As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been having some asthma issues lately. For those of you who didn't know, yes I have asthma. Have had it pretty much all my life and I've never let it stop me or limit me from doing things. For the most part it is completely controlled with medication. Until recently....It started a little over a month ago. I noticed that if I didn't take my albuterol (the quick acting bronchodilator) prior to my runs, I would have this tight feeling in my chest. This then progressed to really needing my inhaler before my runs. It further progressed to needing the inhaler every couple hours even when not running. The final straw what when I needed to stop and take the inhaler mid-run!
Finally I made an appointment with my PC and she confirmed what I already knew. I was constantly wheezing even after taking my inhaler and my lung function was much lower than it was earlier this year at my annual check up (550 down to 390!) My current maintenance medicines weren't working for some reason. So we upped the dose of my inhaled steroid (guess I can't win any prize money at Boston and need to take a drug test!) and put me on a longer acting bronchodilator.
The great thing about asthma medications is that they act so quickly since they are locally delivered to your lungs. Within a day, I was feeling better. It literally felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest and I could breath without sounding like an 80 year old smoker! (unfortunately now I have the medicine cabinet of an 80 year old but at least I can breath!) I'm still not sure what triggered the change and I have to go back later this month to talk to my PC but for now it feels like I am running with a new set of lungs!
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