[Smokey]

I was born on Friday the 13th. I don't buy 12 Power Bars, I buy 13. But one hour into this Friday the 13th, I thought I might have pushed it too far. At 1 am I woke up wheezing like I was headed up a cliff at altitude and I couldn't draw a good, deep breath. I sat in a chair and tried the Zen thing, didn't help. So I got on the internet like any person in medical crisis might. I ruled out Hanta virus, heart attack, and Nile virus. Those were the only headline grabbers I could think of, but then I thought of asthma. Called the emergency room and was out of breath from talking. They said come on down. After an EKG and x-rays, they gave me a hooka pipe full of medicine. I greatly improved on the flow meter test after that and could breathe almost normally. The doc said...there's a good chance you've got asthma. I'm 51, I thought I was safe from that one. I'd notice myself wheezing for a couple of weeks for no good reason. They gave me an inhaler and said go see your doc. I'm so healthy I don't have one. So...any hikers out there dealing with asthma? I can't imagine being 10 miles from nowhere and not being able to breathe. Any tips or tricks you've learned? Overcoming asthma stories? Thanks, Gary

[Alan Bauer]

Sorry to hear your tale. I have had asthma for the last 30 years...didn't know it for the first 4-5 as a kid I'm sure while I hacked and gasped for air. For me a simple albuterol inhaler is all I need...but once an attack hits I need to also combine that with 30 minutes of rest before getting active again. I now after this many years know what conditions aggrevate it the most and will take precautionary "hits" of the inhaler before starting a run, a hike, a lousy day. Good luck!

[salish]

Smokey, your post hit home with me because I'm struggling with the same thing. I was diagnosed as having a "pretty good case" of athsma about four years ago. We've tried several types of medications (inhalers) involving steriods, and other meds, but what I've been using the past year is azmacort twice a day (two puffs each time). This seems to help, but I have to say none of the asthsma meds I've taken seem to help all that much. I also use an albuterol inhaler as needed, but I'm not sure how much it helps. Like Alan, I think I will experiment with taking a hit of the albuterol thirty minutes prior to activity. Last summer I hiked up to Green Ridge Lake and took some hits at the beginning and during the middle of the hike (2000ft gain in 2 miles, mostly off trail) and I had a bad reaction. Horrible headaches and nausea. I bonked and barely made it up and back. I wish I could say that asthma is my only breathing problem, but there's even more bad news. About five years ago I was diagnosed as having "diaphragmatic paralysis" on the left side of my chest. Basically, this means that my diaphragm is "paralyzed" in an elevated position and will only move about 4% of what it should be moving. The diaphragm is your major breathing muscle, and acts to "push" air out of your lung, so this has been very debilitating. My docs think this was the result of trauma from having some cracked ribs back in 91', but it can also be congenital. I was also a heavy smoker for twenty five years, so there's that lung damage, too. I wish I could grab every young person I see smoking and shake some sense into them. What all of this adds up to is the fact that I have to hike slower than most people. It's sometimes a pain in the butt when I have to hike with larger parties, but there's no way around it. I don't mean to paint an sorry picture here - if it's just straight asthma you have then with the right meds I should think you'll be bounding up those hills, but the combination of my asthsma with the weirdo diaphragm problem makes me hike like the proverbial 140 year old man. I have a great lung doc at UW Physicians @UW Med Ctr. Lemme know if you want his name & number. Good luck Salish

[Smokey]

Thanks Alan and Salish. Those inhalers are tricky little things but my wheezing has decreased. Hopefully for me it's only a grass allergy related asthma and will go away. As always, after experiencing something like this, I have a new respect for people who have lived with it a long time. It's good to see how active the two of you are though. Gary

[Sore Feet]

I don't know that I've got asthma per say, but I have noticed that over the last 6-8 years or so, my wind has been deteriorating. I used to be able to run the mile in under 9 minutes, don't think I can break 15 now (not that I'd WANT to run a mile). I do seem to get easily winded when I'm hiking, but that may just be the reaction to sitting on my in front of my computer in between hikes.

[MCaver]

It's called getting old.

[Sore Feet]

Bullcrap. I'm not even 22 yet. I don't hafta worry about getting old until I'm at least 30.

[Mike E.]

Smokey, My ex-wife had asthma pretty bad and was able to cut way back on the use of her inhaler through the use of a combination of freeze dried nettle leaf and Reishi mushroom, (I ground the hard mushroom to powder and made tea for her). I personally use this combination to reduce my grass allergy/hay fever symtoms. If I was you I'd see if your doc recommends allergy testing. At least you'd have a better idea of what is causing the problem and could be more specific in your treatment.

[BarePaw]

I've had asthma since I was 4 (I'm 22 now). The most important advice I can give you is STAY IN SHAPE! Run, Bike, Swim, whatever, just never let yourself go. I notice a huge difference in the frequency and severity of attacks if I quit my workout regimen for as little as a couple of weeks. As for drugs, I've tried most of them. They currently have me on Advair, and it has worked the best for me so far. Nothing is more important than physical fitness, however. When you keep your lungs strong, the attacks are much easier to deal with. I've been dealing with this for most of my live, so if you want someone to talk to, feel free to message me.

