Questions about exercise with asthma - Asthma Message Board

dazedandconfused10 · 05-30-2006, 07:49 PM

I'm pretty newly diagnosed and don't suffer terrible sob, my big symptom is the cough that wouldn't go away until advair. Did great for 3 weeks. Did some travelling for work and came home and got really sick, fever of 102, felt like I'd been run over by a truck, cough that went ALL night long. Called the pulmonologist, he put me on a secondary inhaler, and gave me tessalon perle and robitussin with codeine. Well I think the second inhaler and the cough syrup did the most. But here I am -8 days later, coughing during the day and night, used up cough syrup, spilled some , and took dosage during the day when I was home

so I called about them increasing the dosage so the stupid insurance company will pay for it and they call in the same thing. So in summary my cough is not gone yet. Hopefully I'll get back to where I was before getting sick. Until the past few years I've exercised for a lot of my life so with also a history of a neck fracture, I'm thinking of elliptical machine and trying to learn more about pilates. Wondering what other people do. Wow those of you who have sob frequently have my respect, I felt like I had a weight on my chest for days and I hated it.

Oh one more question, is your asthma managed by your pcp or a specialist?

Titchou · 05-30-2006, 08:33 PM

OK, having trouble following your issues but...here's my regimen. When I get sick (cold, etc) I double up my Flovent (daily preventive) dosage. I presently am on one puff per day. When a cold comes on, I up it to 2 puffs a day. For a bedtime cough, I use Campho-phenique poured on a kleenex and held up to my nose as I lay on my side. Really helps the chest!

Before exercise, I hve two puffs of albuterol (rescue inhaler) 20 minutes before. I jog 4 times a week and hit the gym for weights 3 times.

Hope this helps!

sue430 · 05-31-2006, 10:26 AM

It is really common to have the asthma flare up if you get a cold or flu. It may take awhile for you to recuperate completely. Actually, I end up needing prednisone every time I get a cold or flu to get my asthma back under control. If you are still having problems, you should probably get in to see the dr, you may need your meds tweaked again. As far as exercise, I have a stairmaster which I use for about 1/2 hr daily before work. I only have problems with exercise if my asthma is flared, & in that case I pretreat with maxair & take it at a reduced level. The important thing for me is not to miss exercising, even if I have to shorten the time & drastically reduce the level. I have an allergist treating my asthma, because it is primarily triggered by my allergies.

dazedandconfused10 · 05-31-2006, 07:46 PM

hmmm well I can renew my cough medicine before I go on my next business trip. I'm no longer running a temp but still coughing and his staff messed up my message, wish I could email to him or something. I have an elliptical that I can do when I'm not sick pretty welll and was also thinking about the strenghening part of pilates. Thanks for the replies.

MountainReader · 05-31-2006, 09:22 PM

I got a sinus infection that aggrevated the asthma last year and I ended up with a chronic cough---you know, the kind that hurts your chest and pulls muscles in your ribs and stomach. It took me FOUR months & 8 doctors visits to get it under control. (This was tough--aside from the allergy/ sinus problems I never get sick.) Throughout the course of treatments I found the cough suppressents/ codine didn't help. Prednisone helped some, but not much. Mucinex helped some when the phlem was present. I was on the tessalon perle and it helped some, but not a lot. I also tried several rounds of antibiotics in case the sinus infection was still there. I ended up increasing my Advair from 100/50 to 250/50 and finally 500/50. After it was under control for a couple months, I was reduced back to 250/50 but the cough came back this year and I am now on the 500/50 as a maintainence dosage. I was also using the Albuterol 4-5 times a day during that time. My allergy medications were increased to a maintainence dosage of Allegra-D, Singulair (for the asthma and allergies), Flonase and Astelin --all of which I am still taking. I was also put on new acid reflux medication because a cough can be a primary symptom of the acid. I had testing that confirmed it this year. I am praying that with all this I can avoid another sinus infection that sets off the cough again. Next time it starts I will see the Pulminologist.

As far as the exercise goes, I don't exercise when it is bad. When it is OK, I use the Albuterol ahead of time.

I hope you can get your cough under control much more quickly. It sounds like you are on top of monitoring your progress.