Can anybody help?
I've been having problems with my breathing for about 6 months now. It started out with very bad wheezing during hard track work. Then I found my easy runs become about 30 secs per mile slower for the same effort and there was considerable tightness in my chest. Then I was getting out of breath walking up the stairs. I still have all these symptoms plus I can't seem to take full breaths and my breathing is tight all the time - even when just sitting down. I've had all the tests (treadmill stress, pulmonary function, ECG, blood work etc).
I was at one point I was told it could possibly be an inflammation of the airways - I took foradil, pulomcort and singulair which didn't seem to help so it was concluded this was not the reason. I am still taking Albuterol before running - it seems to help a little bit but I'm nowhere near where I was. I'm not convinced it's exercise induced asthma because my breathing is bad all the time and have certainly never felt any "attack" symptoms the problem does get worse as I run. The pulmonologist keeps telling me that the tests show nothing is wrong and cites examples such as your lung capacity is 140% of normal for your age etc - problem is you wouldn't expect a runner to be anywhere near normal so this seems an invalid way of looking at things. To be honest they've been a big disappointment - the best I've had is that it may be a lung infection that may just go.
Has anyone else had any experience of this? Has anyone tried other asthma drugs that have worked where Albuterol has not worked? Could it be something else such as allergies etc (i live in Washington DC - I'm seeing an allergist next week)? Can anyone recommend anyone good in DC to go and see? Would an exercise physiologist be more appropriate? Any general asthma / allergy experiences?
Reward offered for any information resulting in improvement....I'm desperate (and even slower than before