Question from Clemens N.: When cycling on a road bike, I feel slight pressure on my chest for the first 30 minutes, which usually disappears again. It becomes problematic the next day: my bronchial tubes close up at the slightest incline. Mucus builds up and I just wheeze. An examination by a lung specialist revealed that I suffer from exercise-induced asthma, which is also caused by my hay fever. Since then, I have been trying to get the symptoms under control with two sprays of antispasmodic spray before setting off and long-term therapy with a cortisone spray - unfortunately without sufficient success. Do you have any advice?
Recommendation from Dr Susanne Mayr: A distinction must be made between two aspects: on the one hand, the acute onset of exercise-induced asthma and, on the other, the associated longer-term inflammatory reaction of the bronchial tubes. This is accompanied by the excessive formation of thick mucus, medically known as dyscrasia. It lasts for around 24 hours and is not over once the bronchial tubes have been dilated with an antispasmodic spray. This should therefore be seen more as an emergency medication. As it only suppresses the symptoms but does not treat them, it should not be used routinely and on a long-term basis.
What is important, however, is a fundamental and systematic treatment of asthmatic symptoms. One part of this is treatment with cortisone, which alleviates the inflammation in the bronchial tubes. However, this is also more of a follow-up measure that should be accompanied by other measures: Consult your lung specialist or an allergist about your hay fever, which has obviously not been treated promptly and adequately. Desensitisation may also be advisable at this stage in order to prevent further progression of the so-called stage change that has taken place in your case. This means that the breathing difficulties shift from the upper (nose, throat) to the lower sections of the airways (bronchi, alveoli). Desensitisation is carried out in the winter months outside the allergy season.
An important measure that you can control yourself is the appropriate and moderate dosage of physical exertion: take into account the long-term effect of heavy exertion on the airways and give them enough time to calm down. Build up your training in such a way that you do not overload yourself at any time. Otherwise you will inevitably have to take higher and higher doses of your medication.
