Disastrous Sectionals -- for me

[miraclegro]

Okay, well i think i have learned a very expensive lesson.

The day of our Adult Sectionals, i did my practice ice at home and then drove the 2 hours to the rink. I ran - a lot in the parking lot, and then jumped rope; then stretched and everything.

I had a 5 minute warm up which was in reality about 4 mins because i was on first. Well, i have a history of asthma, but not too bad unless congestion or exposed to cig's or cats or something, but after that warm up, i could NOT breathe. I felt like someone was holding me under water.

Between the difference in the ice, and the lack of oxygen, i just wanted to stop before i even started. No oxygen to my limbs; footwork was sad; jumps were 2 footed.

I know that my inhaler should be at rinkside from now on, but someone said i need to pace myself better in the warm up. I cried all the way home; on and off because i couldn't understand how this happened.

Does anyone have other suggestions -- esp. how much to do in warm up? From now on, i'll just stay an extra day and go for broke and practice on the competition rink as well.

[sk8er1964]

I'd check with your doctor.

I have similar asthma problems. I only really compete between February and ANs, and I have additional medication from my doctor (Advair) that I use during this time frame to help make sure that my asthma is completely under control. If it is under control, it shouldn't matter how much activity you do in warm up.

[flying~camel]

I don't have breathing problems but I do find that if I do too much on the warm-up, I can really wear myself out. So, I usually end up just doing a couple of jumps and spins and just spend the rest of the time doing cross-strokes or power pulls to loosen up my knees and ankles.

[herniated]

So sorry this happened to you. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Yeah, it probably would have been a good idea to have your inhaler rinkside but I agree with the other poster about checking with your doctor. First about your medication and then about your warming up.

[aussieskater]

So sorry this happened miraclegro! No ideas as to warmup (what and how much), but as an asthmatic myself, I agree with skater64 and herniated that a visit to your doctor would be in order. That should not have happened; and according to the brochures etc handed out by the Asthma Foundation here, it indicates that the asthma is not controlled as well as it could be.

[RachelSk8er]

See your doctor about getting on something other than just an inhaler to help you when you compete.

When my asthma starts to act up (usually around this time of year), I go on Singulair and I stay on it through ANs/allergy season. That tends to help and I don't even really need to use an inhaler when I'm on it. I don't like to be taking medication when it's not necessary, so for the rest of the year when the only thing that tends to bother me are rinks with drier air, I just use my inhaler before I even get on the ice for warm-up at competitions. (Except Wyandotte, I've never had problems there.) And when practicing at home, I generally avoid the rinks in my area that are really cold and tend to have dry air.

[saras]

Okay, well i think i have learned a very expensive lesson.


I had a 5 minute warm up which was in reality about 4 mins because i was on first. Well, i have a history of asthma, but not too bad unless congestion or exposed to cig's or cats or something, but after that warm up, i could NOT breathe. I felt like someone was holding me under water.

Between the difference in the ice, and the lack of oxygen, i just wanted to stop before i even started. No oxygen to my limbs; footwork was sad; jumps were 2 footed.

I know that my inhaler should be at rinkside from now on, but someone said i need to pace myself better in the warm up. I cried all the way home; on and off because i couldn't understand how this happened.

Does anyone have other suggestions -- esp. how much to do in warm up? From now on, i'll just stay an extra day and go for broke and practice on the competition rink as well.

I get asthma every year about this time - it kicks in during January and goes away around May. THIS year I figured out the trigger - *dry* air, not cold air. Which makes so much sense - as rinks are cold year-round yanno?

I was on advair at the highest dose (500/50) twice a day, and three puffs of albuterol at the start of an ice session plus another puff before a program run-through. That's a LOT of medicine, and I still couldn't really skate. It looked like I had NO stamina at about 1 min into the program. Outside of the program, my skating was deteriorating - axels reverted to being cheated, I lost my lutz, flip jumps started being wonky. It's hard to skate without air.

I started humidifying my home religiously with a small room humifier, AND I started bringing small humifiers to the rink. I have one that requires a plug (Vicks Personal Steam Inhaler), I have one that runs on batteries, and I have one that's a face mask with a device in it that turns the air you breath into warm humidified air. I use that one most often now - they all do the trick but no plug/batteries is the easiest. I don't wear the mask (though it'd make a good part of a Hanibel Lechter interp costume), but I leave it at the boards and use it a few times during the session.

The difference is pretty striking. I have backed off to 250/50 of advair, I don't use the albuterol at all, and run-throughs are strong. I suspect that in another week I'll go down to 100/50 of advair.

No clue if this will help you but it did me - rather extremely.
Sara

[sk8tmum]

Asthma can also be triggered by the chemicals used in the ice production, mould in old arenas and/or dirty locker rooms; hairspray and hair product used around you; etc etc etc.

Competitions are often an issue for asthmatics. The stress can be a trigger, and the simple location of the event in an ice-arena is significant, and, of course, dozens of people lacquering their hair etc with various products.

