Exercise-induced asthma: Avoid it with preventive medication
Exercise-induced asthma needs no category of its own. If you have asthma symptoms when you exercise, you have asthma — it's that simple. Avoid exercise-induced asthma symptoms by using an inhaler before strenuous activity.
Do you regularly cough and feel short of breath about five to 10 minutes into a good, heart-pumping workout? If so, you may have asthma. Your breathing problems during exercise are part of the underlying condition.
People with mild exercise-induced asthma may not realize that their symptoms go beyond the body's normal response to exertion. They blame their difficulty on being out of shape or short on endurance. The good news is that when your asthma is properly recognized and treated, you'll probably be able to exercise as much as you want.
Asthma and exercise: What's the connection?
Many people with asthma have bouts of wheezing and breathlessness when they exercise strenuously. This reaction is known as exercise-induced asthma or exercise-induced bronchospasm.
Exercise-induced asthma is not a distinct type of asthma. Instead, it is likely to occur in anyone who has the airway reactivity that underlies asthma. Your airways — the passages branching off your windpipe to carry air to and from your lungs — are reactive if they tend to narrow under certain circumstances, such as after exposure to an allergen or while you are suffering from a cold. The linings of reactive airways are prone to inflammation and excess mucus secretion as well.
Exercise-induced asthma: Who's at risk?
Because they're more active than adults, children are more likely to wind up at the doctor's to find out why they have trouble catching their breath when they play hard. Exercise-induced symptoms are often the tip-off that a child has asthma. Other triggers may become apparent over time.
At all ages, though, physical activity is a common cause of acute airway constriction — in other words, of asthma attacks. Only colds are more likely to cause asthma symptoms. Aerobic exercise, such as running or playing basketball, hockey or soccer, is more likely to trigger asthma symptoms than is weightlifting, golfing or moderate-paced walking. Swimming is aerobic, but because humidity is higher near water, your airways are more likely to stay open.
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http://www.Mayoclinic.com After many years as a parent in Wrestling I have seen 3rd periods "rescued" by the immediate relief of asthma symptoms. The only two medications which should be appropriate are the immediate relief MDI's which would be albuterol (Proventil, Ventolin) and or pirbuterol (Maxair) otherwise prior to reporting to the table appropriate prevention of exacerbating the symptoms should be initiated. The inhaler should have the child's name & physician with a current date.
The utilization of Primatine Mist (epinephrine) can be a cheap alternative to immediate rescue & does not require a prescription.
Also keep in mind "triggers" that can induce asthma conditions.
Rictoria Bober RN,MSN,CCRN
