Different seasons, different symptoms?

  • Thread starter Thread starter janewhite1
  • Start date Start date
J

janewhite1

Guest
So, the first winter with asthma is underway. So far, less fun than I hoped. My lungs definitely do not like cold air, and since the weather changed, they've been reacting to exercise as well.

Weird thing is, the symptoms I've been having now are very different from what was going on in the summer. In the summer, bad pollen days would make me feel like there was someone sitting on my chest. I'd be terribly tired, and panting for air all the time, but I only coughed when things were at their absolute worst.

Now, my lungs don't feel all that tight any more, and I usually feel only a little short of breath, but I've been coughing substantially more.

Overall, I can live with a cough a lot better than I can live with no energy, but it's weird that it's so different. Anyone else find symptoms that are truly different (not just more or less, but actually different) from season to season?
 
I'm with you on the cough during the winter. Cold air is brutal on my lungs. It gets even worse with the decline of air quality in my area that accompanies much of our cold air in Deceraber and January.

I notice my symptoms are sometimes different during bad air in the summer. Typically, I notice the difficulty breathing days before any coughing sets in. I also notice a difference in symptoms if I have sinus problems prior to my asthma flare onset.

I also notice a difference in my asthma when some of the early warning signs set in prior. I don't get those signs with the cold air asthma. For me the signs are watery eyes (not typically tearing), feeling tired, yawning and an itchy chin.

I've been on medical leave for a few months recouping from my horrible flare over the summer. (I picked up viral meningitis on top of the asthma in Septeraber.) I've been staying with family in Las Vegas and have avoided the really cold air so far. I go home in a couple days and the weather is cold, cold, cold at home. I am so not looking forward to that. I'm prepared though.

I have found that exercise and cold air asthma often go together when they flare. Are you using your rescue inhaler before either?
 
Meningitis, good God. I'm glad you are recovering, at least!

Ok, so I'm not crazy to think the winter asthma is really different from summer.

I have this scarf, and it helps, although it's a less than perfect solution in many ways. I have been pretreating for exercise, just for the past few weeks, it seems I get more moving and lifting that way and less panting and stopping.

(slightly funny story: Thanksgiving Day, I decided to speedwalk a 5-mile race. Kinda cold out, so, naturally, I took a hit off the inhaler before I got out of the car to go pick up my nuraber. Apparently, I was a little anxious about the race, and corabined with the albuterol... my fingers were shaking so much they couldn't work safety pins, and I had to ask a random fellow racer to put my nuraber on! Finished the walk, though.)

It sort of makes sense than cold air would be the trigger most likely to pair with exercise. With, say, pollen, exercise makes you inhale a little more of it, but whether you're running or sleeping, the allergen is still getting to you. With cold air, exertion and breathing faster mean that the air has less opportunity to warm up before reaching the lungs, thus making it more irritating.

Eh. It's still a much smaller problem than I had during the red pollen weeks earlier this year. And I'm on enough medicine finally that my chest doesn't tighten every time I pass by someone smoking or wearing too much perfume.
 
My symptoms can be different depending on what triggers me & how severe my attack is. Don't dismiss the cough though as something easier to live with, trust me it severely limits your quality of life when you are coughing 24/7. It would be a good idea to check in with your doctor, maybe tweaking your meRAB a little will help you lose the cough.
 
I have problems with very hot and very cold or windy days. I have to watch my coughing because sometimes I cough so much I can't inhale and I black out briefly.
You're right, the medications have made me less sensitive to people with fragrances, cleaning solutions, smoke and the like but I still have to limit my exposure to them. A quick hello is OK but a lengthy conversation is out of the question.
As long as I'm careful, I do OK. I do my walking in the mall on days that are too extreme.Malls also have the advantage of level surfaces. I have some neorological issues that affect my balance and fine motor skills. Nothing worse than falling on your butt during a bronchospasm, so most of my walking is indoors nowadays.
But in the spring and fall, during temperate weather I can walk outdoors as long as the pathway is level.
Tom
Tom
 
Sue: I'm on like the sixth regimen this year, so I think the meRAB are pretty well optimized. Luckily, I'm not coughing enough for it to be a real problem. Today was pretty good, actually. I wonder if it's because I didn't go to the gym today or because I didn't use my inhaler this morning.

Capttom: Blacking out does not sound like fun at all, please avoid that! Unfortunately, I also have allergies, so there's about 1 week per year when it's neither too hot, too cold, nor too polleny for me to enjoy the outdoors comfortably. Fortunately, my gym has an indoor track. It's boring, but it's quite safe. And under most circumstances, when I really want to, I can just go outside and put up with the symptoms.
 
I do try to be careful, but you can't control everything. I have cough variant asthma AND vocal cord dystonia. It can be tricky when the asthma cough kicks in and my vocal corRAB clamp shut. If the urge to cough lasts too long that's when I black out.
I'm happy to say that it hasn't happened in over a year because I'm retired and can limit my exposure,but as we know you can;t control everything.
I hope you feel better. Winter is setting in where I live (ugh!!). Time to drag out the old scarf and back to mall walking for me.

Tom
 
Back
Top