Breathing Problems. What is going on!?!

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Allietudexoxo

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I posted a little bit about this in the New Member forum, but I was wondering if anyone might know anything about this. I know I need to talk to my doctor about it, but I am really busy and haven't been able to see him yet. I thought maybe if I posted this in the Running forum, someone might know what I am talking about...

I am 20 years old. 5'3" and 158-160 pounds. I am not obese, but overweight. Everyone says I look fine, but I don't like the way I am. I have tried to go running, but have ran into some problems... When I exercise, I try to do 40 mins. of steady cardio. HOWEVER, only about 5-10 minutes into it (sometimes around 3 mins.), it is extremely hard to breathe. At first, I thought I was just out of shape and I got really disappointed in myself. I kept pushing. My throat felt like it was burning. It felt like it was really dry. Honestly, I felt like my throat was tightening up and it was getting harder and harder and harder to breathe. The more I went, the more I was straining myself and struggling to get enough air in. I don't mind the burn in the muscles and never have minded it, but this I can't take!?! Is it because I am out of shape?? What scares me is that after I stopped, it didn't go back to normal in a couple minutes... It stayed the rest of the evening. It was easier to breathe, but that burn was still there and I had a little bit of resistance in my breathing. That is the best way I can describe it.

My doctor thought I might have "exercise-induced asthma" and he gave me an inhaler to try. It didn't really do anything...same problem when I tried about a week later. It is very frustrating and it makes me want to scream!! How am I supposed to exercise if I can't breathe!? Walking won't help. I want to work hard and have an intense workout where at the end, I can say "I feel good about that." Keep in mind I am also a struggling college student...don't have the funds for all those neat classes... :*( Any ideas as to what might be wrong?? Am I just THAT out of shape??
 
I had the same problem when I started doing cardio after a long hiatus of not exercising and eating fast food every other day. I was overweight at about the same ratio as you, and had serious problems with not being able to breathe after a few minutes of running.

What I suggest is to just ease up on your exercise. If you're running, run slower. Or just start by doing some easier cardio - ride the bike for 2 or 3 weeks, increasing your resistance every few days. Your body will soon get used to it, and your breathing problems should diminish as mine did. Now my only problem is that my muscles get too sore and tired before my lungs do :eek:
 
From what you discribe I'm thinking asthama. I wouldn't muck around with it, make a point of getting to the doctors sooner than later. Is the only time it bothers you is when you run? Have you noticed it to a lesser extent anyother time? Are there any other symptoms with it? Did you notice if your pulse was racing or anything else??
 
I was going to suggested the excersize induced asthma... I have had problems with that throughout my life... Especially when I lived with my parents (smokers)...

i also have problems with it when I do strenuous (sp) excercise in the cold then enter a heated facility... my bronchile tubes clamp up... and I struggle to breath... hack and cough... believe it or not... when I was a kid I thought it was normal... never realized I was the only kid struggling to breath after recess... :confused:

You can't effectively excercise like that... so I feel for you... You have 3 choices as I see it... (unless your doc comes up with something better)...

1.) Quit... it is too hard...

2.) Continue doing what isn't working (running and then having asthma)

3.) Find a excercise level you can maintain without tiggering the asthma... and progress to where you want to be...

-------------

On that note... if you are a college student you have to be on campus sometime... use the rec center and do the eliptical machines... you can get your HR up better than on a bike (IMHO) or try finding a big dorm and climb the steps (20 floors or so) and take the elvelator down... do that a few times... not running (or asthma might kick in)... just a solid walking speed...

Good luck... BTW... if it is bad... try putting your head face down in the bowl of a sink... drape a towl over your head and sink... turn the hot water on... and breath the warm vapor... this usually makes my bronchial tubes relax... it also makes me cough a bit more at first but it evetually helps relax things... and helps me cough up any flem built up...
 
I remember years back when I started to run I would have the same problems. Throat felt like it was burning, hard to breathe, and felt like dying. It might be asthma or excercise induced asthma, or it could be your body trying to adjust to your new routine. What I started to do was drink more water to make sure I wasn't dehydrated, and found a level that I was able to build on. After a while those problems seemed to disappear and I could run for longer distances and still be able to breathe clearly. I think that your body might be just trying to adapt and after a while it will. Definitaley don't give up on excercising, either stick with it or find another suitable excercise you can do like swimming or biking.
 
Exact same thing happened to me. Started out, couldn't breath, burned up, couldn't run far distances. After about a week of sticking to the same schedule, it all improved greatly. Like QT said, drink more water to make sure you're not getting dehydrated. my best advice if the doc doesn't think it's asthma...is to stick to it, and in a few weeks you'll see a big difference.
 
