Is an inhaler a performance enhancer to someone who doesn't have asthma?

Meant to say:

IS your opinion based on internet reading only, or practical experience?

Much to my surprise, my son was diagnosed with asthma a year ago. He had seasonal allergies that would cause him to cough during the spring, but other than that seemed fine. The allergist conducted a lung function test where he determined that my son's lung function without medication was "normal". He then administered albuterol (an inhaler) and his lung function increased by 10% to "better than normal". Based on these findings he determined my son had asthma. The logic behind this is that albuterol wouldn't help a normal person.

Why is it so difficult for some of you to understand that fast acting inhalers containing albuterol or similar agents work by prevent asthmatics airways from constricting? If you don't have asthma your airways don't constrict so they have no effect. They don't magically open up your airways more than normal, they cause your smooth muscles in the bronchial tract to relax, in none asthmatics those muscles are already relaxed and as open as possible. If there is some other benefit one would get from taking a beta2-agonists I’d love to hear what it is.

'They don't magically open up your airways more than normal, they cause your smooth muscles in the bronchial tract to relax, in none asthmatics those muscles are already relaxed and as open as possible. '

Is that really going to be the case though? Are they going to be 100% open and there must be a lot of people who don't have obvious asthma symptoms but who would benefit while running from an inhaler

Why would "opening up" lungs help a healthy person? I was under the impression that red blood cells, not our ability to breathe in oxygen, are the limiting factor in exercise. Increasing your lung capacity without increasing red blood cells would do what, exactly?

Let us Run wrote:

Why would "opening up" lungs help a healthy person? I was under the impression that red blood cells, not our ability to breathe in oxygen, are the limiting factor in exercise. Increasing your lung capacity without increasing red blood cells would do what, exactly?

Exactly, in people with healthy lungs, there is more than enough air getting in and out of the lungs. Even if you could get more air into a healthly persons lungs only so much O2 can be transfered to and carried by our red blood cells.

We primarily start breathing really hard during exercise to get rid of CO2... for more on that see here

Finally some people that understand what they're talking about.

Again, body composition changes that YES keeps touting are not a true side effect of beta agonists (salambutol aka albuterol). You brought up advair. COMPLETELY different medication (Fluticasone/Salmeterol) and not used for acute asthma attacks.

For YOUR reference below are recognized side effects of albuterol (salambutol) taken directly from micromedex.

Common

Cardiovascular:Tachyarrhythmia

Endocrine metabolic:Hypokalemia

Gastrointestinal:Nausea (10%), Pharyngitis (14%), Throat irritation (10%)

Neurologic:Feeling nervous (7%), Headache (7%), Tremor (7%)

Respiratory:Cough (5%), Rhinitis (5% to 16%), Upper respiratory infection (21%), Viral lower respiratory infection (7%)

Serious

Cardiovascular:Atrial fibrillation, Myocardial infarction

Endocrine metabolic:Diabetic ketoacidosis

Respiratory:Pulmonary edema

You also asked if this was from "Internet reading" or my own experience. I'm a physician and have had asthma since I was a kid. So both.

Guys, the inhaler and prescription are just a cover for athletes to take huge amounts of liquid Albuterol-- which definitely improves performance in non-asthmatic athletes and is available at dirt cheap prices, shipped the next day, over the internet.

yes wrote:

I believe that you're understating the side effects. Have you read the list of sides of some of the commonly prescribed things for exercised induced asthma such as Salbutamol or Advair? Have you used these substances yourself? Any experiences you'd like to share?

I use Dulera (Formoterol and Mometasone). I can't see how this could possibly be considered performance enhancing in someone that doesn't have asthma. For me, the upside (being able to breathe) balances out the downsides, but the downsides are many. Shakiness, a feeling of weak legs, sometimes a bit of dizziness (plus concerns about reduced bone density and sinus inflamation). Definitely performance-inhibiting. I puff on in the morning before a workout, and within about 60 seconds start feeling lousy, with the strong desire to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.

In my case, I'll take the negatives, because it's so awesome to be able to breathe hard without gasping and wheezing, especially in high humidity. But I'd think an inhaler would hurt the performance of anyone who didn't have asthma. And, as noted above, if you're not getting constriction in your airways, the inhaler's not gonna help.

