Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I do not have exercise-induced asthma!!!!


First workout after Australia -- yes that is a balaclava.


Jet lag can be a KILLER!!!! Holy-o-crap, I never knew that jet lag could be so nasty. Apparently flying from west to east can wreak havoc on your body's circadian rhythms. And the more time zones you fly through the worse it gets. I had terrible nausea and gastro-intestinal stuff for 3 days.

So bad that I would talk with my jaw clenched because even the action of talking made me nauseous. My foot swelled up to a disgusting size and took a couple of days to go down again...thank goodness my ankles are back. Hahahahaha!! Speaking of which...


The foot healeth.....


In other news....I found out that my exercise-induced asthma was not asthma at all but Vocal Chord Dysfunction. This is why me taking 9 hits of of various inhalers per day did nothing for me. The specialist I went to when I got back from Australia told me my symptoms were "classic" of this vocal chord thing.

Here is what happens: Certain triggers like cold air, strong pool chemical smells, level of effort in exercise caused my vocal chords to collapse. Then, like Pavlov's dogs, my body trained itself to respond the same way to these triggers again and again. The GREAT news is that I can recondition my body with a simple breathing technique!!!

Are you ready for this?

All I have to do is when I feel an attack coming on is to inhale three times through my nose and sniff. Like this: Sniff.....sniff, sniff. After the first sniff, you wait a second and then take two more sniffs. You don't exhale between sniffs, three sniffs and then the vocal chords are forced to open.

I am off all inhalers -- no more steroid inhaler, or nose spray stuff, or allergy stuff. All gone. Now, when I am in the pool, I think of my sniffing thing as my own personal inhaler on demand whenever I need it. I also visualize my throat's airway as being HUGE and OPEN like the size of a grapefruit. (Got this idea off the internet.)

And it works. Can't believe it. When I feel the chords trying to collapse in the pool, sometimes I don't even need to sniff now -- I just visualize my airways being open. I can't believe the difference has been instantaneous!!!! I am so thankful I got in to see the specialist. :) :)

Oh yeah -- he also told me that asthma sufferers make noises on the exhalation NOT the inhalation. Mine was always on the inhalation -- I had one episode that was so bad in Australia my voice (on it's own) was whining and wailing as I was trying to breathe. I felt so stupid when Sara asked if I was Ok, and I could only make these stupid wailing noises and gasped out, "I can't control this noise!" The attacks were also linked to an emotional response I noticed -- not panic per day, but frustration and tears even. Very, very weird.

So.....I am ready for summer!!!! :) :) :) :)

10 comments:

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I am sorry, hopefully its get better soon. Maybe a vacation from your vacation (why does it feel like we need a vacation from the vacation we just took) will get you back to normal.

runningman said...

Wow, glad you got that sorted out. Does the sniffing technique really help that much??

Keith said...

How about that? Who knew vocal cords could collapse? Always better to not having to take the drugs. yay!

Julie said...

Darryl -- seriously it is like night and day. I swim now and make NO noises -- it is unbelievable. :)

Heather said...

I'm so glad to hear you struggled with major jetlag too (not that i'm happy you had it but glad to hear I wasn't the only one!) Glad you are feeling better and your ankle is healed (looked pretty nasty!). Back to reality, right?!

Keith said...

I came back to take a better look at that photo. What a mess! But if you're running and biking and swimming and chasing dogs and carrying cats and and and, I suppose it looks worse than it really is. Still, take care of it.

Amber Dawn said...

whoa, that foot is nasty! Hope it feels better than it looks!

And yay for no more drugs! Retrain the brain instead :)

Runner Leana said...

Wow, is that what it is? Crazy!!! At least you don't have to take unnecessary medications now. Excellent! As for your foot, I hope it is healing up!

I'm with you on summer!!

Missy said...

OK that is ONE ugly cankle you got going there! and yes on the exhale! Sounds like you've got it figured out. That rocks. What a mess, those inhalers suck and nine times/day. Sheesh.

Amy said...

OMG, I am so glad you finally figured it out. That is crazy that it's your vocal cords! It's so awesome that you have a FREE remedy too! Yipeeee!!!!! What a relief to know what's finally been wrong and that you have a cure.

PS- I missed a couple posts (reading them now) but your foot looks awful! I hope you're doing better now!