When we travel to competitions, we carry extra asthma meds. We also ensure that it is totally under control in the weeks before hand. However, we also recognize that it is just going to happen sometimes, and we can't entirely prevent it. What we have done however in a somewhat non-medicated way is to work on effective breathing techniques that can reduce the severity of an attack (with the added benefit of improving effective utilization of lung capacity).

One caveat: if you are using a bronchodilator such as Ventolin, this can cause anxiety and shakes. Be careful not to overdo it, as it can further harm your performance.

[saras]

Asthma can also be triggered by the chemicals used in the ice production, mould in old arenas and/or dirty locker rooms; hairspray and hair product used around you; etc etc etc.

Competitions are often an issue for asthmatics. The stress can be a trigger, and the simple location of the event in an ice-arena is significant, and, of course, dozens of people lacquering their hair etc with various products.


All true. For me, since it's seasonal, it wasn't the above. A friend who does market research for pharmaceutical companies and who has done a fair amount of work on asthma mentioned that research suggests that while most assume it's cold-air induced, that *dry* air is a bigger culprit. It was certainly true in my case, and it explains the seasonality (all of the above-mentioned factors are true year-round; dry air is the only seasonal variable - indoor heating means indoors is dry, outside with snow is dry, rinks are dryer in the winter than summer). It's not well-advertized certainly not in her field - as you know, pharmaceutical companies are in the business of selling medicine, not virtually free things like humidified air.

anyone else's mileage may vary, but for me - humidifying the air has allowed me to drastically reduce the meds, control the asthma really well, and skate way better to boot. It's worth a try for anyone who gets "cold-induced" or "exercise-induced" asthma, as some evidence suggests that this version of asthma is a bit of a misnomer.

Sara

[Isk8NYC]

When I coached swimming, we invariably had at least four asthma attacks each season. Fortunately, one of our parents was a respiratory nurse who carried an inhaler with her for just such an occasion. (I was too chicken to use it, but I kept the one she gave me handy.) She always took them from the pool area (which seemed warm/moist to me) to the showers where she turned on the hot water, making it a steam room. I still don't understand why it helped since the pool area was warm and humid, but I guess it wasn't enough moisture in the air for the asthmatic.

She never had to call an ambulance and the kids were fine afterwards, just a little shaken up.

I overheard a kid at a public skating session last summer complain about forgetting their inhaler and having a little trouble breathing, so I suggested to her mother that they take a trip to the swimming pool locker room across the way and crank up the shower. Worked like a charm, even without the inhaler.

[RachelSk8er]

Asthma can also be triggered by the chemicals used in the ice production, mould in old arenas and/or dirty locker rooms; hairspray and hair product used around you; etc etc etc.


I always have issues when the plexiglass is freshly cleaned at my rink. Sometimes they do it from 6-7am and I skate 7-8, and the stuff they use at my rink is pretty strong. The coaches actually complained because it was bothering a lot of their skaters, too.

[sk8tmum]

When I coached swimming, we invariably had at least four asthma attacks each season. Fortunately, one of our parents was a respiratory nurse who carried an inhaler with her for just such an occasion. (I was too chicken to use it, but I kept the one she gave me handy.) She always took them from the pool area (which seemed warm/moist to me) to the showers where she turned on the hot water, making it a steam room. I still don't understand why it helped since the pool area was warm and humid, but I guess it wasn't enough moisture in the air for the asthmatic.

She never had to call an ambulance and the kids were fine afterwards, just a little shaken up.

I overheard a kid at a public skating session last summer complain about forgetting their inhaler and having a little trouble breathing, so I suggested to her mother that they take a trip to the swimming pool locker room across the way and crank up the shower. Worked like a charm, even without the inhaler.

Hot humid air in a shower helps the bronchial muscles to relax. Works well - sometimes - but anyone who has an asthma problem should be sure to have an inhaler to hand (and, my soapbox: wear a MedicAlert bracelet to help alert others to the condition; if you can't breathe you usually can't talk that well!)

RE the swimming pool: again, can be a chemical issue. The chemicals used in chlorinating the pool can be a trigger for asthma, and they have found an increased incidence in asthma in kids who have been frequently exposed to chlorine in pools. It increases in poorly ventilated pools; as more and more buildings are made "green" and drafts and access to outside air are addressed in the goal to more efficient heating and cooling, more problems with buildup of chemicals occur. My DS had to leave competitive swimming due to his asthma. Once he ceased swimming, his need for asthma medication ended within weeks, whereas before he used strong meds on a continual basis.

Humidifying the air can be useful, but, be sure that whatever method you are using doesn't end up getting "mouldy" as releasing mould spores into the air can trigger asthma for those who have those sensitivities! My worst asthma period is spring, when rotting leaf mould and tree pollen combine to make my live miserable in the extreme (sniff sniff sniff snuffle wheeze).