The rest of the meet was very difficult, after that first running event. She ran as hard and as fast as she could, but with each step, her chest seemed to tighten and close while her fear grew. She hadn’t taken her albuterol inhaler before she started the race. By the time she was done, her chest hurt, she couldn’t breathe, she had a pounding headache and a feeling of panic. My girl was reminded her asthma will not be ignored nor forgotten. It demands her attention and it will be heard. Growing up with asthma is hard, and sometimes can lead to disappointments for a young athletic competitor, but no athlete needs to feel defeated by it, and there are some helpful tips to make living with asthma a little easier. First, the very good news is that a beta-agonist bronchodilator (like the albuterol in my girl’s rescue inhaler), is effective in most people with exercise-induced asthma. If taken before the exercise, it usually works as a preventative therapy. Second, if you remain fit and exercise regularly, symptoms of asthma usually will be less severe than if you aren’t fit and don’t exercise. Overall health is important in managing asthma and it’s important to note the symptoms and severity of asthma correlate, in particular, with obesity. Cold weather sports and those that require constant activity will be more likely to trigger asthma than the warm weather sports and those that only require short burst of energy. This seems obvious, but is worth noting if you’re looking to get your child (or yourself), involved in a sporting program. Soccer and cross-country running are more likely to trigger asthma symptoms than baseball or volleyball. If it’s cold or dry outside, breathing through a scarf can help decrease aggravation of symptoms by increasing moisture and warmth in the air breathed. Make sure you take 10 minutes to warm up properly. A proper warm up will allow a prophylactic dose of medication to begin working before the race begins. A proper warmup is important for athletes without asthma, as well. Make sure your coach and trainers know you have asthma, or that your child does. Awareness is very important when it comes to preventing uncontrolled asthma symptoms such as my daughter experienced last Friday night. Poorly managed asthma knocked my teenager out of the running at the last track meet. I’m thankful it didn’t just knock her out, period. Young, strong and fast don’t matter as much when you can’t breathe. I hope Katherine will never again forget to use her inhaler in plenty of time BEFORE she runs. It’s easier to address asthma than to wait until it demands attention. Be well.

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