[Karen]

Salish: I am also an ex-smoker and wonder how much that has contributed to my slowing down over the past 10 years. I quit smoking in 1980 after having smoked 3 packs a day for way too many years. I wonder if we ever fully recover from the effects of heavy smoking. In my opinion, I don't think we do. It might not kill us off (the smoking) but I believe it does play a role in slowing some of us down. As for allergies I may have some mild ones but I've never had it checked out (I almost never go to doctors). When I was a child I had terrible breathing problems with "colds" and would spend days inside a steam tent at home struggling for breath. As I got older that got better. But here's something to consider too: if you are middle-aged or older and are suddenly slowing down try to find out the cause. It could also be something more insidious than simply growing older -- like Type 2 diabetes which I was diagnosed with around my 50th birthday. When I was in my 40s I was very strong and in the best shape of my life and then one summer I just lost it completely. I was leading strenuous scrambles and hikes and suddenly found myself leading from the rear rather than from the front and I attributed all of that to aging. Then, once on a scramble of Fife's Peak I literally could not complete the scramble with the group. I was tired, nauseated, weak, dizzy, and my legs felt like lead. I finally made the summit -- about an hour behind the group. Fortunately for me there was a nurse on that outing who was my age that commented it might be more than age suddenly slowing me down. She actually talked me into seeing my doctor. And indeed, she was right. I turned out to be borderline diabetic at that point. Not to get off the subject but are there any other Type 2s on board here? If so you can email me. I do have a lot of trouble with food issues (terrible sweet tooth) but have kept my weight down. I managed to lose about 45 pounds 1.5 years ago and have kept most of it off though it would like to climb back on. I don't take medication for the diabetes -- as long as I keep my weight down and hike on a regular basis I do OK but will never be as strong as I used to be. So ... if you or anyone are suddenly slowing down on the trail, find out the cause if you can. It might be age-related but it might not be. Good luck, all. Karen

[salish]

Karen, I am in total agreement with you on the smoking. When I quit four years ago I was up to 2.5 packs a day, and had been smoking for 25 years. You always hear about how the lung has the magic to almost miraculously heal itself a hundred percent, but I am not sure that's entirely true. It does heal, but for a hardcore smoker like I was, I'll never have the same lung capacity and function that a normal 49 year old non smoker would have. No biggie, just have to get used to it. It's the darned diaphragm problem that has me stymied. My doc thinks most of my breathing problems center around that, and the athsma and ex-smoker-lungs is secondary. And guess what - his best fix is that I be in the absolute best shape of my life, in order to counteract it. I was one of those thin little guys who could inhale food and eat ten times as much as a big huge man, and never gain an ounce. That all changed when I quit smoking and I gained 35 pounds in 4 years. So that's what I'm working on now and I'm hoping I can find hiking nirvana at some point. Type 2 diabetes runs in my family, and it's basically what took my father's life back in 95'. His younger brother has it, too, complete with leg amputations and associated problems. Believe me, I'm always on the watch for that and the fatigue and other symptoms you describe are exactly what my father experienced back in the early 80's. He had been down to the Yucatan and had been climbing pyramids in the intense heat and humidity and kept running out of gas. He just thought he was getting old and out of shape. I go through diabetes screening at least once a year, and I won't feel really safe until I lose some fo this weight I have gained. Salish

[Smokey]

During my little emergency room episode a week ago, they kept leaving me in the room by myself. They gave me a couple of treatments with a plastic pipe inhaling vapor laced with some medication to help open my airways. Then the nurse would come back into the room and he reeked of cigarette smoke. I think he set my cure back each time I got a whiff. I very much wanted to ask him, "Are you crazy? What in the world are you smoking for?" I'm scheduled for my first physical since 1969. The doc is 59, rail thin, and an avid runner. I think he might tell me I could stand to lose a few pounds. Yeah, yeah. Well, at least I've got some motivation now.

[skookum ouzel]

I've had asthma for most of my 32 years. I can vividly recall almost any day in high school gym would find me gasping and panicky for lack of air. Hiking was always difficult, but taking it slow and using inhalers does help. Using the albuterol 20-30 minutes prior to exertion is very helpful, in my opinion. About three years ago, I found I could not even climb a flight of stairs without completely losing my breath. The rescue inhalers were useless. I've gone from there to nearly symptom free (and clambering up and down mountains and canyons with impunity ) in a rather short period of time. Currently, I am using Singulair, a leukotriene modifer, with very good results. I can hike without using my albuterol preventively, although I don't generally care to risk it. I am also taking injection treatments for environmental and household allergies (trees, grasses, molds, cats, dogs, etc.) which is providing good results as well. My seasonal flareups, previoulsy untouched by maintenance meds, are gone since taking the shots. I would recommend that you might want to look into the causes of your asthma, it might be possible to remedy them, allowing you greater freedom to hike (or any other activity which leads to the huffs&puffs), and could reduce the damage asthma can cause to your lungs.

[skookum ouzel]