A lot of people don't seem to get the difference between a) running hard and being in oxygen debt and b) that sensation of your lungs being useless.

cardiac output (Q) = heart rate (hr) x stroke volume (sv). so taking in extra O2 due to the inhaler would not help. to add to that, the body doesn't use all of the O2 it takes in, even when working maximally. so there's no benefit to taking in more.

but it could be a placebo, in which it could help.

Junk Master wrote:

Guys, the inhaler and prescription are just a cover for athletes to take huge amounts of liquid Albuterol-- which definitely improves performance in non-asthmatic athletes and is available at dirt cheap prices, shipped the next day, over the internet.[/quote]

Well, that's different from what people were talking about, which is the large number of athletes who use inhalers before workouts.

Junk Master wrote: Guys, the inhaler and prescription are just a cover for athletes to take huge amounts of liquid Albuterol-- which definitely improves performance in non-asthmatic athletes and is available at dirt cheap prices, shipped the next day, over the internet.

Exactly. An inhaler can be "tweaked". Nobody knows exactly what is inside.

This is much like the claim about Tour de France riders carrying around thermoses. Thermoses are for coffee, right? Evidently, not true, according to the accusers of Armstrong.

Poiu wrote:You also asked if this was from "Internet reading" or my own experience. I'm a physician and have had asthma since I was a kid. So both.

I found the hard way that inhalers can have detrimental effects if you don't have asthma. While the albuterol isn't as bad as the "long lasting" inhalers like Flovent and Symbacort, if you already have a respiratory infection they can make it worse. None of them should be used for kicks and grins just to see how things go. You don't want to mess with your lungs.

Those that think it's just "wimpy-ness" to use the inhalers, if you need them they can be literally a life-saver. Spending any period of time trying to breathe through what feels like a wet soda straw is one of the scariest things that can happen to you. Managed badly it can be lights-out, nobody home.

Incorrect. Athletes who take salbutamol will experience positive body composition changes. They'll be noticeably leaner. This is a performance enhancing benefit. Experienced it myself, seen it in many others. Other performance enhancing effects are making breathing easier for training/competition and being a stimulant. This is why come unethical coaches encourage athletes to go to certain doctors to get diagnosed with exercised induced asthma. Yes, I know how advair works. I brought it up because it's also commonly prescribed to athletes with exercise induced asthma.

The performance enhancing benefits come at a price through. The side effects:

These common side effects are real. Why would an athlete who doesn't legitimately have asthma want to take something with these side effects? I've experienced nasty side effects and know others who did as well. Not worth it to me.

darkwave wrote:

But I'd think an inhaler would hurt the performance of anyone who didn't have asthma. And, as noted above, if you're not getting constriction in your airways, the inhaler's not gonna help.

Many athletes without asthma have found the opposite to be true. If there's no benefit then why does WADA have rules in place for B2A's?

darkwave wrote:

But I'd think an inhaler would hurt the performance of anyone who didn't have asthma. And, as noted above, if you're not getting constriction in your airways, the inhaler's not gonna help.

yes wrote:

If there's no benefit then why does WADA have rules in place for B2A's?

DING DING DING!

Keith Stone wrote:

I found the hard way that inhalers can have detrimental effects if you don't have asthma. While the albuterol isn't as bad as the "long lasting" inhalers like Flovent and Symbacort, if you already have a respiratory infection they can make it worse. None of them should be used for kicks and grins just to see how things go. You don't want to mess with your lungs.

The side effects are downplayed by doctors when handing out inhalers like candy for exercised induced asthma. Hopefully this changes in the future.

yes wrote:

If there's no benefit then why does WADA have rules in place for B2A's?

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

DING DING DING!

Now you two have done it. The the users and prescribers of inhalers will be really pissed-off.

From WADA

All beta-2 agonists, including all optical isomers (e.g. d- and l-) where relevant, are prohibited except inhaled salbutamol (maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours), inhaled formoterol (maximum delivered dose 54 micrograms over 24 hours) and salmeterol when taken by inhalation in accordance with the manufacturers’ recommended therapeutic regimen.

Besides, there are lots of things on the WADA banned list that haven't been clinically proven to be performance enhancers.. like deer antler spray and DHEA and then others that clearly would hurt your running performance like morphine, ethonal or beta blockers.