I must agree on what merciless says cause every time i break my ususal exercise routine,
I find that the first three mins of my run are the hardest but after a while I pace mt self and them my breathing feels better.

Just start with a little at a time so your body can begin to enjoy exercise.
 
Breathing

first of all how is the temp and humidity in your area? I live in the deep south and used to live in the NYC area where the humidity is brutal and can cause breathing problems.

I try to run "off hours" when it is not so hot and humid....Like tomorrow I will go at 4AM


Secondly, I breathe in thru my nose and exhale thru my mouth when I run, it's like a cycle, breathe in nose, breathe out mouth, it helps set a steady rythum. Try that a bit.

Sometimes it is also mind over matter, after being in the army, i learned to go that extra mile and plow thru it, when I thought about quiting. But I do know my personal limits and make sure I am hydrated.

Try the cycle breathing method, and take your mind off running while you are running.

good luck
 
MellowGAman said:
Secondly, I breathe in thru my nose and exhale thru my mouth when I run, it's like a cycle, breathe in nose, breathe out mouth, it helps set a steady rythum. Try that a bit.
Click to expand...

this could be a good thing for you... I know I can't do this unless I am at a controlled pace...like around a 10 min mile pace... if I have to start breathing through my mouth I know I have spead up... :)

this could be a good way for you to determine a good general pace.

this was something that was hard for me to learn... that my normal training pace should be quite a bit slower than what I would run a race at...

You don't have to push to the max every time... in fact you shouldn't or you will be more prone to injury.

and I second MellowGAman's "Good Luck!"
 
oh yea

Yea this breathing method is something that has to be learned, you will not just pick it up, and you have to think about it. But it does work and you get fewer cramps due to this.

Yea, this is not for sprinting, just a job or distance running. Would not be good for HIIT training
 
While I agree with all the advice about regulating your breathing and taking it easier at 1st before ramping up, I cannot urge you enough to see a medic ASAP. I played soccer for nearly 10 years growing up, and led a very active and healthy lifestyle for many years after high school. Never a problem. Spent a few years sedentary and putting on weight, hit 25, and joined the army. I was in bad shape, but improved quickly (my 1st 2 miler was 22:xx, my last was 13:30). Made it through infantry school and airborne school without a hitch.

Then I got to Ft. Bragg and it all went to hell. I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that they expected even the new guys to crank out 6+ miles at sub 7 minute times under load, but it didn't hit everyone like me. I had the same problem, gasping for breath sometimes as early as the 1st 1/4 mile. After I fell out the second time (literally fell out, came to looking up and confused) I was taken to my unit's medics who classified it as PT-induced asthma. They also told me they saw a LOT of similar cases and that when I left the area I could possibly go back to being fine (I did). So there are many factors at play. Not just temp and humidity, your fitness levels, and so forth, but things like local air pollutants, what time of day you exercise, etc. Too much for a non-professional to fully analyze. For the sake of your health (and possibly life) get thee to a medical pro and let them determine what's up.
 
Ask your doctor if you can try a different inhaler. If that doesn't help, I'd say you should slow down your pace. I'm technically underweight, but if I tried running, I'd probably drop dead 'cause I'm not used to it! So I commend you on making it 3 minutes, that's still longer than I could go! :) Try walking briskly... once you're used to that, maybe add some weights to your walk. When you are used to that, try jogging... just one baby step at a time. Congrats on making such a huge effort. Be careful not to compromise your breathing though. Take care, and keep us posted.
 
I know this is old, but I just ran across it in a search and felt the need to say something.

This is going to sound like a long shot, but I had the exact same problems that you are mentioning, nearly word for word, and was even diagnosed with exercise induced asthma. Problem was that the inhalers didn't do jack. I ended up having to figure it out on my own. Apparently, somehow I am allergic to orange juice. I used to drink a big glass of orange juice before exercising, usually while driving to a trail, then I'd get on my bike and 5-10 minutes later I was on my hands and knees wheezing for air, it was horrible. I never made the connection since often it was half an hour after drinking it. Oranges don't produce the same result, so I am guessing it is an allergic reaction to a preservative, or maybe the volume of the citric acid. After I made the connection, I stopped drinking orange juice, and these bouts of asthma stopped. I can start drinking it again and reproduce the problem.

So, based on my experience, I would highly recommend thoroughly examining your diet, especially before exercising, and especially if there is OJ involved.
 
