How do you tell if you have runners asthma or plain asthma??

Question

im a pretty serious runner, im on my high school cross country and track team, but ive run for years before that.

i started having trouble breathing, and went to my doctor and it turns out i have asthma. there is no history of it in my family, and i just started having trouble. im on 2 inhailers (prevental, symbacort [spelling?]) im till having a lot trouble breathing though. im still running a lot too.

how do i tell if its runners asthma or the crappy southern california air? (enviormental asthma)

is there anything i can do to help me breathe?

im going back to the doctors, but she doesnt help me much..

thanks a bundle!

Answer 1

Asthma is a serious illness, and exercise induced asthma is no less serious than other forms of asthma.  

The difference is that exercise induced asthma occurs primarily with exercise.  It causes you to wheeze and have extreme shortness of breath when exercising, which improves after resting.  It is not so much from the environment (sorry, can't blame the smogs in LA).  

It sounds like your doctor is doing what she can.  Proventil, or commonly known as Albuterol, is a medication to open up the airway.  It is used more or less as needed, what I call 911 medicine - for emergency or for urgency only.  The other medication, Symbicort, is a very good medication that has both steroid and long acting Albuterol, and it is used  twice a day regardless of whether you are short of breath or not.  That is a preventive medication as well as a medication to treat the underlying reason for your asthma.

If you still has shortness of breath, you need to go back to see your doctor and let her know.  Seeing you for 10 minutes may not be enough for her to realize that you might still have problem.  The other thing you need to do is to use your peak flow meter to see how your lung is doing.  All else fail, ask your doctor to refer you to an allergist or a pulmonologist, who deal with exercise induced asthma.

You can help yourself by avoiding allergens in your environment.  If you have a cat, get rid of it; if you have a dog, wash it regularly.  Vacuum your house regularly, have your parents change the air filters, keep windows and doors closed, and need to get your room clean.  Air filter machine may help, but cleanliness is upmost important.  If not, move out of Cali and go somewhere else - maybe Arizona or New Mexico, where it is drier and has less plants.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Traveling around wouldn't have a negative influence on you. You should talk to your doctor about it though and/or an asthma professional.

They will help you more with it (any maybe give you a certain type of medicine)

Answer 3

go to an asthma clinic. or find another docotor.   you can tell if its just the air, by going out of state. and seeing if its better. it may also be seasonal allergies affecting it. go see an allergist.