so bummed! Need advice

[dreamin_disney]

Hello. I started the couch to 5K last month. I completed week 1 and was motivated and excited!!!!! Well I ended up getting a bad cough 5/14 well my 1st trip to Dr. i got a breathing treatment, inhaler and antibotics. Well I had to go back to Dr. on 6/2 because I was still sick and my chest felt a lil birning and my lungs felt like they needed help expanding. I got chest xrays, breathing treatment and RX for allegra and a nasel spray. I am feeling better but still not 100%. Dr. said I have asthma which I told her I dont then she says why do you have an inhaler? I told her because thats what the Dr. gave me on my 1st visit. I do have allergies and told her not sure if i caught my husbands cough or irriation from cleaning out storage boxes that had dust. She said allergies are a form of asthma and some people have all year and other just during allergie season. Well my lungs arent 100% so I dont know what to do about exercising and I dont want to over do it.

I'm so bummed that I was soooooooo motivated to workout and had a great start. I plan on going to the store and buying lots of veggies, chicken breast and start a low carb diet. I need to try and lose weight this month and next month since I will have the time and no work or stress.

any tips or advice . Will working out expand my lungs and be better? I wonder if those with asthma what type of routine do you do? Thanks

 

[cewait]

Until you you get the asthma issue resolved I would stick with the lower Kcal balanced diet and maybe a few lower aerobic walks. Think strolling, not pacing. Your goal is to get out and enjoy the early summer not push through to a 5k plan

As a rule of thumb with congestion and breathing issues; if above the neck push on. If below the neck wait until it clears.

Hang in there. You do not want to push the effort and have a true asthma attack if in fact you do have asthma. Hopefully you only have an allergy issue and this will clear up in a few days and you will be able to resume your journey...

 

[Zhoen]

If you've never been much of a runner before, it actually COULD be exercise-induced asthma... you have just been smart enough to avoid your trigger until now. Until I was about 34, I only knew I hated running because it felt terrible... but if you watch movies and TV, all the chubby kids wheezed and got red when they ran-- that wasn't "asthma" that was "fat kid." Besides, also based on the wisdom of TV, asthma was supposed to sound like that kid from the Goonies, not a cough...

Well, fast forward, two babies both diagnosed with "reactive airway" (baby asthma), and it's genetic, and it had to come from somewhere, and then I nearly drowned during a run... and, voila, congratulations it's an asthma... How do you make it to your mid-30's with no idea? Apparently it's not that uncommon.

Now, I'll second what the others have said, wait to heal from this go-round, then talk to your doctor about getting some testing to confirm what is/is not going on. They can do a test where they measure your lung capacity, then have you go zero-to-sprint and maintain it, then measure your reaction. Alternately, they can have you breathe something called methacholine (sp) and look for a reaction that way. My exercise reaction was so strong they didn't need any other test.

The exercise reaction happens when your airway starts to dry out, among other things, so we have to start slower, warm up more, etc, was what they told me. Take 2 hits of the inhaler before starting, then do about 10 minutes of power walking before trying to jog/run. Listen to your body, when you start feeling the drying/chest tightness, slow down to a walk! If you keep pushing, the next thing you'll probably feel is like a "sob", a strange noise, and the feeling that there's fluid or "something" moving in your airway... at that point, you've gone to far, you're having an attack and you need to slow down and use your inhaler. (Oh, as some point they'll give you a little meter to measure your lung capacity-- that is how you'll know if it's a reaction or not... mine sounds/feels just like a cough, so that thing is key to learning about yourself.)

If you find that you always feel chest pain in the extreme cold of of winter, or that you catch terrible colds in the extreme cold, that's another clue. The cold, dry air of winter causes the same reaction as exercise. In fact, people who don't have the exercise problem sometimes have the cold problem. Likewise with allergy-induced.

You can have a reaction and not recognize it, which happened to me for years, and might be what is happening to you. If you find yourself after exercise feeling like you chest feels itchy, or sticky, or gooey, that's it, but you've already gone to far, and you have to wait for your lungs to clear themselves (keep an eye on it, or it can turn to pneumonia).

Your doctor can prescribe a cocktail of different pills and inhalants and all sorts of things that are supposed to help, but you'll always want to keep the inhaler handy when you exercise. Ideally you want to prevent the reaction, but if that doesn't happen, reversing it as soon as possible will help with the after-effects.

I have heard wonderful stories of people with asthma who find the right combination of medication, exercise/warm-up, etc and go on to be great runners. I'm not there yet, but I wish you luck! Don't stop hoping yet!

 

[lovetoscrap]

What type of dr did you see? Sounds like you have seen several people, and the last one doesn't sound like a great one. Do you have a Primary Care Physician? Have you ever seen an Allergy and Asthma specialist? I would take it easy until you are feeling better but you need to see someone for some consistency of care so that you can figure out what is going on.

Respiratory illness will absolutely aggravate my asthma, but so does my allergies and exercise and it has been that way for as long as I can remember. If you had a virus it may have irritated your airways and it could just be an isolated action of the illness, or it could mean there is an underlying condition that you need to take care of. My older daughter also has asthma but my younger one does not. However she takes the same meds (inhaler, steroids) that we do when she gets a respiratory illness because she gets croup very easily.

When my DD was little she was diagnosed with asthma by our PCP. He heard the wheezing when she was in for a sick visit. We had to change doctors due to an insurance change and the next one said no way that she had asthma and actually suggested that asthma doesn't really even exist and is just a "fad" diagnosis. We went to a pediatric Allergy and Asthma specialist who confirmed that she does indeed have asthma.

Even if you do have asthma that shouldn't stop you from doing C25K. You just need a good specialist to be sure that it is being controlled. Don't try to do it on your own, I have been in the ER several times because I thought I could manage my asthma myself. I hope you feel better quick and hopefully this is just a lingering illness that will pass and you will be back to your routine in no time.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I was seen by two different urgent care doctors. I need to make an appt with my primary Dr. During my running doing the 5K i had no issue only the normal outta breath from not jogging or exercising. My husband never gets sick and he ended up with a cough. A few days later dd and I both woke up sick, me with a cough and her with a sorethroat which dh had both. I also had been cleaning some storage stuff. The only thing i have notice is issues with old dust. At work 2 years ago I had to clean out old cabinets and a day later I ended up with bad cough like now. The a year ago I changed jobs and had to clean out cabinets and once againe dust the furry kind and ended up sick again. This time not sure if its dh cough or the dust again. In the past I've done fast walking on the treadmill and no issues. My gut tells me whatever that dust is which looked the same in 3 different places is whats irraiting my lungs. With asthma do you get flem? I feel like i have it deep down sometimes othertimes in my throat and its hard to get out. I also have a lot of nasal drip but lots of stuff way up in my nose. I'm going to take it easy. I seen some exercise moves that I will do.The meds the dr gave me are more for allergies and I am feeling better.


As far as my low carb diet since I'm not going to full exercise i'm going to use food I already have in the house and hopefully nextweek I can start low carb. So this week I will just do portion control