Oh great, just want I wanted

BimmsAndBices said:

I recently learned I have light asthma. Terrific. Is there a way to overcome this without medication to continue cycling hard?

From what I know of, no. Of course, like allergies, it might get worse, better, or even go away with time. I'm pretty much in the same boat, and raced for almost 1 full season before realizing the cause of me not getting enough air. I have Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA) and it's pretty much only bothersome to me at high intensities, hard training, and most races... it basically feels like my throat closes to half of its normal width and just feels like restricted breathing. I guess its possible that there are things to try to reduce the severity or symptoms, but for the most part medication is the only way you're going to be 'asthma free' during you're ride. If anyone knows differently, please chime in, as I'd like to hear about it too.

That's just what happens to me. When I pedal as hard or close to as hard as I can I really have to suck it in to get enough oxygen, so I just take it easy for a few minutes.

BimmsAndBices said:

I recently learned I have light asthma. Terrific. Is there a way to overcome this without medication to continue cycling hard?

My wife deals with it by using inhalers. It is also helpful to do a good warm up before pushing hard.
Dry cold air seems to bother her the most. Come to think of it... very dry,cold air is not my favorite either.

BimmsAndBices said:

I recently learned I have light asthma. Terrific. Is there a way to overcome this without medication to continue cycling hard?

The best thing to do is a moderate warm-up and the lining of the bronchi may acclimate and not cause any dyspnea due to constriction, you "work thru it" so to speak. I would recommend an inhaler (For emergencies only) but try to avoid med's as you will need more and more if you start to use them and then its virtually impossible to quit. Like a poster said earlier, asthma is essentially your immune system gone awry, or an allergy, so if you can hold out and not use med's, it may change over time. Good Luck.

DocK said:

The best thing to do is a moderate warm-up and the lining of the bronchi may acclimate and not cause any dyspnea due to constriction, you "work thru it" so to speak. I would recommend an inhaler (For emergencies only) but try to avoid med's as you will need more and more if you start to use them and then its virtually impossible to quit. Like a poster said earlier, asthma is essentially your immune system gone awry, or an allergy, so if you can hold out and not use med's, it may change over time. Good Luck.

It's true about meds. Good for emergencies. You can try to review your relationship with your body. The immune systen trys to tell you something😕 . Talk back to it. Do you work hard on your achievements? "Hard" is an attitude. It may get back at you in "hard" breathing. Try to do it easy - like a dance, like breathing. Body intellegence can pick up on our attitudes. Check out this site - www.immunics.org. It's working for me, but you have to be consistent.

Good luck🙂