It sounds like asthma--exercise-induced asthma or exercise-induced bronchial spasms. It probably has nothing to do with your level of fitness; I've been exercising all of my life and am in great shape, but if I'm not careful, when the conditions are right during exercising, I'll get asthma or an asthma-related cough.

If you do have asthma, you can manage it. I do a wide range of exercising with asthma--I've run marathons and other long distances and do lots of indoor and outdoor cardio in general. If you can't avoid attacks outright, you get to know how to recognize the symptoms at their earliest stages, when they're easier to stop.

I get two types of asthma: one is tightening with wheezing that leads to an unproductive cough; it's very hard to get breaths with this type of attack and it moves scary fast. The other type of attack is more of a bronchial cough, a series of spasms where a deep breath in results in nearly uncontrollable coughing. Albuterol helps the first type of attack and doesn't help the second kind; Primatene helps with the second type of attack but not the first kind.

My biggest trigger has to do with warming up and cooling down. I'll work hard and get very sweaty, and if a breeze hits me or if I just stop and then let cool air hit my chest or back when I'm sweaty, I'll get an attack. One of my other triggers: going too hard too fast. If I don't warm up for about 10 minutes or if I don't ramp up gradually, I'll probably get asthma. This is most true when I do HIIT. So I warm up gradually, I cool down gradually, and most importantly, I wear the right clothes and avoid having cool air blow on me. Tighter-fitting, specialized shirts and vests (layers) that pull the sweat away from my skin will cut out a bunch of attacks.

There are preventative drugs that you can take to treat this if you want to go that route--and if you can't identify your triggers, then I'd really suggest that you look into that. I'd see a doctor. Try to find a pulmonologists who understands exercise-induced asthma and who has equipment for allowing you to induce an attack in the office through exercising. It might be hard to find such a doctor, so you might just have to address this by logging your symptoms and circumstances and working with someone who will diagnose it based on that input alone.

Good luck. Sorry to have typed so much. I hope this helps you.
 
if it isnt asthma, then id say allergies...
inside or outside, allergies affect my breathing, i take albuterol, which is very common, all it really does is expand the wind pipe quicker and painlessly (how my doc described it), make sure that your doing it right... it sounds weird, but when i took it, i could tell if i was doing it right, cause immediatlely afterwards i would get light headed for about 3 seconds. doc said thats normal, and shows that the meds went deep into the lungs. if thats not working for you, just go get a different puffer, my doctor was always asking me if it was working properly, and it was, so i dont kno what else is out there.
oh, anyway
when i was playing soccer, even when taking my inhaler, i was having breathing problems similiar to what you were saying, and it turns out it was like ragweed allegies
i just took some allegra and that zapped that problem quite well
so ask your doc bout allergies
 
TheCrazy88 said:
if it isnt asthma, then id say allergies...
Click to expand...
...or maybe both. I think they're acknowledging the allergy-asthma connection more and more. And there's a once-a-day drug to treat both allergies and asthma. Singulair or something like that. (It sounds like my wireless carrier. :))

I definitely notice that my asthma flares up more at certain times of they year, when airborne pollens and other things that I'm allergic to are out and about.

Still, I'd make an appointment with the doctor and until then, I'd try to log as much of the symptoms as possible. Record your diet, where you're at and what you're doing when an attack hits. If you're exercising, record what activity you were doing, how far along you were when it started, and when it stopped. The more info you have and the better it's organized, the more info the doctor will be able to give you.

Albuterol and primatene help me a lot. Albuterol for the asthma symptoms and primatene for the deeper bronchial kinds of coughs that sometimes sneak in. Those, for me, are more common in the winter. Good luck!
 
I had the exact same problem when I started running too. I absolutely agree with the others who stress breathing. Depending on how fast you're running, breathe in 3 out 3 or in 2 out 2. And the begginning of your run is always the hardest, no matter how long you've been doing it.

I think if you make a conscious effort to monitor your breathing it will improve for you a lot, and the burning throat sensation passes too, believe it or not! I smoked for 28 years, so the breathing was definitely my biggest hurdle. I work out every day, so I had no trouble with legs hurting or anything else. Focus on that and on music if you listen to it - it helps a lot.
 
Oldest Thread Ever!

I don't have the same weight problem but i have been smoking for...too long, certianly considering my age and breathing was and still is my main problem.

You sound like me with the all or nothing approach. It doesnt matter if i havent exercised in months or years i'll still expect myself to run until i collapse in a heap of jelly to feel like ive 'accomplished' something.

Unfortunately the truth is, if you push yourself too hard you will encounter problems and will end up stopping because its suddenly too hard. Do little bits regularly and you'll be surprised how fast you improve.
 
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