Thanks! I went ahead and made an appt with my general practitioner. I don't think it's a heart issue. I think that's a great idea to just try an inhaler. I was thinking I'd have to go through a bunch of in office testing or something before they'

[Guest guest]

Thanks! I went ahead and made an appt with my general practitioner. I don't think it's a heart issue. I think that's a great idea to just try an inhaler. I was thinking I'd have to go through a bunch of in office testing or something before they'd prescribe one. When I ran outside, I chose to try it specifically in days when the weather was mild and gorgeous. Pollen counts may have been high, but since my seasonal allergies aren't bad, I didn't worry about it.Thank you for your thoughts!Janelle

The easiest way to find out is to get a prescription for albuterol,

or one of its clones like ventolin or xophenex, from your doctor.

If this relieves the problem, then it's asthma. If you do have

asthma, then using that stuff before exercise may help.

You could also see an allergist about getting allergy tests. Also,

has anything been extreme about the weather when you ran outside?

Heat, cold, wind, humidity?

You could also get a referral to a cardiologist and make sure it

isn't your heart. But I'd do that albuterol test first. It's

cheapest and easiest. Unless you have no insurance or other

coverage, as it is no longer available in generic. Over time of

course you'd get it from the drug company that makes it for free.

Dora

Hello everybody. I'm mostly a lurker, now that my

daughter seems to be outgrowing her reactive airway

issues.

Anyway, I now have a question concerning myself. Back in

college, my roommate and I decided to start running. I was

in good shape, so we started running outside. After a

couple of blocks, I could barely breathe. It was fall and

I blamed it on allergies. So we started running the next

time on an indoor track, and I did fine.

Here we are, 11 years later. I decided to start up running

again. I'm not in horrible shape, but it's been a while,

so I'm starting slow. This spring I tried running outside.

Again, after a couple of blocks, I had to stop. It wasn't

cold out, but the best way I can describe how it felt was

that it felt like I swallowed dry ice. I was coughing, my

throat hurt, and I couldn't catch my breath.

So again, I've moved it to an indoor track. It's much

better indoors, but I'm still having trouble breathing and

coughing after I get started. And I'm still going easy,

and I don't think I'm that out of shape.

I have mild seasonal allergies, nothing major. How do I

know if it's exercise-induced asthma or if I'm just in

worse shape than I thought?

Thanks,

Janelle