Advice for 12-year-old with Exercise-induced asthma

I have it and believe building a decent aerobic base is the key to minimizing effect.

When I have a good base I have fewer attacks-- usually only in very cold weather, or if I've got some allergy issues.

I'd think the longer the race, the less the effect as well.

For what it's worth, eating a cup or more of fresh/frozen blueberries at least 3 days a week has helped me as well.

My son has EIA and has been a very successful high school distance runner - sub 15 5k xc and foot locker/nxn finalist. He takes montelukast nightly and uses albuterol prior to racing. It has seemed to bother him less over the years as his fitness increased. I think at least some of his gasping early on was simply lack of fitness. I guess there are all degrees of this condition but in my kid's case it has not been a big problem.

I have it, and like I believe others have said...the more you run, the stronger your lungs, the more tamable it is. I have outgrown it and can go out for 10+ miles with no problem, and dont even take my inhaler anymore

See if removing wheat and dairy helps.

I have it. Like previous posters said, managing with medicine and becoming a stronger runner will help.

I notice that I have the biggest problem when I put in a hard effort without a warmup. Good luck and don't let him get discouraged.

The importance of CO2 in O2 exchange

http://www.normalbreathing.com/CO2-bohr-effect.php

Google ["Buteyko" asthma]. I have no personal experience using this method, but you'll see that it gets rave reviews from asthma sufferers.

I have been practicing nasal breathing on my runs, and to my surprise, it seems to work for me.

i've had it all my life. used to go through an albuterol inhaler in 10 days (not good). after college singulair came along and changed my life. i don't even know where my albuterol is any more.

like others have said, the beter shape i was in the easier it was to manage.

i always had to be careful when getting sick. i always knew when a "cold" was coming because my breathing would labor before other symptoms arrived.

in very cold weather i wore a face mask to warm up the air a little before hitting my throat.

it can be managed. best of luck

There are many types of this I guess. But, my daughter had it and another, adult, runner with it told her to end each run by running up a short steep hill fast.

We live at the bottom of a long, steep hill. She ran up it one block at a time, sucking oxygen. Soon she made it all the way up and had a great high school career that included a 75% scholarship to a D1 school.

This is serious and is worth a try.

Diet is a big factor here in my opinion. Someone mentioned eating blueberries, which is great, but there are many foods that can trigger symptoms- chocolate is a prime example. Start looking around, sometimes keeping a few certain foods to a minimum will help as well

I've found that the specific warm-up I do matters a huge deal, and especially the timing relative to the race. Here's what works for me: Starting about 50 min before race time, I do 3-4 miles, first 2 easy, then start to throw in short accelerations in rapid succession to the point where I start to "tighten up" in my chest and feel the asthma attack coming on. This has me finishing the hard work around 25min prior to race start, at which point I use the albuterol inhaler. Jog easy to stay loose, then race.

I started this when I noticed that about 20-30 minutes after having an attack when doing hard workouts, etc, I would feel like a million bucks in terms of my breathing capacity. Of course, I'd think, "why couldn't I breathe like this when I was doing the workout?" If you read up a bit on the physiology of asthma attacks, it seems like there's a "refractory period" following one where your body naturally responds to the bronchial constriction by releasing chemicals which stimulate relaxation in the lungs. So, it may (note, may! I'm not an expert at this) be that by purposely inducing a low-grade asthma attack about 30 min prior to the race, you end up racing during this 'bounce-back' period where it seems like it's actually harder for you to have a second attack.

I would experiment with this on training-race days first to see if it works, and realize that you need a certain amount of base to do that much warm-up (maybe a bit much for a 12-year old starting?). And it may not work for everyone, but it's kept me racing asthma-free for a few years now.....

Thanks to everyone who has responded for all the great advice! I really appreciate it.

CF-

I have (had) EIA pretty bad when I was a kid. I used to carry Albuterol around with me like the kid on Goonies. I was always an athlete, so I used it proactively more than anything. Had a few attacks that I remember being bad, but I never remember being scared or anything.

When I started running as a freshman in high school, I used my inhaler on runs. Like actually on runs. I ran with it.

After a while, as I got faster, I decided to try not using it. It was hard at first, but I found that the wheezing just went away after a while.

The more fit I got, the more comfortable I became.

I went on to win a couple state championships and got a D1 scholarship (full) to the school of my choice.

I don't even own an inhaler anymore, but I find that if the allergies are bad, I will get small attacks. I just deal with them.

I felt like the medicine was making me too dependent, so I stopped cold turkey. I do not advise this as it might be dangerous, but see what he can do with fitness before you drug him up on all kinds of steroids.

Hope this helps...

Like many others I have EIA as well. I'm on Advair and Combivent right now- used to be on the two that your son is but I needed something stronger. Be careful with the singulair; mine caused severe abdominal pain. Be careful with warmups and lactic workouts. Before racing I try to induce my symptoms and then take my inhaler, which helps. Most people grow out of it, so there is hope!