/run and that was all it took.
  
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